Remember to Breathe

Reflections on the Challenge

Decide on an "essence-word", close to your heart, to work with until the next meeting. Thereafter, every day, when you see or hear your name, pause, hug yourself, and plan to do something that feels good to you.

• Experiences

  T had chosen “breathing” as her essence word. On one occasion, while sitting in stillness and about to begin a breathing practice, she heard her name called. She recalled the challenge, remained quiet, responded briefly, then hugged herself and decided she was already doing something that felt good, so she continued. Initially, she had thought the trigger was only hearing her name, but later realised it also included seeing it. Although she regularly saw her name on her phone or in emails, she did not remember the challenge at those moments. The one recorded instance took on special significance, as writing it down seemed to give it greater substance amid otherwise fleeting days.

  L had found it difficult to choose a word, eventually settling on “inviolate” rather than “inviolable,” as it implied the need for conscious effort to preserve something sacred. He related this to his artistic motto, “inspiration is inviolate.” In one instance, seeing his name in an email from a music technology colleague, he hugged himself, recalled his word, and planned a walk. On another occasion, seeing his name during a Zoom meeting, he again hugged himself and looked forward to composing.

• Responses

  Responding to T, N found it interesting that T had set aside time to do the challenge within a structured morning practice, incorporating it into prayer and breathing. He noted that this gave the experience a certain sanctity and intentional separation from everyday life. L remarked that breathing, when done with attention, is the second being-food — a concept in the Work.

Beelzebub’s Tales, Chapter 33

• Passage

  Do you remember, I already told you that I was in this Egypt for the first time during my fourth appearance on the surface of that planet of yours ...

  At my sixth descent, of all the numerous interesting constructions that had previously existed there scarcely anything existed any longer.

  They had all been destroyed, partly by the beings there themselves, thanks to what are called their ‘wars’ and ‘revolutions,’ and partly they came to be covered by sands.

  These sands were a consequence partly of those great winds I have already mentioned, and partly also of that planetary tremor which was afterwards called by the beings of this Egypt the ‘Alnepoosian earthquake.’ ...

• Discussion

  T considered whether Beelzebub’s repeated visits to Earth might allude to reincarnation. L responded that the periods described spanned thousands of years, possibly equating one of Beelzebub’s days to hundreds of ours. T drew attention to the planetary tremor, linking it to the Work idea of “shock,” and speculated that the image of sands and winds might symbolise the covering over of something essential. L agreed, noting that shocks and changes are intrinsic to the Work.

• Passage

  Now do you know, my boy, what has gradually arisen in me while I have been telling you all this about Egypt and of what all my being has now already become finally aware—namely, an unpardonable error I made in my tales concerning the three-brained beings breeding on the planet Earth.

  Do you remember that at one time I told you that not one of the achievements of the beings of past generations had ever reached beings of subsequent generations?

  Well it has become aware in me that I have made a mistake about this.

• Discussion

  T noted Beelzebub’s admission of fallibility, and remarked on how unusual and humanising this was. She found it striking that a figure of such stature would openly acknowledge an error.

An Essential Word

Reflections on the Challenge

When your direction is diverted by the spell of a voice that assumes it is right, splay your fingers, and remember your purpose.

• Experiences

  One morning, T had been drawn off course from her morning routine by an interview with Ernest Gellner, who was critiquing linguistic philosophy. Absorbed for hours, she eventually resumed her routine in the afternoon, remembered her purpose, and splayed her fingers.

  While on holiday in a forest resort, L had been urged to join a full day of group activities starting early the next morning. It was already late, and he hadn’t yet composed - a daily commitment. He splayed his fingers, remembered his purpose, and left the gathering to compose. Throughout the trip, emails also tried to pull his attention away, but he continued to use the gesture to refocus on his work.

• Responses

  T reflected on L’s story, observing how he had stayed in the same place and time as the group but chosen not to follow their momentum. She saw this as a quiet act of remaining with his purpose, even while others were calling the tune — a stance that many artists would recognise.

Beelzebub’s Tales, Chapter 33

• Passage

  ... among the three-brained beings breeding on this part of the surface of this planet of yours there was developed at that period more strongly than usual two forms of their most pernicious what are called ‘organic habits,’ which also had become proper to be acquired in the presences of the beings of that ill-fated planet.

