nimo...
SEXUAL BELIEFS AND PRACTICES
By all reports Gurdjieff was a vigorous, charismatic man with a robust sexual
nature, described by biographer James Webb as “a sensual man who
enjoyed the pleasures of the bedasmuchasthoseofthetable.”(1)
Gurdjieff'ssexualconductshockedmanypeople in the 1920s and 1930s,
especially in conservative America. There were rumours that he had a highly
varied sex life and was involved in unusual sexual practices. Some claimed
he was a master of exotic Tantric sexual teachings learned in the East. While
many of the stories surrounding Gurdjieff and sex were clearly fictitious or
based on hearsay, there is a body of information on this subject gleaned
from the written accounts of his pupils and research by biographers,
scholars and academics that can be considered reasonably reliable.
Gurdjieff held many traditional conservative beliefs and attitudes about
sexuality, probably based on his upbringing and cultural conditioning. He
strongly condemned masturbation, contraception and homosexuality as
affronts to the proper order of nature. At the same time he clearly
possessed a sophisticated and nuanced understanding of the role of
sexuality in the process of spiritual transformation, and enunciated a
complex model of the transmutation of sexual energy to a higher
developmental level. Sometimes Gurdjieff created teaching situations which
revealed to his students and others the hyp- notic power of their
conditioned attitudes and unconscious expression of sexuality.
Gurdjieff’s personal sex life appears from all accounts to be complex and
sometimes contradictory, with varied expressions throughout his life. At
times he was celibate, at other periods highly sexually charged. He fathered
numerous children out of wedlock, including many with his own female
disciples.
Critics have roundly condemned Gurdjieff’s sexual behaviour as
irresponsible and contrary to the actions of an authentic spiritual teacher.
But teachers in many other
spiritualtraditionshaveengagedinexactlythesamekindofsexualbehaviour.(2)
The notion that spiritual masters must always be celibate and beyond the
“base desires of earthly sexuality” is clearly an idealized myth and not
congruent with reality.
However, the issue of a sexual relationship between a spiritual teacher and
his or her student(s) raises a number of important ethical questions: Is a
sexual relationship between a teacher and student harmful or beneficial
from a spiritual perspective? Is there an imbalance of power between
teacher and student that compromises the authentic expression of a loving
relationship between two equal partners? Is it possible to separate an
intimate sexual relationship from an objective impersonal transmission of
spiritual knowledge?
1Gurdjieff's Beliefs About Sexuality
Gurdjieff discussed sex with his pupils both in his lectures and in their
private con- versations. He believed that the function of sex was twofold: to
ensure the continuation of the human species, and to produce a ‘finer
energy’ to nourish higher spiritual develop- ment. He regarded sexual
energy as sacred and wrote in Beelzebub’s Tales to His Grandson that sex
“constitutes and is considered everywhere in our Great Universe for beings
of all kinds of natures, as the most sacred of all sacred Divine sacraments.”
(3)
Gurdjieff was of the opinion that sexual energy in the modern Western world
was misused in the pursuit of personal pleasure and gratification. (4) He
claimed that, in general, the only two proper ways of expending sexual
energy were through a conven- tional sex life or through spiritual
transmutation. In 1916 Gurdjieff spoke to his Russian pupils about the
misdirection of sexual energy in the pursuits of everyday life and the self-
deception it can entail:
Sex plays a tremendous role in maintaining the mechanicalness of life.
Everything that people do is connected with ‘sex’: politics, religion, art, the
theater, music, is all ‘sex.’ . . . What do you think brings people to cafés, to
restaurants, to various fetes? One thing only. Sex: it is the principal motive
force for all mechanicalness . . . Sex which exists by itself and is not
dependent on anything else is already a great a
chievement. But the evil lies in the constant self-deception. (5).
