Psychological Commentaries on the Teaching 

of Gurdjieff and Ouspensky Volume 1
By Maurice Nicoll
(pages 76-79)

The diagrams below are supplements 
to audio recordings of the commentaries - 
recorded by Ms. Elizabeth Mohr: 

https://youtu.be/WHUyVfR5j0E

(Click to expand)

Page 76

Page 77

Page 78

Page 79

Note: For anyone interested in listening to all the recordings. Here

is a link to the YouTube playlist that currently holds 23

recordings. Ms. Mohr has indicated that she 

intends to complete the whole series. 

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLLEyynkjmd_Y6bBxdOvwDsEjaf8VGQ55w

Idols

When our hearts and minds are not centered on God, we live in the power of idols. When our heart, mind and body are not centered on God, we are centered in the things of this world.

We know this in an intellectual way, yet we don't live it out in our day to day life. Our intellectual mind knows it, but our heart remains elsewhere and our body usually wants to sleep. How can we claim ownership of this knowledge, so it becomes the primary force that motivates us throughout our daily lives. If we have knowledge that we know to be truths and we don't live by those truths, what does that say about us.

"Although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him" - Romans 1:21

"An idol is anything we want more than God, anything we rely on more than God, anything we look to for greater fulfillment than God. Idolatry is thus the hidden sin driving all other sins." - Nancy Pearcey (Finding Truth) Pg.36

Why do we resort to idolatry in the first place? Why do we turn away from God? Even after conversion a Christian is continually tested because we live in a fallen world and until we are taken up to Heaven and become fully Glorified we will always face the possibility of backsliding due to original sin and our fallen nature and its continued influence over us.


If we ask ourselves what is our motivating force; worship of God, or the worship of the world?

Identification with the creation 'the thing' becomes our God instead of using the creation to come closer to God we become enamored by the beauty of the creation and mistakenly believe and act as though its worth more than God, we forget about God and settle for a plastic replica.


W P.

The Conversation of the Two Sparrows

'In my opinion, the quintessence of an idea can sometimes be very well transmitted to others by means of certain anecdotes and proverbs formed by life.' So, in the present case, in order to show the difference between the literature of former civilizations and the contemporary, I wish to make use of an anecdote very widely known among us in Persia, entitled "The Conversation of the Two Sparrows".

'In this anecdote it is said that once upon a time on the cornice of a high house sat two sparrows, one old, the other young.

'They were discussing an event which had become the "burning question of the day" among the sparrows, and which had resulted from the mullah's housekeeper having just previously thrown out of a window, on to a place where the sparrows gathered to play, something looking like left-over porridge, but which turned out to be chopped cork; and several of the young and as yet inexperienced sparrows had sampled it, and almost burst.

'While talking about this the old sparrow, suddenly ruffling himself up, began with a pained grimace to search under his wing for the fleas tormenting him, and which in general breed on underfed sparrows; and having caught one, he said with a deep sigh:

' "Times have changed very much—there is no longer a living to be had for our fraternity.

' "In the old days we used to sit, just as now, somewhere upon a roof, quietly dozing, when suddenly down in the street there would be heard a noise, a rattling and a rumbling, and soon after an odour would be diffused, at which everything inside us would begin to rejoice; because we felt fully certain that when we flew down and searched the places where all that had happened, we would find satisfaction for our essential needs.

' "But nowadays there is plenty and to spare of noise and rattling's, and all sorts of rumblings, and again and again an odour is also diffused, but an odour which it is almost impossible to endure; and when sometimes, by force of old habit, we fly down during a moment's lull to seek something substantial for ourselves, then search as we may with tense attention, we find nothing at all except some nauseous drops of burned oil."

'This tale, as is surely evident to you, refers to the old horse-drawn vehicles and to the present-day automobiles; and although these latter, as the old sparrow said, produce even more noise, rumblings, rattling's, and smell than the former, in spite of all this they have no significance whatever for the feeding of sparrows.

'And without food, as you yourself will understand, it is difficult even for sparrows to bring forth a healthy posterity.

'This anecdote seems to me an ideal illustration of what I wished to point out about the difference between contemporary civilization and the civilization of past epochs.

'In the present civilization, as in former civilizations, literature exists for the purpose of the perfecting of humanity in general, but in this field also—as in everything else contemporary—there is nothing substantial for our essential aim. It is all exterior: all only, as in the tale of the old sparrow, noise, rattling, and a nauseous smell.

(Pages 14-15)  Meetings With Remarkable Men - G.I.Gurdjieff

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The Little Drummer Boy

Blessed are the pure of heart: for they shall see God. (Matthew 5:8)

 

 

 

 

The Myth Of The Black Sheep

Man is an integral part of the Universe: he is an important part of the organic Kingdom on the planet Earth. As such he manifestly serves a natural function in the universal economy.

