Many are familiar with Gurdjieff’s notion of the different parts of ourselves. Over the years, this has boiled down to the three main centers which we refer to as the moving, feeling, and thinking parts of ourselves. Ouspensky talks about our “higher” centers as well—especially the higher intellectual and emotional. So how do we connect … Read more
Bhante as Healer, is the third blog in my three part series. This Cambodian Buddhist monk was instrumental in healing my son. * As a healer, Bhante held four year old Chris on his lap. He directed golden yellow light from a high-intensity lamp, onto Chris’s swollen knee and gently massaged it using “colored” oil. … Read more
I experienced a moment of compassion this morning with a friend. It happened as we were practicing one of Gurdjieff’s movements called the Great Prayer. This movement never ceases to reveal something to me in the practicing of it. There’s a lot of kneeling in this movement. Neither one of us is young, and she … Read more
Negative emotions that I didn’t know I had surprised me recently. There are tent caterpillars ballooning in a few trees in my yard. My go-to remedy for this is to cut those branches down and burn them, caterpillars, and all. I struggle with this because “all life is one and everything that lives is Holy,” … Read more
This is how the Work works— it only works when you do. And what, exactly, does that mean? It means, I am the only one who can change in any given moment. Like the moment of being profoundly unhappy, or mad, or dissatisfied, especially those moments when these feelings are directed at someone else. When … Read more
Irmis B. Popoff (whom we called Mrs. Popoff and post Sherborne, Mrs. P) introduced Jack and me to Gurdjieff. There was very little known or written about Gurdjieff’s work in the early 1970s outside of P.D. Ouspensky’s In Search of the Miraculous and Gurdjieff’s All and Everything, Beelzebub’s Tales to His Grandson. Finding someone who … Read more
My first teacher in the work was Mrs. Popoff who had been P.D. Ouspensky’s “secretary.” This meant she was responsible for recording what was said at group meetings—from memory. When Gurdjieff came to New York, she was in the movements classes he gave. She attended his famous dinners, which meant getting home in the wee … Read more
I am a cross I realized this morning in New Hampshire. Here, at the end of the dock. In this bright, still, early morning. The water is still, I can see down to the sandy bottom, a little fish swims there. I go inwards, relaxing in layers—first my skin, then muscles, tendons, bones. Deep into the very … Read more
Dear readers and friends, This week’s post is a jubilant announcement that my Memoir is out! Real People: At the Pinnacle with Irmis Popoff and the Second Basic Course with J.G. Bennett, A Memoir, is now available on Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/Real-People-Pinnacle-Sherborne-Bennett/dp/1954744706 Real People Synopsis In today’s world of political and climate instability, Real People tells the story of … Read more
What does Gurdjieff mean when he talks about becoming a “real” human being? One of Bennett’s goals for students at Sherborne House was to learn how to work at becoming such a person. My wish to meet “real people” and be “real” myself drew me in part to Bennett’s ten-month residential course at Sherborne. But … Read more