Gurdjieff took a distinctly pragmatic approach to sex and its role in human
life, insisting that sex should be separated from the intellect and the
emotions: sex was sex. Gurdjieff linked sex to personal development and, as
such, considered it to have a different function for each individual:
His teaching about the transformation of the sexual energy is very personal
and he was emphatic that there are no general rules that can be given. In
some cases he regarded abstinence as desirable, in others encouraged
strong sexual activity; in some cases self-control, in others the devotion of
one man and one woman to the creation of one single soul between them. In
some cases, he demanded at least for a time a completely promiscuous
sexual life in order to rid a man with obsession with sex . . . Gurdjieff did not
wish to give any rules that people would take to be universally valid and that
could lead not only to misunderstanding but even to disaster. (6)
Many of Gurdjieff's sexual beliefs run counter to contemporary thought and
have been ridiculed by modern critics. For instance, he described
masturbation as a harm- ful affliction and an evil, and even claimed in
Beelzebub’s Tales to His Grandson that people were transformed into
“psychopaths” by the practice. Further, he endorsed male and female
circumcision as a means to prevent masturbation in youth: “This terrible
children’s disease of onanism is scarcely ever found among those children
upon whom this rite has been performed, whereas the children of those
parents who fail to observe this custom are almost all subject to it.” (7)
2
Gurdjieff also insisted that achieving an orgasm before reaching adulthood
had
serious consequences on an adolescent’s mental development: “If even
once the sensation of the climax of what is called the ‘Ooomonvanosi
process’ occurs in what is called the “nervous system” of their children
before they reach majority, they will already never have the full possibility of
normal mentation when they become adults.” (8)
Gurdjieff's conservative ideas also manifested in a strong homophobia. Pupil
Fritz Peters relates that “he was puritanical, even a fanatic about
homosexuality, and condem- ned it vigorously . . . he felt that homosexuality
- as a career - was a dead-end street.” (9) Ironically, many of Gurdjieff's
female students, including his group ‘The Rope,’ were lesbian. It seems
unlikely that Gurdjieff subscribed, in a practical way, to the belief that
spiritual development was possible only with a “normal” sex life and
orientation.
Gurdjieff's Sexual Behaviour
Gurdjieff was keenly interested in people’s sexuality and how it manifested in
dif- ferent personality types. Students report how he was able to describe in
accurate detail, and often in vulgar and amusing terms, the sex lives and
sexual history of some of his followers or the people who came to him for
advice.
Gurdjieff often took advantage of the sexual preoccupations of people to
provide a teaching lesson. In 1933, Gurdjieff invited a number of influential
New York writers and journalists to a party. Fritz Peters was able to observe
first-hand Gurdjieff's striking demonstration of the role of sex in human
behaviour.
During the dinner party Gurdjieff subtly switched roles from that of the
perfect host to that of satyr . . . The result was the beginning of an orgy.
Gurdjieff eventually stopped proceedings by ridiculing his guests and
directing them to see from their conduct what they really were. He told them
that, as this was an important lesson, he deserved to be paid; and according
to Peters collected several thousand dollars. (10)
Gurdjieff's use of the power of sex as a teaching tool also had a light-
hearted side, as some of his female students discovered. He would
sometimes encourage young women to visit him late at night, implying that
a “special kind of experience” awaited them. When they arrived, their
expectations were usually exposed and dashed:
Sometimes young women would come to Paris to visit him. He would flirt
outrageously with them, and invite them to come back to the flat late at
night when everyone had gone. Often thinking that this was some kind of
mysterious test, or just frankly curious, they would go. In all cases that I
heard of, Gurdjieff would open the door, look astonished and say: “Why you
come now?” give them a handful of sweets and send them away. (11)
But not all female followers were treated to a gentle rebuke. Nicholas de Val,
a natural son of Gurdjieff and for many years his personal assistant, reported
that in 1937,
3
even though approaching 70 years of age, Gurdjieff’s sex life was so robust
that it dis- turbed his sleep to such an extent that he was forced to move to
a nearby hotel!
