Chapter#12

Work in groups becomes more intensive. G. gives a definite task. Essence and personality. Version #3

The main ideas: (1)groupwork - Can this (the WORK) be done by yourself or are groups neccessary? According to Gurdjieff a human being is incapable of realizing himself simply by noting his inward states - he needs the reflection of them in others in order to discover their meaning for himself. From :Meetings with Remarcable Men.(Ofcourse Gurdjieff needs groups too.) (2)Tasks - What does it mean to have a task? Do we need daily tasks? Yes we do! Fully conscious work seems to have 4 stages:Deliberation: Setting goals or objectives with adequete motivation. Decision:Making a choice or a comittment to one goal (an objective to be realized). Planning:Organize the best way to achieve this goal. Execution:The actual implementation and realization of these goals or objectives. From Apocalypse Now by Peter Roache de Coppens.Ultemetly one has to ask "What is my task?" (3) Ouspensky asks Gurdjieff to explain "Recurrence" from the top of page 250 to the last paragraph on p. 251. Gurdjieff tries to take the explanation back, but it's too late, Ouspensky says "I already got it." (4) What is a miracle.(Janet's notes on this subject would ne good, but I don't have it.) (5) Essence vs Personality (the inner and the outer part of us). (6) Sex.
Quotes from Richard Liebow: "You have to protect your garden, so sometimes you have to pull out the weeds ."(8-12-02) "Energy goes where attention goes." "Ritual Practice provides a certain state of consciousness." "We're all in business! In commerce of somekind; We're all distributing or producing goods and services."(1-27-03) The picture is where Gurdjieff lived during the war 6 Rue des Colonels Renard (First floor).
Objectives: Celok: This is a place of tasks. Write your Life Story 1 to 2 pages long.

Outline Points
Work in groups becomes more intensive. Each man's limited "repertoire of roles." See Glossary The choice between work on oneself and a "quiet life." A very difficuly choice, because you have to do it every day. Because Gurdjieff says "one has to make a choice, to decide to seek either to become completely mechanical or completely conscious. This is the parting of the ways of which all mystical teaching speaks about. Heidegger calls this the choice between an autentic or inauthentic life. Difficulties of obedience. The place of "tasks." G. gives a definite task. Reaction of friends to the ideas. A friend could be the one who shares our values. Richard Liebow The system brings out the best or worst in people. What people can come to the work? Preparation. Disappointment is necessary. Just as a well-fed man is not in search of food, a happy man is not interested in seeking happiness. So long as you search for happiness, you are unhappy. Question with which man aches."We Cannot Create the Hunger in You." Reevaluation of friends. A talk about types. G. gives a further task. Attempts to relate the story of one's life. Intonations. "Essence" and "personality." Sincerity. A bad mood. G. promises to answer any questions. Freedom exists not in finding answers but in the dissolving of all questions. Unfortunately we are not interested in this. "Eternal Recurrence." An experiment on separating personality from essence. A talk about sex. The role of sex as the principale motiv force of all mechanicalness. Sex as the chief possibility of liberation. New birth. Transmutation of sex energy. Abuse of sex. Is abstinence useful? Right work of centers. A permanent center of gravity.

For our review of the content of Chapter Twelve we address some of these questions)Developed by Richard Liebow:

Are you becoming progressively more convinced that without a group you can do nothing?
Do you sense that in this group you are required to be obedient?
Do you sense that in this group you are required to perform specific tasks?
Are you able to verify the suggestion that these ideas bring out the best and the worst in people?
Do you find yourself more and more cynical about and disappointed with the aims and aspirations of ordinary people?
Do you find yourself revaluating your friends?
Do you find yourself observing that human beings are of different types?
Do you find yourself trying to ferret-out the vivifying influences in your personal history--events that have changed the course of your life?
What is your method for getting yourself or someone else out of a bad mood?
Do your bad moods tend to express themselves in depression, irritation, vindictiveness, outright anger--or what?
Do you have any interest in Ouspensky's theory of eternal recurrance?
What is your method for getting someone to by-pass his or her personality--of getting him or her down to his or her essence?
"What do you want?"--if you were to respond to that question from the depths of your being, what would be your answer?
Have you noticed that only certain types of human beings evoke a strong erotic response in you?
Do you really believe that the basic attractiveness of most social situations is really a wish for some subtle titillation?
Do you feel that sexual abstinence may be useful?
Do you feel that you understand Mr. Gurdjieff's opinion relative to the abuses of sex?
Are you the least bit interested in transforming your sexual energy into the kinds of finer fuels that may give you access to the higher dimensions of thinking and feeling normally associated with the powers of creative genius?
Are you becoming more skillful at sensing implications in the intonations of what you and other people are saying?
Have you noticed that people show different faces in different situations?
Have there, as yet, been any great disappointments in your life?