  “One of these pernicious organic habits was what is called there the ‘smoking of opium,’ and the other was the ‘chewing of anasha,’ or, as it is otherwise named, ‘hashish.’

• Discussion

  L remarked on the word "breeding", noting how it referred to humans as one might describe animals. N added that ants, or insects, might thus be described.

• Passage

  From the use of the said vodka, not only does the psyche of the ill-fated three-brained beings there become, just as from ‘opium’ and ‘anasha’ also, utterly ‘nonsensical’ but in addition certain important parts of their planetary body also gradually completely degenerate.

  ... Well then, while I existed as a physician there among the beings breeding in the towns of Turkestan, I had to work so hard, especially towards the end, that certain functions of my planetary body began to get out of order, and I began to consider therefore how to manage to have the possibility at least for a certain time of doing nothing but only rest..

  “I could of course return to my home on the planet Mars for this purpose, but then there arose before me my personal-individual ‘being-Dimtzoneero,’ that is, my being-duty towards what is called the ‘essence-word’ I had given to myself.



• Discussion

  T said that as a physician, Beelzebub would have witnessed firsthand the damaging effects of vodka, such as cirrhosis of the liver. N said that working with addiction in any form is demanding, especially when people relapse, and that most people struggle with some kind of craving or dependence.

  T said that addiction diverted people from a direct experience of themselves and the world, offering instead a distorted or substituted reality.

  T said that although Beelzebub had previously adapted his hypnotic methods to be less exhausting, his continued work with degraded beings had left him physically depleted.

  L said that Beelzebub had been tempted to return to Mars for rest, but resisted this diversion out of a sense of duty to the self-given essence-word, showing how he remained faithful to his inner aim despite exhaustion.

  

  דבר (Davar): Hebrew for 'word', also meaning 'essence' or 'thing'

A Dog's Dinner

Reflections on the Challenge

When you hear a dramatic political statement, notice the polarised reactions, and to what extent they are hypnotic. Observe your own emotional response without judgement. Raise a leg. As awareness returns, look out for synchronicities.

• Experiences

  L recalled hearing a political statement by Richard Tice after the local elections, in which Tice pledged that his party would do everything possible to sabotage the green agenda. L had noticed the attitude behind this and found it identical to that of Tice’s opponents who had previously tried to frustrate Brexit. Although he had sympathised with Tice, he had seen both sides as hypnotised. He had performed the leg-raising exercise twice and noted that his emotional reaction had been neutral, expecting people to diverge from their stated intentions.

The Sacred and the Profane

Reflections on the Challenge

When you notice a media statement that feels as if it distorts reality, purse your lips and formulate an alternative statement about the same issue - whether contrasting or subtly different - which feels better to you.

• Experiences

  After reading a promotional article by the company building smart motorways, T had pursed her lips, recognising the claim of improved safety contrasted with fatal accidents caused by the removal of hard shoulders. She had noted the reliance on 'refuges', which offered no help if breakdowns occurred between them. She had also reacted similarly to Rachel Reeves' spring statement, which had portrayed the financial state as sound. However, she had observed that it failed to acknowledge widespread business failures, and redundancies due to people being more expensive to hire.

  L had responded to a news report about a car ramming incident in Germany. The media had described the perpetrator as someone known to police with mental health issues. L had pursed his lips and reframed it. It had later emerged that the driver was a far-right German. No further details had been released since. L had also awoken one night from a dream with a law in mind, that all human actions must inevitably diverge from their intention. He had seen this as related to the challenge, suggesting distortion was not necessarily deliberate. Later, he had responded to a government statement about restoring democratic NHS oversight by reframing it as a move to centralise control under direct government authority.

• Responses

  Responding to T, L said that the original motorway design had a clear mission — including a hard shoulder and other safety features — which had been compromised. N highlighted the danger caused by the new design, while T added that the changes had likely been driven by the political need to show progress, even at the cost of safety.

  N reflected on the law L had mentioned, suggesting that such divergence is common in life. T noted how easy it is to lose momentum on the monthly challenge — strong intentions often fizzle within days. L agreed, saying that even if one begins awake, there is always a drift once attention weakens. N linked this to Gurdjieff himself, who had to abandon his original plans in Russia but found ways to realise them elsewhere through extraordinary effort.