The most reliable information about Gurdjieff's sexuality is provided by
student John Bennett who conducted extensive research on almost all
aspects of his life:
His sexual life was strange in its unpredictability. At certain times he led a
strict, almost ascetic life, having no relation with women at all. At other
times, his sex life seemed to go wild and it must be said that his unbridled
periods were more frequent than the ascetic. At times, he had sexual
relationships not only with almost any woman who happened to come within
the sphere of his influence, but also with his own pupils. Quite a number of
his women pupils bore him children and some of them remained closely
connected with him all their lives. Others were just as close to him, as far as
one could tell, without a sexual relationship. (12)
A great many stories and gossip about Gurdjieff's reputed sexual activities
surfaced over the years. While many of the claims were exaggerated, there
is no doubt that Gurdjieff fathered a number of children. Gurdjieff did not
believe in contraceptives and one result of his sexual behaviour was the
birth of more than a half dozen children by
variouswomen,manyofthemhisownstudents.(13) AmemberofaNewYorkgroup
wrote in the 1930s that: “His women followers obviously adored him, and
some of those who had found favor in his sight had visible mementos:
swarthy and liquid-eyed children.” (14)
John Bennett comments on the effect that Gurdjieff's sexual liaisons with
some of his female pupils had on their teacher-student relationship: “There
was a tendency on the part of some of the women to convey the impression
that only women could really under- stand him and only those women who
had slept with him were really initiated into his work.”(15)
AlthoughforsomewomentheWorkandsexualrelationshipwereinsepar- able, for
most female followers this was not the case. In the words of John Bennett,
Gurdjieff could be “all things to all women.”
The fact that Gurdjieff was sexually involved with pupils raises ethical issues
and challenges our notions of the teacher-student relationship. James
Webb examines some of the implications of Gurdjieff's behaviour in terms of
his use and misuse of power:
There is no doubt at all that Gurdjieff had sexual relations with many of his
pupils. The important questions are: under what conditions did these
relationships take place and what was the effect of Gurdjieff’s promiscuity
on the women who became his sexual partners?
If Gurdjieff merely used the power of his position to persuade girls to sleep
with him, is this a serious offense? . . . but failure to comply with Gurdjieff’s
plans often led to exclusion from the Work altogether. (16)
4
In ethical terms, many commentators argue that sex between a spiritual
teacher and student is clearly inappropriate and cannot be justified under
any circumstances. Others feel that a sexual relationship is permissible, but
only if it is helpful to the pupil's spiritual development. Regardless of which
view is adopted, there remains the more troubling issue of whether
Gurdjieff, with his tremendous power and authority over his female students,
was engaging in sexual relations with them consensually or with some
subtle or overt element of coercion.
In his writings, especially the second and third series of All and Everything,
Gurdjieff hints at a powerful inner conflict revolving around his sexual
desires. On the one hand there were the interiorized prohibitions inculcated
during his upbringing and education recom-mending abstinence and
sublimation of his sexual urges and, on the other hand, his natural sexual
desires. Some have speculated that this early cultural conditioning created a
sharply dualistic attitude and behaviour toward women and sexuality that
manifested throughout his adult life.
Commentary
Gurdjieff’s sexual beliefs and personal sex life were certainly controversial
and widely discussed both during and after his lifetime. His numerous
liaisons with female pupils and resulting offspring were easy fodder for his
critics and fuel for speculative rumour by his followers. But Gurdjieff’s sexual
behaviour raises deeper questions of power, authority, ethics, judgement
and the nature of the teacher-student relationship.
Jack Kornfield’s survey of the sexual behavior of a broad sample of
contemporary spiritual teachers (see Note 2) provides a more universal
perspective and is highly instructive: “In fact, teachers are likely to have
active and complex sex lives. We have to re-examine the myth that
enlightenment implies celibacy, and that sexuality is somehow
abnormalorcontrarytotheawakenedmind.”(17)
Spiritualteachersarehumanafterall and sexuality is a powerful natural force
and integral part of life.
