New William Patrick Patterson Book

[kinyash]

It is difficult to say if his relationships with his female students were the results of lust or if something else was consciously being experimented there. For instance, many years later it is reported that he invited one of the ladies of the rope (the "rope" in the sense the group were to work together, not only individually) to lie with him in bed "without papa-mama business" for something about male/female energy that she didn't understand. So, without more precise data it is difficult to tell what was in the mind of Gurdjieff in the institute and what exactly went wrong in the experiments. The new experiment with the ladies of the ropes can be a consequence where a different approach was tried? In any case, everything must be payed for one way or another. OSIT ATM

That's a very interesting comment. I recall reading somewhere that Mahatma Ghandi also used to sleep "without any mama or papa business that is !" with very young girls because of their energy. I think you have a point when you say that Gurdjieff conducted a lot of "experiments", and indeed there was the incident where he first asked one of the locals for all the American slang words regarding sex and then proceeded to use those words in a talk and this finally resulted in a full blown orgy taking place. Gurdjieff then observed the behaviour of the group pretty much like the way a scientist will observe rats mating!

Gurdjieff was indeed a mystery man of great knowledge, and many of the things he said and did still mystify me. What is important is not to judge him against our standards, but to seek out what was useful in his work and put it to use in our lives. Each will take according to his/her level, or in forum language, according to his/her receivership capability.

Kinyash

 

[BHelmet]

Gurdjieff's blindspot in his relationships with the women at the institute seems to have been discussed a few years ago, though I can't find the exact link. I wonder though if his car crash, and the subsequent closing of the institute aren't related to that. There is an instance where he was critical to the relationship Orage had with his secretary (who became his wife after she made him leave Gurdjieff) and he used his own car crash story (with apparently the invented story of taking apples out of the car window while driving) as a metaphor for that. So maybe he realized at some point that his car crash and loss of consciousness, with all the symbolic aspects that it implies, may have been related to this blindspot, and that everything must be payed for one way or another.

Bingo! (I don't mean to denigrate G) I have my own experiences of the cosmos exacting a 'payment' for my STS sins given my conscious commitment to polarize to the STO possibility.

Gurdjieff's 2 car accidents do suggest a blind spot or 2. In spite of prior knowledge and understanding we may enter into this current life with, and new knowledge acquired in this life, there is always more to learn on the way.