Gurdjieff’s Temple Dances

I worked with a real Gurdjieff Group in the early '70s and was accepted into SUBUD 20 years later. Reading this brings back memories of learning "The Movements".

http://www.gurdjieff.org/bennett4.htm

When we arrived the only occupant of the long room was a tall man in a white costume and a yellow sash, who was standing in a corner with his back to the room and slowly nodding his head backwards and forwards. Others, both men and women, came into the room. All were wearing white costumes. Both men and women wore tunics buttoned up to the neck. The men had loose white trousers and the women wore white skirts over white pantaloons. No one spoke or took any notice of the others. Some sat cross-legged on the floor, others began to practice various postures and rhythms.

Chairs were arranged at one end, and two or three visitors entered and sat down. To our immense astonishment, we saw Ouspensky come into the room, looking neither right nor left and appearing not to recognize us. Soon afterwards Thomas de Hartmann came in and sat down at the piano. I had not suspected that either of them was connected to Gurdjieff.

Gurdjieff himself came in soon after. He was dressed in black. As soon as he entered, all the performers stood up and arranged themselves in six lines. They wore different colored sashes, and I expected to see them arranged according to the colours of the spectrum, but for some reason the red was in the wrong place.

Hartmann began playing. The first dance was accompanied by a magnificent slow theme that was more like a Greek anthem than an Eastern temple dance. The dance itself was very simple—almost like Swedish gymnastics. Each dance lasted only one or two minutes. The action grew more and more intense. After a time, the straight lines were broken up and the performers placed themselves in some intricate pattern. Before the dance began, one of the men said in English: “The exercise that will follow represents the Initiation of a Priestess. It comes from a cave temple in the Hindu Kush.” This was the most impressive and moving event of the evening. The exercise lasted much longer than the others. The part of the priestess, who scarcely moved at all, was taken by a tall and very beautiful woman. The expression of her face conveyed the feeling of complete withdrawal from the outer world. She seemed unaware of the complicated weaving movements of the men and women surrounding her. I had never before seen such a beautiful dance, or heard such strangely disturbing music.

After the Initiation of the Priestess, there were several exercises for men only. Then everyone lined up at the back of the room while Hartmann played a series of chords. Gurdjieff shouted an order in Russian and all the dancers jumped in the air and rushed at full speed towards the spectators. Suddenly Gurdjieff in a loud voice shouted “Stop!” and everyone froze in his tracks. Most of the dancers, being carried by the momentum of their rush, fell and rolled over and over on the floor. As they came to rest they became rigid like people in a cataleptic trance. There was a long silence. Gurdjieff gave another order and all quietly got up and resumed their places in the original ranks.
J.G.Bennet

Burning Down the House

"Walk-ins" is an idea I have encountered twice in the last 2 days. Yesterday on the web I came across the idea that Hitler may have been one & now I am watching an X-File on the subject. Some believe that if one becomes suicidal one is open to possession by a spirit or demon. Hitler arrived in Munich a nobody with no direction in life, no interest in politics and no history of anti-Semitism.
About 10 years ago I set fire to my previous Housing Assn. Flat while apparently sleepwalking although I had not gone to sleep in bed as is my custom.
[dammmit I'm too tired. It'ts 5.00pm & I cannot stay awake; must be relapsing.]
During the first few years of ME I suffered periods of such exteme malaise and fatigue I wanted to die. I joined the VES so I could buy Final Exit and made a living will, DNR. I read suicide NGs and talk.euthanasia - the NG of www.churchofeuthanasia.org . I was not suicidal at the time of the dissociative episodes that culminated in the fire. In fact I was going out to The Star and Garter to see Death Metal bands. Somewhat out of character in fact I even bought a Blood for Blood black vest which I've never worn. On ADP I asserted that we have no free will and there is indeed no objective evidence we have.
The paradox:

We have to believe in our own free will.

we have no choice in the matter.

I am now of the opinion that we must act as if we have free will or we may act as if possessed by a demon. I was not in control of my own actions on several occassions before the fire and have no memory of most of them. For about 2 years I had no better explanation of the fire than Demonic Possession but found this hard to believe. Eventually I saw a TV program about people who killed for no reason and had no memory of it. They were acquitted after sleep experts showed that they could have been sleepwalking. T.B.C.