Beelzebub’s Tales, Chapters 32 - 33

• Passage

  Most recently, by the way, when I was on this ill-fated planet a new maleficent means began to flourish there for doing the same with the psyche of the beings there, as there did and still does this branch of their science hypnotism.

  And this new maleficent means they call ‘psychoanalysis.’

  You must without fail also know that when beings of the period of the Tikliamishian civilization constated for the first time about this particular psychic property of theirs, ... then the process itself of bringing someone into this state began to be regarded by them as a sacred process and was performed only in their temples before the congregation.

  But in the presences of your contemporary favorites ... not only do they not consider its concentrated manifestation, intentionally yet unavoidably evoked by them, as ‘sacred’; but they have already adapted it, the process itself and the accidentally obtained results, for serving them as a means for ‘tickling’ certain consequences of the properties of the organ Kundabuffer firmly fixed in them.

• Discussion

  T was struck by the use of the word tickle, both in the passage and in the name of the ancient Tikliamishian civilization. She wondered whether the similarity might be intentional — a kind of linguistic clue. L agreed it felt suggestive.

  N picked up on Beelzebub’s framing of psychoanalysis as a modern offshoot of hypnotism. He noted that early figures like Charcot and Freud had indeed used hypnosis before moving to the more familiar image of the analyst listening invisibly behind the couch — a structure which L linked to the Catholic tradition of confession.

• Passage

  For bringing them into this state, I had at first recourse to the same means by which the beings of the period of the Tikliamishian civilization brought each other into this state, namely, by acting upon them with my own Hanbledzoïn.

  But when later there often began to arise in my common presence the being-impulse called ‘love-of-kind’, and, apart from my personal aims, I had to produce this said state in very many three-brained beings there for their personal benefit, and as this means proved very harmful for my being-existence, I invented another means, thanks to which I obtained the same effect without the expenditure of my own Hanbledzoïn.

• Discussion

  N observed that the passage describes two forms of hypnosis: one that was energetically costly to Beelzebub, and a second that achieved the same effect without that cost. L suggested that Beelzebub may have been helping people with little motivation — those seeking change “cheaply” — and that this might have been ethically problematic, especially since it was draining to him.

  T pointed to the mention of the being-impulse of love-of-kind, and suggested that Beelzebub could not have continued the work without that impulse arising. N agreed, saying it seemed he was doing it for humanitarian reasons, and that this made the energetic cost more serious.

  T related this to the demands on therapists, especially in the NHS, where support and supervision are often lacking. She noted that without support, therapists can burn out. N added that the same applied more broadly: many people don’t recognise how much energy they use in everyday work and creative life, and don’t take steps to replenish it.

The Shining

Reflections on the Challenge

When you notice something shiny, snap your fingers and pause. Ask yourself, ‘Am I following my personal path or external demands?’ Allow yourself to smile.

• Experiences

  L had not taken notes this time but often noticed light reflections - on leaves or car bonnets - which reminded him of the challenge. Snapping his fingers, he questioned whether he was following his own path or external demands. He found that, more often than not, he was engaged in his own pursuits, particularly composing or work related to Gurdjieff. Occasionally, obligations to others arose, such as community projects or invitations, which sometimes carried a sense of duty rather than personal alignment.

  T had managed the challenge several times but felt something was missing. On one occasion, she fully engaged with it and recorded her experience. Walking down a sunlit, rain-wet path, she questioned whether she was following her own path or someone else’s. She realised that everything around her - the pavement, buildings, fences, and even planted trees - was the work of others. Even her own existence had been shaped by others’ choices and influences. The only thing truly hers was her daily walk, which she resolved to continue regardless of the weather. Smiling did not come naturally to her.

  N had engaged with the challenge several times, using the finger snap as a reminder. The question of whether he was following his own path or someone else’s had surfaced repeatedly throughout the month. He reflected on the idea of disruption, seeing Gurdjieff as a disruptive yet healthy force. A lecture on disruptors in marketing reinforced his awareness of how people are conditioned to follow external paths rather than their own. This led him to consider how his life might differ if he fully followed his own path, allowing his essence to flourish rather than conforming to external expectations. Moments of sunlight and encounters with people whose smiles radiated naturally served as triggers for these reflections. He also pondered how, in youth, people often have ideals they rarely realise in adulthood.

