HERBERT D. CROLY 1869-1930

In the book, FOOTPRINTS OF THE PAST,Images of Cornish,New Hampshire & The Cornish Colony by Virginia Reed Colby & James B.Atkinson, which I bought recently in my quest to research on my Grandfather, Frank Jones, and Cornish, while doing some TV projects for Public Access Television, I came across the name of HERBERT D. CROLY, who,in the words of the book,'head b ecome enarmored of the ideas of a mystic religious cult led by Georges I. Gurdjieff'. There is,of course more to this, that what is said in this book,for CROLY and also his father, were interesting persons who had specific views on race,birth control, race, politics, and social ideas which focused on such and reflected somem of the prevalent and progressive notions of the day..and knew Margaret Sanger and also the Eugenics Movement that led to 'sterilization programs of Blacks and Native Americans' and other 'undesirables' such as the feeble-minded..... The Art Colony of Cornish as well as some of the other 'famous' residents in that area, no doubt, played their part in Croly's life and thought, but he began by studying philosopy under William James and is thought to have gone to Paris to study philosophy around 1899. He is,of course, well-known for his being one of the co-founders of the NEW REPUBLIC and that is another story as is his change of political and social and economic viewpoints that drastically changed,somewhat as he neared the end of his life..... Like Orage, another 'literary figure of note, who was also involved in'economic' thoughts and tendencies of specific notions, Croly was apparently drawn to 'higher' thoughts and aspirations, possibly focused on the 'intellectual' center, as were many of Gurdjieff's followers...attracted by the 'ideas' of the system rather than the needed/necessary work on the emotions and body.... I am not sure if anything is existing that might show his concerns and interests in a better light as concerns 'THE FOURTH WAY'...

OUSPENSKY & GURDJIEFF-

GURDJIEFF created THE STRUGGLE OF YES & NO(that of the MAGICIANS) in OUSPENSKY who did not realize that everything he puzzled about was given, was under his very nose, and may well seem apparent to others but not to Ouspensky. GURDJIEFF,knowing OUSPENSKY'S resistance and reluctance to conditions and following things without a goal under immediate obligation and/or commitment, particularly of a 'religious' nature without intellectual discussion and 'knowledge', seemed to emphasize all thse things to arouse, initiate,awaken OUSPENSKY,who could not bridge the gap between mind(thought) and emotion(feelings) nor go to the point of controlling the body, the physcial, so that THREE GAPS in his machine, his existence, his 'being' remained..... GURDJIEFF always seemed to 'mirror' certain traits,types, and characters of his folowers,disciples, students, which many could not stand, admit,accept, or work on beyond a certain point or else they abandoned all efforts. OUSPENSKY kept exerting a sor tof 'stubborn' effort along lines and a direction he considered or claimed was the same a GURDJIEFF'S, at leas originally and also rationalized that he was 'saving the system', keeping it 'pure' etc.ignoring that all he learned about it, such as it was, came from GURDJIEFF. But Ouspensky,like others and myself,also, find an urge, a tendency, even a perversity, to mix other ideas and practices,and beliefs and attenuate the WORK, the SYSTEM, etc. in some way. WE ALWAYS THINK AND FEEL WE KNOW MORE AND CAN DO BETTER OR IMPROVE THE SYSTEM....such is our human weakness....

PRE-SAND EGYPT & GURDJIEFF

After attending a lecture and slide presentation,etc. on 'Sacred Dance(s)' given in Vermont recently, the various Ancient Dances of Egypt,Crete, Greece, and Rome, in particular,seemed more relevant to the Teachings of Gurdjieff and some of his travels in Egypt,Nubi,Abyssinia(Ehtiopia) and Crete as well as Greece....many might wonder why he seeming ignored Rome and Roman dances,etc....well, he might have known of Etruscan, Sicilian, and, of course, the Lascaux Caves /'dances' and 'rituals' etc. which need further discussion but at another time..... The Romans, from what I recently read in a book I shall list when I have time, apparently took the 'mystery' out of religion and replaced it with 'doctrine'......thus,undermining the 'esoteric' basis for religious conformity among other things.... The Ancient Mystery Religions of the Near East dwelt often on the notion of 'sacrifice'and the last ceremonies of such are said to reside in THE LAST SUPPER but not the original one with CHRIST or JESUS....many 'magicians' and 'occultists' of all varieties have considered the MASS,especially the special masses and High Masses, as 'magical ceremonies', magical rites and rituals' that evoke and invoke various 'gods' and 'angels' and other entities,usually descending from Heaven or God,etc..... However,the BLOOD & FLESH of which CHRIST speaks and gives to his disciples at the LAST SUPPER,which some relegate to a simple 'Passover' meal(which commemorates another 'sacrifice of Egyptian firstborn' that many have forgotten as far as Christianity goes),was according to Gurdjieff, as mentioned by Ouspensky, the actual Blood and Flesh of Christ that was consumed by the Disciples at that Supper-an 'initiation' ceremony possibly, but one that was to keep the Presence of Christ within them, through 'magic'....that is, the astral body of Christ would be connected to theirs.....as He knew he was to die and each disciple apparently knew beforehand,especially at this Supper, the Last One, what his role was to be in all the coming events until the Resurrection. Certainly, some psychoanalysts and psychologists and anthropologists, etc. have described the EUCHARIST or the LAST SUPPER AND MASS as 'ritual cannibalism'....and certain 'black magicians' have seemingly adopted some literal aspects of such ceremonies as have some groups in rather wild circumstances or among 'so-clled' primitive and superstitious persons or cultures or tribes, etc. and also some serial killers of note.... As somewhat disturbing for ordinary minds, these considerations do have a mystical/arcane/occult significance and meaning but I shall have to leave all this to another time for practical reasons...

