Issue #11 — April 2022

Everything we do, we do in sleep. It is a sleep so deep and so hard to discern, that it takes great and prolonged efforts to escape from it. To do this, it is necessary, above all, to see it and to know it.

~ Gurdjieff

Trogoautoegocrat—  The Common System Harmony

When we read The Tales, we sometimes encounter Beelzebub using the term “common system harmony.” Gurdjieff chooses not to define this term clearly. We take this term to refer to the operation of a living thing (or “a cosmic unit,” as Beelzebub sometimes calls them).
The living being we are most familiar with is Man. We know, for example, that if a particular organ of the body fails, … Read more…

A Season In Hell

A while back, if I remember right,
my life was one long party
where all hearts were open wide,
where all wines kept flowing.

One night, I sat Beauty down on my lap.
—And I found her galling.
—And I roughed her up.
I armed myself against justice.

I ran away. O witches, O misery, O hatred, …Read more…

The Fate of The Hasnamusses

Beelzebub explains the different types or gradations of the Hasnamuss with the following words.
“In the common presence of every kind of three-brained being, there can arise during the process of his planetary existence, four kinds of independent Hasnamuss-individuals.
“The first kind of Hasnamuss-individual is a three-brained being who, while acquiring in his common presence .. Read more…

The Straying Camel

In The World But Not Of It

The Judeo-Christian bible makes multiple references to the concept of “being in the world, but not of it.” How can this be achieved, and what does it imply about responsibility to the world around us? From the perspective of “The Work,” as practiced by followers of G.I. Gurdjieff, how can this be understood?
As I experience it, “being in the world, but not of it” does not eliminate my … Read more…

The Second and Third Series Study Group commences on Tuesday May 2nd. It will comprise the progressive reading and study of Meetings with Remarkable Men, followed by Life is Real Only Then When ‘I Am’. More details can be found here. If you want to sign up, go here. If you are already a member of The Tales Study Group, sign up here.Â