  J had engaged with the challenge only once, upon noticing a shiny locker coin at the swimming baths. Remembering the instruction to smile, he struggled with the act itself, questioning whether it should be spontaneous or performed. He realised that, as a child, a shiny object might have brought him joy, but as an adult, the smile felt artificial. Instead, he reflected on the reasoning behind the challenge and thought of L, which prompted a genuine smile. He recognised that his response had been influenced by the instruction itself rather than an intrinsic reaction, leading him to consider how often people follow external directions rather than their own thinking.

• Responses

  L noted that the challenge did not specify smiling but rather allowing it, which could be difficult - smiling usually arose naturally from amusement rather than conscious effort. J responded that he only found it difficult to allow himself to smile in diplomatic situations where reactions must be managed. Otherwise, he saw smiling as either a natural response or a deliberate form of communication. T pointed out the paradox of the challenge: it was about following one’s own path, yet it instructed participants to do something unnatural—smiling on cue. Since they had chosen to take part, the challenge became part of their path, but the act of smiling still felt externally imposed.

Beelzebub’s Tales, Chapter 32

• Passage

  ...they then soon became categorically convinced, firstly, that in almost any one of the three-brained beings without distinction of sex who gazes for a long time at shining and brilliant objects of a certain kind, there begins to proceed a state ... and secondly, they noticed further that the form of manifestation of the subject during the state varies and is found to be dependent on the former being-experiences which chanced to be predominant and on the shining objects with which a connection was accidentally established during such experiences of theirs.

  ... these latter also began wiseacring about it, and finally when by chance, as it usually happens among them, they learned that it is possible in beings similar to them when in this state, to change in an accelerated way the impressions formerly fixed in them to new ones, then certain of them began to use this particular psychic property inherent in them for the purpose of curing.

• Discussion

  N spoke of susceptibility to hypnotism - some people were more easily influenced or persuaded than others.

  T pointed out that this described the replacement of impressions, suggesting that people might seek to free themselves from the influence of past experiences.

• Passage

  Thanks merely to this branch of their science, there was acquired in the psyche of the ordinary beings of this ill-fated planet several still new forms of what are called ‘being-Kalkali,’ that is, ‘essential strivings’ which became cast into forms of definite ‘teachings’ existing there under the names of ‘Anoklinism,’ ‘Darwinism,’ ‘anthroposophism,’ ‘theosophism,’ and many others under names also ending with ‘ism,’ thanks to which even those two data of their presences, which still helped them to be at least a little as it is becoming to three-centered beings to be, finally disappeared in them.

• Discussion

  N observed that Darwinism can take on a dogmatic character, pointing out that figures like Richard Dawkins defend it as rigidly as religious fundamentalists defend their beliefs. T noted that theosophy (Blavatsky) and anthroposophy (Steiner) have also solidified into fixed doctrines, reflecting the process described in the extract.

The Abbot and the Nun

Reflections on the Challenge

When you hear someone coughing or sneezing - or do so yourself - clear your throat and consider one centre (thinking, moving, or feeling) where balance could be improved. Take a moment to sense how this awareness resonates within you.

• Experiences

  T had experienced multiple instances of the challenge throughout the month, initially not recognising the trigger but becoming more aware as time passed. One moment stood out—while waiting for a train, she had heard someone coughing and remembered the challenge. Clearing her throat, she had noticed she was leaning against the wall, appearing relaxed but actually holding tension due to discomfort with the underground and anticipation of a busy meeting. Pushing off the wall, she had regained physical balance and realised her tension. Standing firmly on both feet had withdrawn her focus from external anxieties, bringing a sense of being upright, grounded, and genuinely relaxed—contrary to her initial assumption.