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......

JACOB NEEDLEMAN

In the current issue of PARABOLA MAGAZINE, JACOB NEEDLEMAN has an interesting article and he continues to mention GURDJIEFF and his teachings which have influenced him, as many may know or realize, and in his book, which I recently bought to examine his points and considerations of such, WHAT IS GOD?, I found several interesting things, although I did not think the title other than asking a question on this 'philosophical' question suitable, in that, one tries to make God into an Object, rather than a BEING....subject/object notions are,old ways of thinking that are still with us, and,though some of us still continue to think and feel in this way, others want to avoid such considerations if possible, and,of course, they usually aren't possible...due to the level(s) of understanding and experience,etc. To ask,Who is God? has been asked by some and also Where is God? another important question with serious implications for those who neither believe or disbelieve in the usual manner of contemporary persons who take up such notions..... Needleman is well-known as a writer and author,whose books I have not read much of but whose wrestling with both religious and philosophical and even'Gnosti-Occult' ideas I can sympathize with and appreciate certainly, since, as he mentions in this book, he came to the ideas of Gurdjieff in the same way and at the same time i did in 1957...but he was led to the book by P.D. Ouspensky: THE SEARCH OF THE MIRACULOUS, while I was led to the book by P.D. OUSPENSKY, as I have said before: THE FOURTH WAY, published also the a same year.... Like Needleman, I also became aware of the writings of D. T. Suzuki in the fifties while at UNH...for one thing, one of my pscyhology professors had been in Japan and talked a lot about Zen Buddhism from that standpoint and had written, if I recall, some articles in the various Psych Journals of the Day...and in my history of Religion classes, Asian Art Class, and some of my philosophy classes, I came across both Zen and Susuki....and later to the more popular writings on such, such as those of "The Beat Generation" to which I belonged along with everyone else at that time....but I mention all this nopt to compare myself to Needleman who is a proficient and outstanding writer,scholar, etc. but to give an indication that everyone, sooner or lated, has to confront certain 'cherished' notions they may hold in and about life and to ask further questions before they eventually die...

THE GURDJIEFF JOURNAL:BOOK REVIEW of THE REALITY OF BEING by Jeanne De Salzmann

In Volume 14, issue 2, number 54, of THE GURDJIEFF JOURNAL a book review(written by Dick Myers) of the late Jeanne De Salzmann appears,which I read and which prompted me to purchase the book entitle THE REALITY BEING, published by Shambala Publications and which consists of 312 pages........ In the review,Myers mentions in footnote #5(all notes appear at the end of the article(s)) that she made visits to Rene Guenon and to Karfried Graf von Durckhiem as well as attended Krishnamurti's summer gatherings in Switzerland..... The implications of this tend to imply that she was facing some problems and had some reasons to look outside the Gurdjieff teachings and work, perhaps, even though she was the oldest living pupil/'associate','heir' of his works at the time...... After reading the book I do not find it difficult to see why she did so for several reasons that I will discuss at another time....but for those who are familiar with these three significant figures and their writings, it is not difficult to fathom why she might have done so.....there are several indications in her REALITY OF BEING that would tend to show reflections of this......but they do not seem to be reasons that would in any way, shape, or manner distort the actual methods and teachings of Gurdjieff or the Fourth Way, but, if anything, give them an impetus which might escape those who are advocates of these three persons....about which much can be said....

IN SEARCH OF THE MIRACULOUS,FRAGMENTS OF AN UNKNOWN TEACHING DVD

IN SEARCH OF THE MIRACULOUS, FRAGMENTS OF AN UNKNOWN TEACHING, is a DVD, in black and white, based the book with the same title(s) by P.D.Ouspensky and is produced by Fairway Films,PTY.Ltd, Sydney, Australia. I watched and re-watched i several times, in between listening sessions of the music of Gurdjieff, for several reasons. The actors were superb(though you could not hear what they said or spoke, as the entire thing was narrated in English by a convincing speaker. The editing was excellent but what interested me the most was the various footage, archival, of events in Russia,etc. during that time, WWI & The Russian Revolution and 'Ouspensky's' comments. For those who have seen the video MEETINGS WITH REMARKABLE MEN and admired the portrayal of Gurdjieff in that,I can only say, that as 'enjoyable' as that movie in its interpretation was(leaving aside its obvious ommissions) that the actor in IN SEARCH OF THE MIRACULOUS, who portrayed Gurdjieff seemed more closely to resemble him,except for the eyes of Gurdjieff which few can duplicate or attempt to duplicate This actor did not, of course, really fill Gurdjieff's presence. The film was narrated by the 'P.D.Ouspensky', a voice-over, but the film reflected several important things and omitted a lot of necessary information and left one wondering why Ouspenksy broke with Gurdjieff which seemed so 'abrupt'(Ishall give my own interpretation of why this happened, which is slight different from that of others who have commented on this...but,again it is my own speculation.... Still the film is important and so is the book,itself, only even more so! It needs to be carefully read.....as do all of Ouspensky's works....that stimulate the intellectual center