Notes:
Francis Bacon 1561–1626, English philosopher, essayist, and statesman. Bacon belongs to both philosophy and literature. He projected a large philosophical work, the Instauratio Magna, but completed only two parts, The Advancement of Learning (1605), later expanded in Latin as De Augmentis Scientiarum (1623), and the Novum Organum (1620). Bacon's contribution to philosophy was his application of the inductive method of modern science. He urged full investigation in all cases, avoiding theories based on insufficient data. He has been widely censured for being too mechanical, failing to carry his investigations to their logical ends, and not staying abreast of the scientific knowledge of his own day. In the 19th cent., Macaulay initiated a movement to restore Bacon's prestige as a scientist. Today his contributions are regarded with considerable respect. In The New Atlantis (1627) he describes a scientific utopia that found partial realization with the organization of the Royal Society in 1660. His Essays (1597–1625), largely aphoristic, are his best-known writings. They are noted for their style and for their striking observations about life.
George Berkeley (1685 - 1753), Ireland's most famous philosopher, was possibly also the world's greatest philosopher-bishop since St Augustine. His contribution to philosophy was radical, and he seems to have relished his own reputation as the holder of outrageous opinions. In his book Three Dialogues, his mouthpiece Philonous is accused by his doubtful friend Hylas of being "one who maintained the most extravagant opinion that ever entered into the mind of man." By the end of the three dialogues Philonous has of course enlisted the doubting Hylas as a firm supporter. Berkeley's contemporaries were not so easily convinced, but he did have a powerful effect on the later philosopher David Hume , who in turn influenced Immanuel Kant . He is also credited by Arthur Schopenhauer for having inspired the latter's concept of The World as Will and Idea.
David Hume Generally regarded as the most important philosopher ever to write in English, David Hume (1711-1776) -- the last of the great triumvirate of "British empiricists" -- was also noted as an historian and essayist. A master stylist in any genre, Hume's major philosophical works -- A Treatise of Human Nature (1739-1740), the Enquiries concerning Human Understanding (1748) and concerning the Principles of Morals (1751), as well as the posthumously published Dialogues concerning Natural Religion (1779) -- remain widely and deeply influential, despite their being denounced by many of his contemporaries as works of scepticism and atheism. While Hume's influence is evident in the moral philosophy and economic writings of his close friend Adam Smith, he also awakened Immanuel Kant from his "dogmatic slumbers" and "caused the scales to fall" from Jeremy Bentham's eyes. Charles Darwin counted Hume as a central influence, as did "Darwin's bulldog," Thomas Henry Huxley. The diverse directions in which these writers took what they gleaned from reading Hume reflect not only the richness of their sources but also the wide range of Hume's empiricism. Comtemporary philosophers recognize Hume as one of the most thoroughgoing exponents of philosophical naturalism.