  L had engaged with the challenge on multiple occasions. After hearing a cough, he had cleared his throat and reflected on what was out of balance, realising he needed more sleep to improve all his senses rather than just one. Another time, upon hearing a sneeze, he had considered his new watch, which was heavier than necessary. Wanting the highest-performing model, he had chosen the heaviest one but recognised that a 100% solution was not always best. He had decided to exchange it for a lighter option.

• Responses

  L agreed with T’s idea that balance is not a fixed state but requires continuous adjustment. He likened it to steering a boat, where small course corrections keep it on track. The goal is not achieving a static equilibrium but staying attuned to imbalance and responding appropriately.

Beelzebub’s Tales, Chapter 32

• Passage

  Though this ‘hypnotism,’ or as they prefer to say this branch of their ‘science,’ arose and became official only recently, yet it had already had time to become for them another of the very serious factors which brought about a still greater ‘confusion’ of their psyche, already muddled enough without this in the majority of them, and which still further deranged the functioning of their planetary body.

• Discussion

  J said the phrase about confusion of the psyche encapsulated one of Beelzebub’s core concerns - trying to unravel the extraordinary confusion that clouds human thought.

• Passage

  he first of all asked the nun Ephrosinia to be sure to bring with her to the next confession the portrait of her sweetheart together with the frame.

  At the next confession the nun took with her this said portrait.

  There was nothing very special about it but the frame indeed was unusual, it being all encrusted with mother-of-pearl and various colored stones.

  While the abbot and the nun were together examining the portrait in the frame, the abbot suddenly noticed that something particular began to proceed with the nun.

• Discussion

  L said that the adornments on the picture had presumably had a hypnotic effect on Ephrosinia. T agreed, saying it might be the light in the crystals.

Food for Thought

Reflections on the Challenge

When you notice someone charismatic, consider how you are affected, and what may be their motivation. Move your big toes up and down.

• Experiences

  N had had a long conversation over the phone with an old friend. He noted the friend’s precise, well-spoken English, and his manner of emphasising words. They had known each other since childhood. N believed his friend’s charisma was innate, like a force of nature, which he remembered from school. After the call he reminisced about thsoe days, and also completed the physical exercise with the toes.

  L had encountered charismatic figures in real life and media and had gained the impression that charisma was often linked to ego, which could wear thin after a while. He felt art was served better without charisma, citing exaggerated gestures by conductors, chess players, and pianists as unhelpful. He believed charisma was neutral. It could influence positively, as with gurus fostering discipline, or negatively, as with agitators inciting mob violence. He had remembered to flex his toes afterward.

• Responses

  Responding to L, N said that some people with charisma could misuse it and it could take them to dangerous places. They sometimes developed an appetite for risk, and N described a friend of that nature.

  Responding to N, L said he also had had a similar charismatic friend, likewise with a distinctive manner of diction and a penchant for risk-taking.

Beelzebub’s Tales, Chapter 32

• Passage

  those definite crystallizations foreseen by Great Nature—which crystallizations are the most important part of the composition of the second-being-food, and which when assimilated by beings are transformed into substances for the coating and for the further perfecting of their higher-body-Kesdjan—ceased, owing to their abnormal being-existence, to be assimilated either consciously or automatically for the purpose indicated, then in consequence of this and also because the afflux of these substances, transformed in other concentrations and getting into the atmospheres of the planets, continued all the time to flow into the atmosphere of your planet, the result was that on this ill-fated planet, among your unfortunate favorites, there arose still another definite ‘disease’ which has already become quite definite in its harmful action upon them.

• Discussion

  T said that there was now a complete disconnect between those who work the land and the politicians in government. Farmland was being repurposed for solar power collection, and much of it was therefore being covered with black panels New inheritance tax was forcing smaller farmers to sell their land, which might no longer be used for producing food.

• Passage

  ... since they lost the possibility of existing according to the Fulasnitamnian principle, certain of the ingredients of the substances of the second-being-food continue to serve only for assisting the transformation of the first-being-food and for removing from the planetary body certain elements already used by them.

• Discussion

  L said that Gurdjieff’s controversial thesis was that because people were not thinking correctly, they developed an emotional imbalance, which then led to physical illness.

  N added that this imbalance was clearly affecting us, as we were failing to transform energies that come into this planet properly. He noted that we should be able to ingest these influences and become stronger, but instead, they negatively impacted us.