P.D. OUSPENSKY-PART II-

P.D. Ouspensky broke from Gurdjieff for the last time in 1924....and returned, as it were, to what he had attempted, at least in his 'imagination' and 'outlook' to what he had started in 1921 in London....his ambivalence towards Gurdjieff is mentioned in his book,IN SEARCH OF THE MIRACULOUS and is brought forth more fully, an, perhaps, forcibly in the video/dvd by that same name.... Whether or not his separating the man, Gurdjieff from the teachings and considering these as the most important, is a rationalization to justify the anxiety and struggle, as well as the dilemma and perhaps impasse and blockage he had reached, you will have to decide for yourselves if you do.......in many of us there comes a point of intense anxiety and uncertainty to accept certain things and a great struggle to find some balance, especially when conflicting and highly emotional positions and topics arise and confront us....I could give a number of such things from my own experiences in life, certainly, many of which can expose our weaknesses, embarrass us, or show sides of us that are 'evil', 'corrupt', and all manner of ills that we tend to ignore or suppress...many from early childhood or from things of our own doing..... At any rate , here is what I conclude for the moment on O's break with G....... The LONLINESS & SHOCK of this BREAK-leaving an emotional attachment to the TEACHER & THE WORK and becoming an 'OUTSIDER'-no long seated beside the MASTER,THE TEACHER,and seeing others in the CIRCLE receiving the 'ENERGIES' while isolating onesself and undergoing a different kind of suffering.....this was part of what Ouspensky was undergoing, I feel and think, and this began in Essentuki where he saw himself 'slipping away' from the Work...a sort of test by Gurdjieff at the time, which becomes evident when most of the other followers of G stilled continued to associate with him despite his dismissal of 'work' when he stopped the efforts.....if we look at the 'stop exercise' we can see that this was, this apparent break that affected Ouspensky more than the others, was just this....a 'stop' which would end when the Master said the words to 'move' or 'recover' or whatever....you would have to know what this means by actual practice of this sort of exercise to understand what I am saying here. AND,of course, O'S WORK HAD TO TAKE A MUCH DIFFERENT COURSE....but not as he claimed at the time, along the same lines or in the same direction as GURDJIEFF'S.....Ouspensky thought he was 'saving' the system, the work,the Fourth Way, the Teachings from the destructive Path he thought or felt or sensed that Gurdjieff was taking...in other words, 'a higher' road....Consequently,Ouspensky reached a point when he had to renounce all the teachings, the system, the work,etc. and remain 'alone with the alone'...to borrow a phrase from Krishnamurti,so to speak..... Ouspensky was not the only one to end up at a chasm, an impass, an obstacle, and the like and we all do this, like it or not, admit it or not......REALITY ERECTS A WALL BETWEEN US AND IT....and GURDJIEFF knew that we need to enter REALITY & BEING if we want to be immortal...TO BE......