Beyond the limits of present historical memory there have always been stories and fables hinting at the existence of such a situation for mankind. Fables and allegories are one of the many means adopted by Schools for passing on a concealed knowledge which may yet become available to those in a position to interpret them correctly.

One of these tales is the "Myth Of The Black Sheep". This story is a genuine myth. It contains many authentic elements of higher knowledge, and those elements, moreover, are concealed to the extent that we are not directly told to whom the story really refers.

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The tale tells of a shepherd and his flock of sheep. To the latter the shepherd takes on the aspect of a beneficial being, indeed of a beneficial god. He continually addresses himself to their welfare and he employs what can seem to them to be only supernatural and unimaginable means to assure their safety and to rescue any of their number who may have the misfortune to wander away and become lost or to fall into some other jeopardy.

He leads them to shelter against the cold and he provides them with the food and other requirements necessary for their existence. He takes very good care of them, much better care indeed than they could assure for themselves. It is therefore no source of wonder that they should look upon him as genuinely concerned with their welfare and entertain toward him feelings of grateful awe.

The shepherd himself, however, has purposes in relation to these sheep of which they are unaware. These purposes would much astonish the sheep if the latter were to know them; they are concerned first with the supply of wool and later with the supply of mutton. In fact the sheep have somewhat seriously mistaken the shepherd's motives, for his care of them is occasioned primarily by considerations that the wool should be thick and useful for the shepherd's (not the sheep's) kind and that the meat should be well nourished and tender when it is finally brought to market. These values, held by the shepherd and the real causes of his behaviour, relate to matters either entirely beyond the knowledge or the understanding of the ordinary sheep.

An ordinary sheep, as can be seen at a glance, is white. He and his fellows, as alike as so many peas in a pod, make up the vast majority of the sheep population. But very occasionally at long intervals there appears an unusual sort of sheep whose presence can also be seen at a glance, for this is a black sheep. The black sheep is both more sceptical and far cleverer that the ordinary member of the flock and, while taking care to present an appearance of conformity in his daily sheep-like behaviour, he is all the time directing his attention to the little anomalies which seem to contradict the general views held by his companions. The annual shearing, for instance, is certainly done at a time of year when the sheep will be least discommoded by it; yet it really seems a strange proceeding and, upon serious reflection, one that can scarcely be thought of as motivated primarily by a concern for the sheep's comfort. The black sheep also speculates upon the problem raised by the unaccounted for disappearances of his compatriots just when they have reached their manifest prime; and he explores various hypotheses in an endeavour to explain to himself these peculiar happenings. Many a black sheep never arrives at any satisfactory conclusions upon these questions before his turn at the butcher's comes around, but very occasionally some unusually clever specimen contrives to see what he should not see or overhear a conversation at which he is not presumed to be present. And thus he learns the secret.

We may imagine his consternation as the truth becomes known to him. The situation is not only a shocking surprise, it is also so contrary to established opinions and convictions as to overturn them completely. Every seriously held life-view concerning sheephood is destroyed at a stroke. And supposing the sheep to experience some feeling of solidarity with his paler brothers, we may next imagine his concern to share with them the information he has discovered regarding their desperate circumstances. A large proportion of the black sheep who have by some chance reached this position, do not proceed beyond it, for hastily to blurt out the dreadful news not only arouses the disapproving incredulity of the other sheep, but is calculated likewise to bring matters to the attention of the shepherd.

There is a ready means at hand to quash such subversive activity; it consists of a premature trip to the slaughterhouse, inevitable later in any case for this remarkable fellow who is both too clever and yet not quite clever enough.

Still, at very long intervals indeed, there does occur a black sheep of such outstanding acumen that he avoids this pitfall, too, and is thrown back upon the most sober consideration of what to do for the best. Such a sheep has lost his peace of mind once and for all; and he soon comes to realise that in his extremity nothing will suffice except to add an equal degree of courage to the intelligence which had brought him to his present pass. To remain where he is, is certain death even (in his own conditions) a sort of deliberate suicide. But what then is he to do? It would be hard enough to escape the watchful eye of the shepherd and, even if such a miracle were accomplished, where would he find fodder to keep himself alive or shelter from the winter which he knows will surely come? All these necessities have always been provided for him; he lacks any knowledge himself as to how to go about obtaining them. Would it perhaps be better to forget the whole thing, to enjoy life, in many respects obviously suited to sheephood and to resign himself to the fate which will overtake him only a little sooner than need be in any case? And so, finally, we many imagine in what straits our black sheep struggles with all these alternatives.

At the end of the fable we are told of a black sheep which came to a final decision. Having waited interminably for a possible opportunity, that black sheep disappeared one dark night from the fold and could not thereafter be found.
It had escaped.......we are not told what happened to it after that.


Source: Unknown