Glossary:
Repertoire of Roles: rep·er·toire (rep'?r-twär') n.The range or number of skills, aptitudes, or special accomplishments of a particular person or group. Gurdjieff laid emphasis on the idea that the seeker must conduct his or her own search The teacher cannot do the student's work for the student, but is more of a guide on the path to self-discovery. As a teacher, Gurdjieff specialized in creating conditions for students - conditions in which growth was possible, in which efficient progress could be made by the willing. To find oneself in a set of conditions a gifted teacher has arranged has another benefit. As Gurdjieff put it, "You must realize that each man has a definite repertoire of roles which he plays in ordinary circumstances ... but put him into even only slightly different circumstances and he is unable to find a suitable role and for a short time he becomes himself."
Definite Task: DEFINITE=precise; explicit and clearly defined; example "the wedding date is now definite" known for certain
Task synonyms= job, chore, stint, assignment. These nouns denote a piece of work that one must do. A task is a well-defined responsibility that is usually imposed by another and that may be burdensome: I stayed at work late to finish the task at hand. Job often suggests a specific short-term undertaking: “did little jobs about the house with skill” (W.H. Auden). Chore generally denotes a minor, routine, or odd job: The farmer's morning chores included milking the cows. Stint refers to a person's prescribed share of work: Her stint as a lifeguard usually consumes three hours a day. Assignment generally denotes a task allotted by a person in authority: His homework assignment involved writing an essay.
Preparation:The state of having been made ready.
Intonations:Rise and fall of the voice pitch - modulation, pitch contour Also the act of singing in a monotonous tone - chanting
Essence: In philosophy, essence is the attribute (or set of attributes) that make an object or substance what it fundamentally is, and that it has necessarily, in contrast with accident, properties that the object or substance has contingently and without which the substance could have existed. The notion of essence has acquired many slightly but importantly different shades of meaning throughout the history of philosophy; most of them derive from its use by Aristotle and its evolution within the scholastic tradition. Based on such considerations, essence was a key notion of alchemy (cf. quintessence). 1 Modern Philosophy 2 Existentialism 3 In metaphysics 4 Marxism's anti-essentialism 5 Buddhism 6 Essentiast Modern Philosophy: In the modern period, some philosophers—such as George Santayana—have kept the vocabulary of essences but have abolished the distinction between essence and accidents. For Santayana, the essence of a being is simply everything about it, independent of the question of existence. Essence is what-ness as distinct from that-ness.
Existentialism: Existentialism is founded on Jean-Paul Sartre's statement that "existence precedes essence." In as much as "essence" is a cornerstone of all metaphysical philosophy and the grounding of Rationalism, Sartre's statement was a refutation of the philosophical system that had come before him (and, in particular, that of Husserl, Hegel, and Heidegger). Instead of "is-ness" generating "actuality," he argued that existence and actuality come first, and the essence is derived afterward.
In metaphysics: "Essence," in metaphysics, is often synonymous with the soul, and some existentialists argue that individuals gain their souls and spirits after they exist, that they develop their souls and spirits during their lifetimes. For Kierkegaard, however, the emphasis was upon essence as "nature." For him, there is no such thing as "human nature" that determines how a human will behave or what a human will be. First, he or she exists, and then comes attribute. Jean-Paul Sartre's more materialist and skeptical existentialism furthered this existentialist tenet by flatly refuting any metaphysical essence, any soul, and arguing instead that there is merely existence, with attributes as essence. Thus, in existentialist discourse, essence can refer to physical aspect or attribute, to the ongoing being of a person (the character or internally determined goals), or to the infinite inbound within the human (which can be lost, can atrophy, or can be developed into an equal part with the finite), depending upon the type of existentialist discourse.
Marxism's anti-essentialism: The factual accuracy of this section is disputed. Please view the article's talk page. In contrast to Idealism and Aristotle-derived philosophies that argue for an essence before all actuality or existence, materialism rejects essence altogether. Karl Marx was, along with Kierkegaard, a follower of Hegel's, and he, too, developed a philosophy in reaction to his master. In his dialectical materialism, the zeitgeist of Hegel (an overriding essence) is replaced by a purely deterministic set of material clashes. Marxist philosophy and economic analysis, therefore, is wholly anti-essentialist. There is no "trans-historical" anything, in Marxist thought. Historical moments determine utterly the self. There is no universal human nature, no essence, and no universal essence of objects, either.
Buddhism: Within the Madhyamika school of Mahayana Buddhism, Candrakirti identifies the self as being: an essence of things that does not depend on others; it is an intrinsic nature. The non-existence of that is selflessness. -- Bodhisattvayogacaryacatu?sataka?ika 256.1.7 Indeed the concept of Buddhist Emptiness, is the strong assertion that all phenomena are empty of any essence - demonstrating that anti-essentialism lies at the very root of Buddhist praxis. Therefore, within this school it is the innate belief in essence that is considered to be a cognitive obscuration which serves to cause all suffering. However, the school also rejects the tenets of Idealism and Materialism; instead, the ideas of truth or existence, along with any assertions that depend upon them are limited to their function within the contexts and conventions that assert them, akin to Relativism or Pragmatism. For them, replacement paradoxes such as Ship of Theseus are answered by stating that the Ship of Thesesus remains so (within the conventions that assert it) until it ceases to function as the Ship of Theseus.
