Group Therapy

Reflections on the Challenge

When you encounter an official statement that feels inauthentic, hold your nose, and inwardly rephrase a true version.

• Experiences

  T said the challenge had presented itself almost daily. The incident that struck her most was hearing the Prime Minister extol England’s breakfasts and pubs while presiding over their decline through taxation and closures. She instinctively held her nose, inwardly rephrasing a truer version that would never have been spoken publicly. Later, recalling the imprisonment of a woman for an impulsive tweet and contrasting it with leniency in other cases, she again felt the need to restrain her thoughts — aware that even honesty might risk censure.

  L noted several occasions to practise the challenge. Hearing the Prime Minister declare, “We will never surrender our flag,” he inwardly rephrased it as an admission of regret over leaving the EU. The same day, an email from a software company announced “new payment plans to better serve your needs,” which he translated as a blunt demand for higher fees to retain essential features. Later, watching Sir Geoffrey Hinton warn that AI would destroy the world, he again held his nose, reimagining the lament as something more personal — perhaps resentment that ChatGPT had disrupted his relationship.

• Responses

  L, replying to T, said that a “white lie” may spring from kindness, and thus not "smell", yet in politics the same impulse can become deliberate deceit. There was a spectrum of lying, which stretched to lying to oneself — when identification replaces the inner observer, and inauthenticity becomes habitual.

Beelzebub’s Tales, Chapter 33

• Passage

  And thanks to this, day by day, instead of improving the conditions for a speedy realization of the aim which has been set as a basis for my dear Fatherland, there only increases among the separate members of our Trusteeship all kinds of misunderstandings, personal considerations, gossip, intrigue, plots, and so on and so forth.

  During recent times I have thought and consulted much to find some way out of this sorrowful situation, until I nearly fell ill and was compelled to go to Egypt for rest. But alas, even there my black thoughts give me no peace, for my present spiritual unbalance leaves me no rest.

• Discussion

  J said the passage evoked the United Nations of today, where noble aims are undermined by factional tension and rivalry. L agreed, going further by suggesting the Governor’s plight was inevitable, as human actions must diverge from their intention over time. T linked this to the modern political scene, where leaders must juggle party loyalties, public opinion, and international pressures. True authenticity, she felt, became almost impossible when intellect and feeling were divided; only great emotional intelligence could sustain integrity of speech.

• Passage

  Further I said to him: ‘At the present time I have but one aim, namely, specifically to clear up for myself all the details of the manifestations of the human psyche of individuals existing separately as well as in groups. Well now, for the elucidation of the state and manifestations of the psyche of large groups, Russia would perhaps be very suitable for me ...

• Discussion

  J remarked that the scene moved from abstract theory to a practical problem — how insight can be translated into action. It showed, he said, the moment when ideas begin to take form in life.

  L built on this, distinguishing individual from collective work. The Trusteeship, he said, represented an early attempt at group therapy: to cure not one man but a whole social organism.

  T was struck by the phrase “individuals existing separately as well as in groups.” She recalled the powerful emotion of walking in a mass demonstration and how easily personal awareness dissolves in collective energy.

  L referred to Elias Canetti’s Crowds and Power, noting that such collective forces often reverse their own intentions. High ideals, he said, become ironic in their outcome — movements drift from their original purpose.

  J agreed, calling irony itself a mark of cosmic law: every generation’s conviction becomes the next generation’s error.

• Passage

  I began, however, during that time, to go about everywhere as is usual for me, and to frequent the beings of this city, belonging to various what are called there ‘classes,’ in order to become acquainted with the characteristic particularities of their manners and customs.

  Well, it was then that I constated, among other things, that in the presences of the beings belonging to just this contemporary community, their, as it is called, ‘Ego-Individuality’ began during the recent centuries to form itself particularly sharply dual.

  After I had constated this and began specially to investigate this question there, I finally elucidated that this dual individuality obtained in their common presences, chiefly owing to a noncorrespondence between what is called the ‘tempo-of-the-place-of-their-arising-and-existence’ and the ‘form-of-their-being-mentation.’

