next three years were to see this learning process accelerated. As the Revolution began, Gurdjieff recognized that it would no longer be possible to work in Russia. He sent Ouspensky a postcard saying that he was going back home, to Alexandropol. Ouspensky and the Petrograd group had already decided to leave, so when Gurdjieff invited Ouspensky to join him, he took a train for the Caucasus. In Tiflis (now Tbilisi), the capital of Georgia, drunken soldiers held meetings on the platform all night, and three were shot - one for theft, the second because he was mistaken for the first, and the third because he was mistaken for the second. In Alexandropol, Ouspensky met Gurdjieff's family, and saw a photograph of Gurdjieff that revealed 'with undoubted accuracy what his profession had been at the time it was made' - he adds that, since this was his own discovery, he will keep it to himself. The photograph was the one that showed Gurdjieff as a stage hypnotist. Ouspensky seems to have tried to keep this aspect of Gurdjieff a secret, possibly because he believed Gurdjieff used it for sexual purposes. (Gurdjieff was later to reveal his former profession in his book Herald of Coming Good , published in 1933.)
Ouspensky was impressed by Gurdjieff's filial respect for his father and mother - the father was over 80 - Gurdjieff listened to his father's conversation for hours on end, stimulating him with questions.
After two weeks they decided to return to Petrograd. But at Tiflis they met a general who had been one of Gurdjieff's pupils and what he told Gurdjieff made the latter change his mind about returning. He left Ouspensky to go on alone. But before that happened, an interesting conversation took place. When Ouspensky asked how he could strengthen his 'I', Gurdjieff told him that he should already be feeling his 'I' differently. Ouspensky had to admit that he felt exactly the same as usual. But two years later he was to experience this sense of a 'controlling ego', the 'owner' of the horse and carriage, and to know that his years with Gurdjieff had borne fruit after all. 'Man number four' had come into being.
In Moscow and Petrograd, Ouspensky passed on to Gurdjieff's students the message that they should join him in the Caucasus. When he returned, Gurdjieff had moved to Essentuki - not far away - and finally a group of 12 foregathered there. It included Ouspensky's wife and step-daughter, Thomas de Hartmann and his wife Olga, and a pupil called Zaharoff.
Here, during the next six weeks, Gurdjieff introduced them to the 'Stop!' exercise, and to the idea of 'super-effort' - deliberately pushing yourself further when tired. It seems to have been at this point in his career that Gurdjieff began to introduce the strenuous physical exercises that became such a central part of his method. A typical one is described by Ouspensky: sitting on the floor with knees bent and palms close together between the feet, the pupil had to lift one leg and count up to ten, saying 'Om' instead of using numbers, then up to nine, then up to eight, and so on, down to one, then start repeating it all backwards, meanwhile 'sensing' his right eye. Then he had to separate the thumb and 'sense' his left ear. And so on. When this exercise was mastered, the pupils had to add breathing exercises to it, and after that, still more 'complications' were introduced. In addition to this, they were all made to fast. And in spite of physical weakness, they were made to run for miles in the heat, stand with extended arms, or mark time at the double. All these, Gurdjieff explained, were merely 'preliminary' exercises.
But it was during these exercises that Ouspensky had his one experience of 'higher consciousness'. In a room alone, he began to mark time at the double while performing breathing exercises. As he was pouring with sweat and his head was spinning, 'suddenly something seemed to crack or move inside me and my breathing went on evenly and properly at the rate I
Ouspensky was impressed by Gurdjieff's filial respect for his father and mother - the father was over 80 - Gurdjieff listened to his father's conversation for hours on end, stimulating him with questions.
After two weeks they decided to return to Petrograd. But at Tiflis they met a general who had been one of Gurdjieff's pupils and what he told Gurdjieff made the latter change his mind about returning. He left Ouspensky to go on alone. But before that happened, an interesting conversation took place. When Ouspensky asked how he could strengthen his 'I', Gurdjieff told him that he should already be feeling his 'I' differently. Ouspensky had to admit that he felt exactly the same as usual. But two years later he was to experience this sense of a 'controlling ego', the 'owner' of the horse and carriage, and to know that his years with Gurdjieff had borne fruit after all. 'Man number four' had come into being.
In Moscow and Petrograd, Ouspensky passed on to Gurdjieff's students the message that they should join him in the Caucasus. When he returned, Gurdjieff had moved to Essentuki - not far away - and finally a group of 12 foregathered there. It included Ouspensky's wife and step-daughter, Thomas de Hartmann and his wife Olga, and a pupil called Zaharoff.
Here, during the next six weeks, Gurdjieff introduced them to the 'Stop!' exercise, and to the idea of 'super-effort' - deliberately pushing yourself further when tired. It seems to have been at this point in his career that Gurdjieff began to introduce the strenuous physical exercises that became such a central part of his method. A typical one is described by Ouspensky: sitting on the floor with knees bent and palms close together between the feet, the pupil had to lift one leg and count up to ten, saying 'Om' instead of using numbers, then up to nine, then up to eight, and so on, down to one, then start repeating it all backwards, meanwhile 'sensing' his right eye. Then he had to separate the thumb and 'sense' his left ear. And so on. When this exercise was mastered, the pupils had to add breathing exercises to it, and after that, still more 'complications' were introduced. In addition to this, they were all made to fast. And in spite of physical weakness, they were made to run for miles in the heat, stand with extended arms, or mark time at the double. All these, Gurdjieff explained, were merely 'preliminary' exercises.
But it was during these exercises that Ouspensky had his one experience of 'higher consciousness'. In a room alone, he began to mark time at the double while performing breathing exercises. As he was pouring with sweat and his head was spinning, 'suddenly something seemed to crack or move inside me and my breathing went on evenly and properly at the rate I
Similar Books
