They weren’t just passing through. One of the kids who had grown up at Claymont, an intentional Work community, had brought a couple of friends for the weekend. They’d traveled to tend young trees along Bullskin Run which traverses the front field of Claymont’s property. Around four hundred saplings were planted a few years ago … Read more
Feeling center. It’s taken me a long time to become aware of feelings. I mean that there is sensation in my chest area even when there’s no big emotion going on. Yeah, I know it’s not the same for everyone. But that’s how it was/is for me. My focus is usually inside my head or … Read more
How to work is the question. Last week we looked at why to work, but that didn’t really answer the question of how? And how does Work affect the world we live in today? For starters, my teacher J.G. Bennett looked at the world with a long view. In eons, or at the least, hundreds … Read more
Why work—what is it all for, anyway? What was Gurdjieff or for that matter, Bennett, on about? How does this body of ideas and practices relate to the world today? Someone asked me a question along these lines last week. Honestly, an answer did not come trippingly off my tongue. And I wondered about that … Read more
I sit in front of this blank page, not knowing what will flow onto it. It’s not always like this. Usually an idea forms before I get to my desk. But today, in order for something to come, I must be available. Something wants to manifest through me. But I do not know what it … Read more
Last Friday marked the annual celebration of Gurdjieff’s birth. It fell on the thirteenth, just before the Orthodox Russian New Year. Traditionally, January 13th has been celebrated as Gurdjieff’s birthday, although the actual year and date of his birth are shrouded in mystery. Apparently, Gurdjieff designated January 13th as the time to renew one’s work, not … Read more
There’s something about grief—I’ve never really thought much about. Our culture tends to ignore grief, as if it is something one must get past and leave behind. Somehow, we think getting back to “normal” is the answer. We tend to look at grief only in terms of losing a loved one or experiencing life-altering events. … Read more
There’s a knot in me. More and more, I’m becoming aware of it. I’ve been up against this before when I was introduced to my own Chief Feature. That did not taste good, yet there were moments when I experienced something delicious in the ingredients. This is similar, but different. This knot is also deep … Read more
What is the “truth” of my life? Every week, I prepare myself to write this blog. I have a set practice that I do, and it ends with a writing prayer I wrote in India, during the writing of my memoir. At the end of the prayer, I say, “and may the flow from my … Read more
Prayer—‘Tis the season… My recent work has me looking—at my relationship with feelings. With taking an “impression” of myself in an inner, collected moment, and in a moment of interaction with others. And the glue of why and how to keep working at these things in an active way. Somehow, I sense there is a … Read more