Sexual relationships between teachers and students can take a number of
different forms. Some of the relationships are loving, conscious and freely
chosen. Others, although lacking in emotional depth and commitment, are
openly and harmlessly sexual. Instances of true tantric sex or the
transmission of spiritual energy may also occur. But many have involved the
exploitation of students, secrecy and deception, and clearly contradict the
moral and ethical precepts of most spiritual traditions.
Sexual exploitation can take the form of secret affairs, sex in exchange for
access to the teacher, or serving a teacher with sexual favours in the name
of a “special teaching” or “initiation into tantra.” In extreme cases, sexual
misconduct has led to secret harems, abuse of underage boys and girls, and
even the transmission of AIDS to male and female students by a teacher
who told his unsuspecting partners that his special powers would serve as
protection. (18)
5
It is now recognized in the secular world that a sexual relationship between a
person in a position of power (doctor, therapist, teacher) and a person who
is dependent on them (patient, client, student) almost always involves an
element of coercion and betrayal of trust. The standard code of ethics of
universities and professional associations warn against “inappropriate
sexual contact,” which can range from verbal sexual innuendo to a long-
term sexual liaison with a student, patient or client.
Jack Kornfield spoke with a sample of largely female students who were
involved in a sexual relationship with their teacher. (19) Half the students
reported that the relationship had harmed their spiritual practice and their
relationship with their teacher. It also undermined their feelings of self-worth
and caused a great deal of pain and confusion. Many of the teachers also
suffered greatly as a result of the relationship.
Female students from many spiritual traditions have admitted that they
believed a sexual relationship with their teacher was part of their spiritual
training and they felt privileged at having been chosen to service a teacher’s
sexual needs. But many of them were also ambivalent about unresolved
issues of power, authority and male hierarchy. Some students concluded
that relationships between teachers and students were more about power
than about sex. (20)
Gurdjieff’s sexual beliefs and behaviour are illustrative of both the
complexity of human sexuality and the dynamics of a teacher-student
relationship. Is it appropriate for a spiritual teacher to have a sexual
relationship with a student? What are the implications on a personal and
spiritual level of such a relationship? Are there consequences that cannot be
foreseen and may carry long-term spiritual ramifications? These are serious,
challenging questions and there are no easy answers.
NOTES
(1) James Webb The Harmonious Circle: The Lives and Works of G.I.
Gurdjieff, P.D. Ouspensky, and Their Followers (Boston: Shambhala, 1987),
p. 332.
(2) In a study reported in Yoga Journal (July/August 1985, pp. 26-28),
Buddhist teacher Jack Kornfield interviewed a sample of spiritual teachers
from a variety of traditions about their sexuality. Almost three-quarters
reported that they were sexually active while the rest were celibate. Of the
teachers who were sexually active, 87% said that they had had at least one
sexual relationship with one or more students. One of the most striking
findings of the survey was that many spiritual teachers were no more
enlightened or conscious about their sexuality than the average person.
There were heterosexuals, homosexuals, bisexuals, exhibitionists, fetishists,
monogamists and polygamists. There were teachers who were celibate and
happy and those who were celibate and miserable. There were teachers
who were married and monogamous and those who had had many
clandestine affairs. Some teachers were promiscuous and hid it; others were
promiscuous and open about it."
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thanks...here's another from that site...both spun in a somewhat fluffy and sensationalist manner, and certainly with some lack of understanding of Gurdjieff...Webb is not the best source...did you have a point?
