Meeting of Bournemouth Group at Withycroft Southbourne on Wednesday the 9th of April 1952
Present: Mr. Myers(in charge) - Miss Dacombe - Mr. Evans - Miss Flammger - Mrs. Gray - Miss Sunderland - Mr. Turner -
Mrs. Corns - Mr. Glasscott - Mrs. Groves - Miss Pettipher - Mrs. Taylor - Mr. & Mrs. Whateley - Miss Walker
Absent: Miss Meadows - Mr. Litchfield - Mr. & Mrs. Rogers - Mrs. Turner - Mrs. Warder - Miss M´Causland - Mrs. Boome
Record of Gurdjieff´s Music. Followed by a reading of chapter 18 of "All and Everything"
Mr. Mayers: If you want any help with this chapter I advise you to ask now. We have Mr. Pinder with us who knows more about this book than anyone I know.
Mr. Turner: Can you explain why light was not perceived until it was reflected?
Mr. Pinder: It is reflected in Essence. This chapter is the center of gravity of the whole book.It is called the "Arch-Preposterous". Why is that? What does preposterous mean? Think what that means? You could write whole volumes to explain the chapter. You see, Essence is stunted. We haven´t got a proper Essence. It grows roughly until the age of 5, and then it stops growing. It is overmantled by Personality which is false. This is done by our methods of education, by imitation, by all sorts of outward conditioning. That is why it was said in the Gospels "Unless you become as little children you cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven." It means to revert to the state of a child, and to make your Essence grow.
To go back to this chapter, when your Essence is made to grow, you can see much more. You see more in absolutely empty space, and I don´t mean a vacuum. You can see the reflection before your own eyes. It is your own Astral. It can be seen most vividly in the sunshine. You also see your past history. This book is obstruse allegory.
Gornahoor Harharkh is the symbol of Essence. It says, thanks to his son, he is left "sitting in an old American galosh." That is to say, Essence must be made to grow. Gornahoor Harharkh´s unredeemable sin is that he concerned himself with scientific experiments only. If you send time with experiment only, you have wasted your time. The whole thing needs a great deal of pondering. The more one ponders for oneself, the more one develops and harmonizes the three centers.
Beelzebub has to be read from start to finish and known from start to finish. We must remember and know all we can in a given moment. Consciousness is being able to say at a given moment all that you know. One bears in mind that totality of knowledge and therefore one says the right thing at a given moment.
Take the word THEO - MERTMA - LOGOS and divide it like this. The last two divisions mean "the word" in different languages, and Theo of course means "God". Gurdjieff by this arrangement is indicating the "word" issuing from the Sun Absolute. In the Bible the word used for this means both "to tell" and "to say". We have the same in our language today and also in German. Everything is based on number. Pythagoras said this, and he was a real teacher. The higher the rate of vibration, the less the density of matter, and the greater the density of vibration the coarser the quality of the matter. We human beings have a very coarse vibratory number. The exercises you are doing are built up on vibratory numbers. The difficulty you have in doing them is because of the difference in rate of vibration of the limbs. In this the music is designed to help. It supplies the harmonious vibrations which you cannot supply yourself, and so enables you to do them.
Miss Walker: Is Individuality the same thing as Essence?
Mr. Pinder: In a way, but not yet. Mankind is born with Essence. On this planet Essence must be made individual. In our life, as it is now lived, this is not possible.
Mrs. Corns: No Essence could be passive, it must be active surely. It will only take the food that is necessary for it. I mean it could not take a poison for instance?
Mr. Pinder: It depends on what kind of Essence it is. Oh yes, it can take a poison. When Essence is grown you can see far more. Bur only those who are "striving for the sun" as it is expressed, will be able to develop. All this that I am saying you must work at for yourselves. Don´t take my word for it. I may be wrong.
Mr. Myers: I don´t think any of us really understands what Djartklom is?
Mr. Pinder: It has many meanings. The forces scatter, the active splits off and the passive splits off. When the earth has gone further round and the force is turned away from the sun, these two parts reunite. The third part has become then heat. That is why until we get the feeling centre harmonizing with the other 100% we can know nothing about heat. It is a heat that pervades everything with a calm warmth, that pervades the whole Being. It has nothing to do with heat as we know it from outside.
Mr. Whateley: When we are trying to get the meaning of Being, which center should we use?
Mr. Pinder: You have got to use all three centers. You have first to understand it subjectively before you can understand it objectively. Through the school work you develop the higher centers in order to understand more fully. If we don´t do this work we shall "die like a dog". This is the only life we have got. The horrible thing is that if we exclude the opportunity when found, we may never have this chance again.
Mr. Turner: How are we part of organic matter?
Mr. Pinder: Organic life is the link between this planet and the Sun. You mustn´t forget that Nature has to do something for the "higher-ups" for which she needs something, and she has to get it from us and from other planets. In our life we have the possibility of giving her what she wants, and getting something for ourselves. If we were conscious human beings, then we could give what she wants and get something for ourselves as well. The difference between thinking and moving should be neutralized by feeling. Think first, feel next and then do.
Mr. Whateley: When you get perfect balance in the three centers, does another force enter?
Mr. Pinder: The centers are never balanced. Two may be balanced, but the third is not in harmony.
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