It is striking to note that, after reading Meetings with Remarkable Men, in which George Gurdjieff recounts, sometimes indifferently, sometimes boastfully, the countless times he took advantage of others’ innocence, manipulated, lied, and deceived, there are still those who want to have him as their spiritual master! It brings to mind that saying from Rio de Janeiro (surely it is from Rio): “Every day a trickster and a sucker go out into the street. When they meet, there’s business.“ Gurdjieff is one of those who reeks of lies, and a connoisseur of this type of nature easily notices that some of his accounts, if not invented, are interspersed with exaggerations and falsifications aimed solely at impressing. What a thing! “Magnetic personality,” “mystical guide,” “spiritual master”… Through these stories that should not be told outside a confessional, Gurdjieff proves himself to be nothing more than a professional con artist.
The Human Capacity to Get Rid…
The human capacity to get rid of the powerful impression caused by death is impressive. When experienced, it seems decisive, there seems to be a certainty that its vividness will never leave the memory. But then time passes, and the day comes when it is as if it had never happened, and one lives peacefully, ignoring what once seemed like a lesson. Forgetting is a gift; but only partially: remembering, sometimes, is ensuring that the past has not been in vain.
It Is Truly Wonderful to Read Szondi’s…
It is truly wonderful to read Szondi’s observations when one’s knowledge of one’s own ancestors is limited to two generations! There seems to be no more effective way to portray disorientation. In Szondi, ancestors always seem to be lurking, seeking ways to manifest their inner tendencies in the lives of their descendants; knowing them, therefore, is essential. And to see that, as a rule, the offspring of anti-civilization know nothing about them; they live as if they had been thrown onto the earth from above by a stork; and they spend their lives like this…
Sometimes, Even a Notorious Con Artist…
Sometimes, even a notorious con artist, even a fifth-rate ideologue, liar and malicious, can produce very interesting pages when describing his personal experiences. Unless he falsifies them too, he will be able to experience in writing exactly what the great writer experiences. And he will be convincing. There is something special about this: writing offers everyone, without distinction, identical possibilities—and to make the most of them, one need only take the act of writing seriously.