1DRUGS, ALCOHOL AND FOOD
Anthropological research suggests that human beings in virtually every culture in history have ingested chemical substances to alter their consciousness. Certain spiritual traditions celebrate inebriation as a metaphor for conscious transformation. Sufi mystics have spoken of being“drunk with the wine of love.” The Zen tradition has a history of poets and teaching masters who were spirited drinkers of saké. Other spiritual traditions have employed certain ‘power drugs’ and psychedelics in sacred rituals and ceremonies as an integral part of their teaching.In a conversation in 1915 with P.D. Ouspensky, Gurdjieff explained the theoretical premises to support the use of psychoactive substances such as opium and hashish by students of esoteric schools to aid their inner development:There are schools which make use of narcotics in the right way. People in these schools take them for self-study; in order to take a look ahead, to know the possibilities better, to see beforehand, ‘in advance,’ what can be attained later on as the result of prolonged work. When a man sees this and is convinced that what he has learned theoretically really exists, he then works consciously,he knows where he is going. Sometimes this is the easiest way of being convinced of the real existence of those possibilities which man often suspects in himself. (1)Gurdjieff was very aware of the properties and effects of mind-altering substances and used them both personally and with many of his students. However, the use of drugs in a spiritual context is controversial and has been criticized even by some of Gurdjieff’s own pupils such as John Pentland. (2) Gurdjieff’s use of alcohol, both in his personal life and as a teaching method with his students, has also been a source of criticism. And, his elaborate and celebrated meals accompanied by ritual drinking, have been misunderstood by critics who failed to see their spiritual significance.
Gurdjieff’s Knowledge and Use of Drugs and Alcohol
Gurdjieff possessed an extensive and profound knowledge of psychoactive substances and their effects, much of it clearly based on personal experience. Rafael Lefort, who attempted to trace the sources of Gurdjieff’s knowledge, claims that Gurdjieff studied in Eastern esoteric schools, where he was taught “the science of pharmacy and pharmacology, how to plant and useplants of importance, how to extract their essences and how to use these essences.” (3)References to the use and properties of alcohol, cocaine, hashish and opium appearthroughout Beelzebub’s Tales to His Grandson. One of Gurdjieff’s companions in his semi-autobiographical Meetings with Remarkable Men is the character Soloviev, said to be “an authority on what is called eastern medicine in general, and on Tibetan medicine in particular,1Updated 2017/02/03
and he was also the world’s greatest specialist in the knowledge of the action of opium and hashish on the psyche and organism of man.” (4)James Webb, a biographer of Gurdjieff, speculates that Soloviev “probably never existed” and hints that his character may have been an oblique reference to Gurdjieff himself. Webb also notes that Gurdjieff was contemptuous of Western medicine and claimed that only three drugs from the whole Western pharmacopeia were useful – opium, castor oil and an unidentified substance extracted from a certain tree. Gurdjieff’s liberal use of caffeine, tobacco and alcohol throughout his long teaching career has been documented by biographers, journalists and students. Coffee and cigarettes were a daily fixture in Gurdjieff’s life and were effectively employed to energize his writing pursuits during the 1920s and 1930s.Gurdjieff’s drinking was one of the most discussed and controversial aspects of his life.There is little mention of alcohol in the Russian phase of his teaching and certainly no suspicion of alcohol abuse. Ouspensky notes that at times Gurdjieff “liked to arrange big dinners, buying a quantity of wine and food of which however he often ate or drank practically nothing.”(5)However, following his serious automobile accident in 1924 there seems to have been a dramatic change in his drinking habits. In a conversation with student Jean Toomer he revealed some ofthe reasons for his heavy use of drugs and alcohol in the years following 1924:He then told me that following his motor accident he had been compelled to produce energy artificially. To this end, during the few following years, he had consumed enough drink to have killed ten men and, in addition, forty pounds ofopium. To my question, “Did you know in advance what you were doing, or was it an experiment attended by grave risk?” he replied, “It was necessary to create energy artificially, my condition and my means and aims were such. I knew it, yet it was also an experiment and a risk.” (6)Gurdjieff’s consumption of spirits clearly played an important role in the dissemination of his teachings and interactions with students. He reportedly could drink very large amounts of alcohol without showing obvious signs of inebriation. According to A.R. Orage: “Gurdjieff,who had an unusual capacity for drink, made a careful distinction between ordinary drinking and conscious drinking which could free the ‘I’ to think, feel, talk and act; that is, to expose‘essence’.”