Essentiast: Essentiast Thinking, developed by the post-modern philosopher Anastasia, deals with Essence as the pure spirit of action, or emotion, specifically one of great passion. Essentiast thinking believes that one must experience Essence in creative ways, such as through self-expression.
Personality:personality, in psychology, the patterns of behavior, thought, and emotion unique to an individual, and the ways they interact to help or hinder the adjustment of a person to other people and situations. A number of theories have attempted to explain human personality. In his psychoanalytic interpretation, Sigmund Freud asserted that the human mind could be divided into three significant components—the id, the ego, and the superego—which work together (or come into conflict) to shape personality. Psychoanalysis emphasizes unconscious motivations and the conflicts between primal urges and learned social mores, stressing the importance of early childhood experiences in determining mature personality. Exponents of behaviorism, such as B. F. Skinner, suggest that an individual's personality is developed through external stimuli. In the behaviorist model, personality can change significantly with a shift to a new environment. Social-learning theorists, notably Albert Bandura, also emphasized environmental influences but pointed out that these work in conjunction with forces such as memory and feelings to determine personality.
Trait theories have arisen in recent years, with the object of determining aspects of personality that compel an individual to respond in a certain way to a given situation. Gordon Allport delineated three kinds of traits with varying degrees of intensity: cardinal traits, central traits, and secondary traits. Raymond Cattell used a group of obvious, surface personality traits to derive a small group of source traits, which he argued were central to personality. Objections to trait theories point out that behavior is largely situation dependent, and that such traits as “honesty” are not especially helpful in characterizing personality and behavior. Despite such objections, trait theories have been popular models for quantifying personality. Paul Costa has postulated five basic dimensions of personality—introverson-extroversion, friendly compliance–hostile noncompliance, will, neuroticism, and openness to experience—and has developed a test to measure these traits.
Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers supported a humanistic approach to personality, pointing out that other approaches do not factor in people's basic goodness and the motivational factors that push them toward higher levels of functioning. Researchers offering biological approaches to personality have focused on the action of specific genes and neurotransmitters as determinants.
Psychologists may use psychological tests to determine personality. Well-known personality tests include the Rorschach test, in which an individual is asked to look at ink blots and tell what they bring to mind; the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory, which uses a true-false questionnaire to delineate normal personality types from variants; and the Thematic Apperception Test, which employs cards featuring provocative but ambiguous scenes, asking the viewer their meaning. The American Psychiatric Association has sought to delineate personality disorders in its periodically revised and updated Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.
Sincerity:In the modern world, sincerity is the elusive virtue of speaking truly about one's feelings, thoughts, desires. Sincere expression carries risks to the speaker, since the ordinary screens used in everyday life are opened to the outside world. At the same time, we expect our friends, our lovers, our leaders "to be sincere."
Sex as a liberating force: I don't know how G.stands upon these issues, but it is true that sex is perhaps one of the greatest gifts and experiences open to human-kind where the act of interpersonal communion can reach levels of immaculate intensity. Apparently sex is a sacred and liberating force able to bridge diverse boundaries.
Right work of centers: From an interview: MISHLOVE: The sly man? SPEETH: Oh huh. And he was a sly man. You work on all the centers simultaneously, and you do it in life, and when you do it, you don't go out of your life at all, because in your life are the clues for what you need to know, which is your very self, right? So if you just would go home and look at your house -- look at how you've chosen to live, look in your bedroom, what books are there, what kind of bed did you choose -- all of that has information about you. You've made tracks. MISHLOVE: So when Gurdjieff talks about the harmonious development of man, he means the integration of these centers. SPEETH: Yes, these functions. MISHLOVE: The will, the emotions, and the intellect. SPEETH: Right. MISHLOVE: And when they function harmoniously, they create another quality, some of the higher capabilities of the human being -- I suppose the way we say it's more than just the sum of our parts. SPEETH: I hope so, yes. And that is all supposed to be done without special conditions, without withdrawal from the world, but in fact making use of the world. MISHLOVE: Now, for purposes of clarification, sometimes we hear the term the Fourth Way, Fourth Way schools, and they're often referring to the same concept, I guess -- of not choosing one of the three earlier ways, the monk, the yogi, or the fakir, but the way of the harmonious integration. SPEETH: Right. Gurdjieff also said, which these Fourth Way schools don't remember perhaps, that the Fourth Way will never have an institution. That is, it cannot, without losing the very center of its existence, be institutionalized. So any place that has a name, is a nonprofit corporation, that has a place, a site, is not the Fourth Way. The Fourth Way cannot be found that way.

Additional Notes: The art of interpreting by means of poetry, painting, myths and legends and also in sculptures, songs and history has been going on from the beginning). It's like questioning nature by experiments. Existentialism and Indian Thought by Guru Dutt 1960. How does sex come into liberation.
Hinduism(Richard practiced Vedanta) which has a directness because it was revaled to man in a remote age when there was no distinction between esoterism and exoterism, so truth did not had to be veiled.(2-18-03)
Also try to devide essence from personality. This could help you to write your Life Story.
Thought control is not possible without becoming a neurotic.