THOMAS & OLGA DE HARTMANN

The book, "OUR LIFE WITH MR. GURDJIEFF" by THOMAS & OLGA DE HARTMANN, is the New Revised and Expanded Edition of 1983 which I began to read in 1985, which, at that time, was read by me to find out more about Mr.Gurdjieff and his life and methods and I read it in the ordinary way one does such things and also found some things of interest. I began to re-read it in 2011 and again in 2012 and now in 2013 have again revisited this for several reasons which I hope to make clear here if possible.                            

Many readers of this find it an interesting account of things, no doubt, if they are somewhat interested in 'ideas' and the 'work',etc. and Mr. Gurdjieff while others simply find it a biographical account of a time long ago and of two persons associated with Mr. Gurdjieff and thereby will probably not look further and also not examine this work in more intense detail and scrutiny, and certainly not in the way I approach such materials now. So those who come to this blog are urged to begin reading this work if they have not already done so and those who have read it, are urged to look at my comments on this work and also respond if they wish to my conclusions, suggestions, and notions,etc. For this, I immensely thank them for doing this, well in advance of any comments thus far.                                                                                                                                       The book gives us a glimpse of life in Russia and the areas in which the DE HARTMANNs traveled with Mr. Gurdjieff and also of the ordeals these 'aristocraticall educated and talented' persons had to undergo and survive and, of course, never be able to return to their previous life, which vanished with the Bolsheviks, a group that eventually became better known as, and controllers of, so-called 'communism', at least in Russia. In fact, the group that came out of Russia with Mr. Gurdjieff experienced somewhat similar 'ordeals' and a few, like Mr. Ouspenksy,  have written some accounts here and there,while others did not..These experiences were prior to World War II, and during and before and after World War I, the effects of which we still can feel in some instances and the decisions made during those times are still being felt and 'payed for' in some ways, even if the present generations in their 'historical-hysterical' bliss of ignorance do not.

 In reading any of these accounts or any account of adventure, ordeal, trial, and other difficult, unusual, weird, or otherwise experiences of people who have written rather well of such, there are two or three ways to read these and not the usual ones. First, most of us read such on a 'mental' or 'intellectual' basis or, if not, on an 'emotional/devotional' basis, looking for thrills, romance, excitement, etc. as a change of pace from our ordinary life, that is, if we read and not succumb to 'the hypnotic powers' of the 'BoobTube' or  the 'MONITOR'  and the internet and other cultural diversions of modern day gadgetry.    Few of us read anything with our bodies,however, although our bodies are present, no doubt, in either a chair, bed, couch, floor, seat, etc. somewhere, maybe in a library, a school, an office, a lunchroom,etc. or any place we can 'snatch a read' and hardly as an actual undertaking to read for a specific and intense experience with our three machines: the body(physical), the mind (mental) or the emotions(feelings) and never 'sensing' with our nerves and arteries,etc. or kinetic positions what is being described for us to absorb in such accounts. We may feel sex urges if the material calls or evokes such in an erotic fashion or anger over some description of things or even anxiety over a situation a hero or heroine has to resolve, but seldom do we go beyond that and make those micro, minimal, miniscule movements, those tensions, those contractions, etc. that underlie our bodies and which only a sharp observer can detect in us. Sherlock Holmes would often use such and so would Houdini in some instances to read the 'body language' which a powerful account can make manifest if it really affects and impresses and influences you. That is the kind of reading all these things needs and I hope to emphasize this as I discuss the various books in this blog that I have planned.