(7)That Gurdjieff was a heavy drinker for much of his life is indisputable. Whether or not he was an alcoholic, as esoteric teacher Oscar Ichazo and others suggest, is open to question.Although Gurdjieff did show some of the signs suggestive of alcoholism, such as daily drinking, drinking early in the day, and driving after drinking, he was clearly not impaired in any way that perceptibly prevented him from functioning at a very high level in all aspects of his life. The official medical cause of his death was cirrhosis of the liver and liver cancer. William Patrick Patterson, in his biography of Gurdjieff, makes some thought-provoking observations regarding the cause of Gurdjieff’s death:
3 His followers did not admit the real cause of Gurdjieff’s death in that he himself had said that cancer and heart disease “were almost always the inevitable results of living in an unharmonious atmosphere under constant strain and pressure.” But this was Gurdjieff’s great sacrifice: his own life. It must be remembered that he took a vow on 14 September 1911, “to live an artificial life in order to establish the ancient, esoteric teaching of the Fourth Way in the West.” [emphasis added.]Given the abnormal conditions and customs and deviations of our contemporary world, a constant and unflagging super-effort would be demanded that must, of course, be paid for in terms of constant strain and pressure. What was taken as a negative was really quite otherwise when truly seen. (8)
Use of Drugs and Alcohol with Pupils
According to Gurdjieff, certain drugs are sometimes employed in esoteric schools to separate personality from essence as a method of self-study: If personality and essence are for a time separated in a man . . . two beings,as it were, are formed in him, who speak in different voices, have completely different tastes, aims and interests, and one of these two beings often proves to be on the level of a small child . . . Certain narcotics have the property of putting personality to sleep without affecting essence. And for a certain time after taking this narcotic a man’s personality disappears, as it were, and only his essence remains. (9)There is evidence that Gurdjieff consciously administered drugs of this nature, possibly hashish, on certain occasions in specific circumstances to some of his pupils. John Bennett wasgiven access to the private unpublished memoirs of a number of female students (sometimes called the ‘Ladies of the Rope’) who wrote of their experiences during the 1930s:With these women, he carried through for two or three years a very intensive and extraordinary experiment, making use of methods that brought them into remarkable psychic states, and developed their powers far more rapidly than had been the case with the pupils who had been with him during earlier years. . . it throws a very vivid light upon Gurdjieff’s methods as a teacher and upon his use, for example, of drugs as a method of developing not only psychic experiences, but also opening the hidden channels of the human psyche. (10)Alcohol was Gurdjieff’s primary agent of choice for producing effects on the consciousness of his students. He took advantage of the euphoric effects of alcohol to reveal sides of his pupils’ personalities that were usually hidden. Gurdjieff believed that alcohol drew one’s inner essence to the surface where it could be observed and studied: “Alcohol opens, it shows many aspects of your interior, it is very important for knowing one.”(11)Dr. Kenneth Walker, a longtime student of Ouspensky, visited Gurdjieff in 1948 at his Paris apartment and was fore-warned about the importance Gurdjieff gave to drinking alcohol at his dinner table:A great many people are passing through Gurdjieff’s hands at the flat, and if they’ve had a drink or two they are much more ‘o pen,’ and I mean by this that Gurdjieff is able to seethem much more readily after they have had a drink or
