Tuesday, August 17, 2004
Gurdjieff and me
When I was in college, I was at least briefly interested in the teachings of G. I. Gurdjieff. He was a mystic and con-man in the first half of the twentieth century, who essentially founded an ongoing cult. The "cult" is alive and well on the internet. It's somewhat akin to Scientology, certainly as creepy, but less fiscal. I cannot really recommend anything about Gurdjieff, except that he is always eminently quotable:
'If you wish to succeed in anything then ask a woman for advice and do the opposite'
However to get back to the point of this little ramble: Gurdjieff's central idea was that inner peace and self-awareness were best acheived while engaged in simple work, in the presence of other sympathetic people.
I'm not claiming to have acheived nirvana in the past few days, but I've been busy doing simple things: building beehives, harvesting tomatoes, figs and apples, and operating (which is surprisingly brainless and automatic when it's going well). I've moved back into the bosom of the family, and I do feel calm and peaceful. So I guess my point is that sometimes even a balding mustachioed charlatan can speak the truth, and sometimes frantic information hunger and excess socializing is not what makes me happy.
If you're feeling somewhat ooky kooky you could check out one of one of Gurdjieff's many rather obtuse books, or if you just want a laugh you can peruse the more outlandish internet outposts of his "teaching". Of course it's not a cult for nothing. You might want to test your susceptibility with the cult-o-meter, before you delve any deeper.
Having just extolled the virtues of peaceful introspection, I'll be on call again tonight, so you can expect the normal service, of mind rotting links and pointless trivia, to resume then.
When I was in college, I was at least briefly interested in the teachings of G. I. Gurdjieff. He was a mystic and con-man in the first half of the twentieth century, who essentially founded an ongoing cult. The "cult" is alive and well on the internet. It's somewhat akin to Scientology, certainly as creepy, but less fiscal. I cannot really recommend anything about Gurdjieff, except that he is always eminently quotable:
'If you wish to succeed in anything then ask a woman for advice and do the opposite'
However to get back to the point of this little ramble: Gurdjieff's central idea was that inner peace and self-awareness were best acheived while engaged in simple work, in the presence of other sympathetic people.
I'm not claiming to have acheived nirvana in the past few days, but I've been busy doing simple things: building beehives, harvesting tomatoes, figs and apples, and operating (which is surprisingly brainless and automatic when it's going well). I've moved back into the bosom of the family, and I do feel calm and peaceful. So I guess my point is that sometimes even a balding mustachioed charlatan can speak the truth, and sometimes frantic information hunger and excess socializing is not what makes me happy.
If you're feeling somewhat ooky kooky you could check out one of one of Gurdjieff's many rather obtuse books, or if you just want a laugh you can peruse the more outlandish internet outposts of his "teaching". Of course it's not a cult for nothing. You might want to test your susceptibility with the cult-o-meter, before you delve any deeper.
Having just extolled the virtues of peaceful introspection, I'll be on call again tonight, so you can expect the normal service, of mind rotting links and pointless trivia, to resume then.
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