Gurdjieff uses the word “mentation” when referring to what he calls the intellectual or thinking center in man. When it comes to intellect, I’ve always had a bit of an inferiority complex. My sister was the brainy one, I had to struggle for my A’s in school. My relationship with the thinking center started early-on … Read more
OUSPENSKY AND SMALL ACCUMULATORS Before talking about Gurdjieff’s Great Accumulator, let’s review Ouspensky’s introduction to the Small Accumulators. The notion that we can collect and store energy in ourselves. To fill our small accumulators, we plug “leaks” – avoid gabbing, a certain tone of laughter, nervous gestures, spinning daydreams, etc. We each have our own … Read more
Mrs. Popoff introduced me to the practice of morning ablutions sometime around 1971. Living weekends at her home in Long Island, I worked to earn money towards the second Basic Course at Sherborne House in England and attended group meetings Monday evenings. Tuesday mornings I returned to school in New Jersey. Jack, my boyfriend, lived … Read more
Sometimes a “real person” is hidden behind the exterior. I’ve kind-of known David Kherdian, almost twenty years my senior, for thirty years. He and his wife, Nonny, are Armenian-Americans. That in itself lends a mystique, as Gurdjieff was half Armenian. David’s grandparents died in the Turkish massacre of Armenians way back when. That history still … Read more
Who is J.G. Bennett, G.I. Gurdjieff, and what is Claymont? These names have loomed large my entire adult life. For most people they have not. So here goes: G.I. Gurdjieff was a Greek-Armenian mystic who brought the “wisdom of the East” to the West. Basically, he spent his youth searching for the answers to questions. … Read more