True dat

A considerable percentage of the people we meet on the street are people who are empty inside, that is, they are actually already dead. It is fortunate for us that we do not see and do not know it. If we knew what a number of people are actually dead and what a number of these dead people govern our lives, we should go mad with horror.

George Gurdjieff (c. 1877-1949)

Awesome Dance Sequences

This scene is from Meetings with Remarkable Men(1979), a film about the early years of G.I. Gurdjieff. It was directed by long-time Gurdjieffian Peter Brook, who was also a director of the Royal Shakespeare Theater Company. What is unusual about the film is the almost Bressonian even-temper of the actors, as if their personalities were somewhat repressed during filming. Even Terence Stamp, who was a supporting actor in this film, seemed unusually flat and opaque. It made me wonder if this acetic quality was something Robert Bresson himself knew from possibly studying Gurdjieff? Afterall, Gurdjieff described his "work" being partly derived from Christianity, Bresson's faith.

Overall, the film was hard to watch, if interesting in retrospect. These dance sequences, known as 'movements', were designed by Gurdjieff for advanced students of the work, and were the most fascinating bits of the film. I was especially in awe of the first sequence seen here.

WHAT A FOOL BELIEVES

I came across a good anecdote from a follower of G.I. Gurdjieff. Please read. It's a good'un:

I had just arrived at the L.A. airport and was waiting for my friend to pick me up when I noticed my cell phone was missing. The next thing I noticed were the swirl of emotions - loss, worry, fear, sadness, and worry that often arise when I lose something.

My friend would not be picking me up for half an hour, so I sat down in the baggage claim area and began observing and inquiring. Once I was aware of all the feelings I asked my favorite question: "What would I have to believe to feel this way?" I've seen that feelings are always generated by some belief.

It took me awhile to identify the belief: "I shouldn't be a fool." The loss of the cell phone had triggered that belief. "Clearly," my mind said, "you were a fool to lose the phone and you shouldn't be a fool." The negative feelings automatically followed.

Then I questioned that belief and looked for the real truth. When I told myself I shouldn't be a fool I became defensive, fearful, self justifying, trying to look good, trying to hold it together, worrying about what my wife would say.

"So what's really true? I am a fool. I lose things all the time. I SHOULD be a fool! After all, I certainly am sometimes, there's no escaping that. And realizing that I am a fool is certainly more liberating than denying I'm a fool. "

All of this flashed through my mind in a few seconds. And the feeling of gloom lifted, being replaced by a sense of joy and freedom. Everything in the airport brightened. There was a little two year old boy throwing a plastic water bottle to the ground, shrieking in glee and kicking it around the airport. "Well there's someone who doesn't mind looking like a fool!" I thought.

The little boy and I were just the same at that moment - full of joy and life, fools with no care of what anyone thought of us. I laughed and laughed and laughed.

—Robert Middleton