Dirty Dog
What must happen in order not to die like a dirty dog as Gurdjieff warned? How do I get “behind” the dream? (for context, please re-visit last week’s post, Living the Dream.) The first thing that has come to me, is the weighty realization that this question is very personal. Quote me all the Gurdjieff … Read more
Living the Dream
Am I living in a dream world? Gurdjieff says, “man is mechanical, man is asleep.” This has always rung true to me. It’s easy to see how forgetful and mechanical I am. All I need do is think about the same stupid arguments I have with my husband all the time. If I was more … Read more
Good News
I’ve just received good news and am suddenly wondering what to do with it. My daughter-in-law, Michelle, had a cancerous growth removed from her liver with clean margins. News to be thrilled about after two long years of heart-breaking worry. But what do I do with this good news? I’m used to working with feelings … Read more
Digging Deeper
Digging deeper in myself has brought a new dimension to digging in my garden. Several years ago, I began recognizing the fact that no matter how much attention I paid to body mechanics, I invariably threw my back out from digging. Eventually, I turned my vegetable beds into wild-flower gardens to avoid injuring myself. This … Read more
Patterns
A struggle with my own patterns and those of Gurdjieff’s Dances epitomized my work during the recent ten-day International Movements Retreat at Claymont. My aim entering the retreat was to allow my body to learn the movements and to minimize thinking. However, there came a point, several days in, when I realized my head needed … Read more
Journal Entries—Sherborne Memoir
The following journal entries are part of my memoir, Real People, about the inner journey of discovery I went on during J.G. Bennett’s Second Basic Course at Sherborne House when I was in my early 20s. Journal Entry December 2, 1972— Something in me is percolating. Like air bubbling up through the muck of a … Read more
The Master Game
It all started with The Master Game, by Robert de Ropp, who threw out the first crumbs about the Work that kids in the 1960s picked up on. De Ropp was associated with Timothy Leary and other UC Berkeley professors who were beginning to experiment with mind-altering psychedelic drugs. The scene in my book, Real … Read more
The Path
How can we tell if we are following the path that we’re meant to be on? I’ve come to believe it’s a matter of listening within. When we follow a practice, there’s a stage where we begin to recognize a state of balance in ourselves. The first taste of this for me came after returning … Read more