• Discussion

  T found the phrase “dual individuality” striking, saying it described the same inner split the group had been exploring all evening.

  N linked it to ordinary experience: every person, he said, lives between the outer tempo of events and the inner pace of understanding. When these move at different speeds, imbalance and confusion appear.

  L reflected that this non-correspondence might now be greater than ever. Inner change, he said, is slow and almost timeless, while the world’s tempo races ahead — communication that once took weeks now occurs in seconds. The Governor’s “illness,” he suggested, could symbolise the strain of that acceleration.

  T agreed that the passage touched the core of modern disquiet: our outer circumstances demand immediacy while feeling and thought lag behind.

  N added that Gurdjieff’s insight was both psychological and cosmic — he grasped that the tempo of a place shapes consciousness. A mismatch between the two produces the divided self Beelzebub describes.

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.

Newspeak

Reflections on the Challenge

When you notice you are about to do something that isn’t good for you, pinch yourself. How do you feel about the intended action? Try to understand what is behind the impulse.

• Experiences

  N had questioned what truly counted as “not good” for him. He focused on his tendency to indulge in things like croissants, especially around 4pm. Sometimes he pinched himself and resisted; other times he gave in. He had thought about what was behind the impulse. He sensed it was not just about sugar, but connected to a deeper longing, perhaps for love.

  T had noticed how much she relied on external pressures to act, especially in creative work. On one occasion, she had followed a familiar routine instead of her plan, then remembered the challenge and pinched herself. In reflection, she saw the action was less an impulse than a return to something habitual which, although a self-development practice, may not have been timely.

  L had realised his morning habit of reading the news was both depressing and uninformative. One day, about to open the paper online, he pinched himself and became aware of a deep unwillingness to read it, and that his motivation was partly nostalgia for a time when news felt more meaningful. Instead of reading the paper, he began moving away from mainstream sources and sought out alternative ways to stay informed.

• Responses

  C said that until hearing L speak, she hadn’t thought of herself as intentionally doing things that were bad for her. However, she realised that she did. She was addicted to consuming the news because she wanted to be informed, but after doing so she would feel depressesed.

  Responding to N, T said that routine could be reassuring, but might obscure the original impulse behind an action. She suggested consciously questioning whether a routine still served its purpose, or whether it was simply familiar.

Beelzebub’s Tales, Chapter 33

• Passage

  This definite sacred something would have remained for untold centuries in its pristine state among these three-brained beings who long ago ceased to have any reverence in their essence; but ... they committed that blasphemous deed whose result is now the cause of my becoming aware with all my being of my mistake—of just that mistake I made when I so confidently assured you that nothing whatever had reached the beings of the contemporary civilization from the beings of epochs long past ...

• Discussion

  L suggested the passage pointed to a form of historical betrayal, a loss of reverence for what earlier generations had preserved. N observed that Beelzebub spoke with strong moral judgement about the desecration of the tomb, describing it as a blasphemous act that caused him to realise his earlier mistake.

• Passage

  ... the common presence of the planetary body of every being and in general of any other ‘relatively independent’ great or small cosmic unit must consist of all the three localized sacred substance-forces of the holy Triamazikamno, namely, of the substance-forces of the Holy-Affirming, Holy-Denying, and Holy-Reconciling, and that it must be sustained by them all the time in a corresponding and balanced state; and if for some reason or other, there enters into any presence a superfluity of the vibrations of any one of these three sacred forces, then infallibly and unconditionally, the sacred Rascooarno must occur to it, that is the total destruction of its ordinary existence as such.

• Discussion

  L gave examples of how the Holy-Reconciling (Gurdjieff's "Third Force") might apply in daily life: one force acts, another resists, and the reconciling force mediates between them — not simply cancelling out the others, but introducing some give and take, doubt, or elements of reasoning.

  L said that this part of the reading had shifted from historical narrative to something with a more abstract meanng — the idea that without balance of the three forces described, destruction (Rascooarno) must follow.

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.