Isssue #13 — June 2022
We always use more energy than is necessary, by using unnecessary muscles, by allowing thoughts to revolve and by reacting too much with feelings.
~ Gurdjieff
The Circles of the Yezidis
We are all Yezidis.
According to Gurdjieff in Meetings With Remarkable Men, if you draw a circle around us, we cannot escape from it. The world we were born into began to draw such a circle around u from our first moment. It drew it from the culture we were born into, the behavior of our family and our peers, the local geographic and climatic conditions and, of course, inner-considering.
Artificial Intelligence is Formatory
Recently the news broke that a senior software engineer at Google had concluded that Google Al chatbot, LaMDA, was “sentient.” LaMDA is an acronym for Language Model for Dialogue Applications-it is software designed to “chat” with people intelligently. Software of this kind a has existed for a long time, and its capability has improved significantly year by year.
Hypnosis Explored
Even in our modern age, the actual mechanics of the phenomenon of hypnosis remain in the realm of theory and speculation, even while the phenomenon itself is extensively used for both good and ill in arenas as diverse as medicine, psychotherapy, advertising, political propaganda and interpersonal manipulation.
The Second and Third Series Study Group commenced on Tuesday May 3rd. There is still time to join if you are interested. It will involve 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.