4two. There is a great deal of truth in that old saying of the Arabs: ‘Wine makesa man more so.’ Alcohol uncovers a man so that he is much more readily perceived by those who are observing him. (12)Gurdjieff’s use of alcohol in teaching situations and his emphasis on conscious drinking parallels that of the Tibetan Buddhist teacher Chogyam Trungpa(13)who regarded alcohol as a “weak poison” which could be transmuted into a medicine: Whether alcohol is to be a poison or a medicine depends on one’s awareness while drinking. Conscious drinking – remaining aware of one’s state of mind –transmutes the effects of alcohol . . . Thus alcohol can be a testing ground. It brings to the surface the latent style of the drinker’s neuroses, the style that heis habitually hiding. (14)One of Gurdjieff’s most unusual methods of teaching was the ‘Toasts to the Idiots’ ritual. A number of Gurdjieff’s pupils have related the form, sequence and presumed metaphysical meaning of these alcoholic toasts. Biographer James Moore provides a detailed description of the ceremonial process which was first introduced by Gurdjieff in 1922 at the Prieuré.(15)Gurdjieff sat at the head of the table while the person seated to his left, designated the master of ceremonies, was responsible for proposing a series of toasts (usually Armagnac or vodka) to successive categories of ‘idiots.’ Each pupil was required to select their own idiot from amongat least twelve types (ordinary idiot, super idiot, zigzag idiot, and so on), reflecting progressive gradations of spiritual development.(16)As the toasts were drunk, Gurdjieff closely observed each student as the alcohol, in Moore’s words, “rendered their natures ‘opaque’ to scrutiny.” William Patrick Patterson has described the challenges presented to the pupils during the course of the ritual: The toasts were said to rarely go beyond the first nine Idiots and often ended earlier. Still, this is a lot of drinking, especially as Gurdjieff demanded that the Armagnac not be sipped but drunk “honestly.” That is, in a single draught. No doubt it was difficult to stay present when the body had to absorb a series of alcoholic shocks to the system. It demanded a vigilant attention and discrimination. It was also a quick method of seeing people’s mechanicality and inner animal. (17) Of course, critics have been quick to denounce Gurdjieff’s methods as contrary to traditional spiritual practices and designed to take advantage of his naive students. However, there is no evidence to suggest that anything untoward took place during or after the ritual toasts, and the most negative consequence to a pupil was likely no more than a severe hangover the following morning.(18)
Ritual Meals and Food as Sacraments
Gurdjieff taught that human beings take in three kinds of food: the ordinary foods and beverages we eat and drink, the air we breathe, and impressions. Each of these three foods, he explained, must be mixed in definite proportions and transformed within the body following an5 alchemical process in which coarse substances are transmuted into fine substances, leading to the development of ‘higher being bodies.’ How these foods are absorbed and assimilated, whether consciously or unconsciously, has profound implications for the growth of the higher bodies.(19) Gurdjieff placed great importance on the health and well-being of the physical body, which he believed was the key to longevity. At his meals, he taught his students how to eat consciously and work with ordinary food and drink in order to influence the first octave of the development of the finer spiritual bodies. Pupils quoted him as saying “Man should eat, not as an animal but consciously” and “If one knows how to eat properly, one knows how to pray.”(20)Gurdjieff’s students believed that the foods he prepared for them according to “the science of dietary law”contained “active elements” which helped them assimilate his ideas and develop their spiritual being. Student Kathryn Hulme: “To give us the proper first food that would transform into the kind of energy required to digest his ‘idea foods’ is one of the reasons, I believe, why he cooked for his disciples.”(21) Hulme describes how Gurdjieff carefully prepared his meals so that they would have maximum spiritual effect:What a labor it was to produce the wonderful foods he created, rich with‘active elements’ that fueled the body for thought. I saw him ‘composing.’Once he was holding his long spice tray while he pitched no less than twelve different herbs into a ‘phenomenon soup,’ stirring it with a big wooden spoon from which at intervals he tasted, nodding and smacking, ‘I compose like symphony’ he told me; the spice tray was his keyboard. He waved his long-handled spoon like a baton. ‘Three hours after you eat this soup, you will experience I AM– will have sensing of how it is to have I AM.’ (22)Unlike some religious and spiritual traditions, Gurdjieff taught that food should be enjoyed tothe fullest and not restricted or arbitrarily rejected on cultural or moral grounds:Mr. Gurdjieff always accorded food, its preparation and distribution the greatest respect. There was nothing hedonistic in this attitude. It came fromhis esteemfor our marvelous human bodies and a belief that we are obligated to provide them with the best possible care and nourishment, including sense impressions.He only advocated fasting for special people under special circumstances, closely supervised. (23)Gurdjieff’s students, such as Thomas de Hartmann, recounted how he tried to expose them toa wide range of foods, herbs, spices and exotic dishes: To taste life fully was one of Mr. Gurdjieff’s principles. During our life with him we tried every sort of eastern dish, some very exotic. He told us that in the East they have always paid particular attention to the refinements of food elements. The aim is not to gorge oneself under the table, but rather to sample, in tiny portions, all kinds of variation of taste experience . . . I can still see him vividly, his muscles completely relaxed as always. Slowly he lifts to his moutha very good pear, not peeled. Unhurried he takes a bite of it as if striving to absorb its entire aroma, its entire taste. (24)Gurdjieff paid great attention to the preparation and creation of his meals, comparing himself to a “culinary doctor” who expressed the principles of harmony by “correctly blending elements
6as a composition of music or the colors of a painting.”(25)Students were struck by the skill,assurance and care with which he prepared his amazing dishes:A large bowl having been placed in front of him he started to prepare a special treat for his guests. Into this bowl went chopped cucumber, pickles, red-pepper,onions, fragments of bread, contributions froma number of different bottles containing various kinds of preserve, pieces of dried fish and finally large spoonfuls of sour cream. This mixture he carefully stirred and occasionally tasted, in the manner of an old apothecary preparing a specially potent elixir of life. (26)The meals themselves typically consisted of “tasty soups or hors d’oeuvres; and then meat and vegetables, usually cooked together for several hours, blending and caramelizing, intensifying the flavors enhanced with fresh herbs, spices, fruits, etc. and tenderizing ordinary cuts of meat or fowl into something of gourmet quality.”(27) On special occasions dinner guests wouldbe offered exotic delicacies such as sheep’s head or a fully roasted lamb, reminiscent of a strange forgotten world of the mysterious past. Gurdjieff presided over the meals and the accompanying ritual toasts of alcohol with a jovial and expansive generosity, playing the role of benevolent host. Meals with Gurdjieff were unforgettable experiences, described by his students as a dizzying combination of excitement,serious philosophical discussion, humour, nervous tension, alcohol and exotic unaccustomed foods. But above all they were marvellously entertaining: Most of our time was spent in howls of laughter. G.’s gift of mimicry and masterly comic timing infected everyone, old and young, of every nationality. He could point out situations and special characteristics in people with a wit that was sharp,but an attitude that was so warm and affectionate that although we all laughed in immediate recognition it was with the person, not at them. (28) But the ceremonial meals and ritual toasts also served a more sober and serious spiritual purpose, that of exposing his students’ inner being to objective scrutiny. Gurdjieff believed that he “could read the depth and breadth of personality from a person’s eating habits and comport-ment at the table.”(29)He used the meals as an opportunity for teaching his students in a waythat impacted them both individually and collectively, and could be understood on different levels and in various ways by all those present:Throughout the meal he would prepare special small dishes from the array in front of him. “For Mother,” he would say, and the dish would be passed to the one indicated, for “Blondie,” for “Doctorina,” for “Miss Chapeau” . . . and with each dish an exchange of eyes took place, or a word or two, often lost on the others but with special impact on the one who received the plate. Somehow Gurdjieff managed to touch each one in a deeply personal way, while remaining himself impersonal yet concerned, remote and curiously just. It seemed to correspond with each one’s sense of aspiration and at the same time with the recognition of one’s own nothingness on the scale of eternity. (30)
7CommentaryIt is clear that Gurdjieff used food, alcohol and drugs as teaching instruments and “skillful means” to advance his pupils’ spiritual development. That his unconventional methods were misunderstood, misinterpreted and criticized is not surprising, as the consumption of food,alcohol and drugs is not generally recognized as part of a viable spiritual path. Yet, food and eating plays an important ritualistic and symbolic role in many of the world’s religions.Gurdjieff’s ceremonial meals and sense of hospitality mirrors similar practices in Sufi, Jewish,indigenous and other spiritual traditions.Gurdjieff’s ritual meals appear to have been consciously designed to create multiple effectson many different levels. The time of day, the environment of the room, the seating arrangements, the type and order of food served, the alcoholic toasts, the interaction between Gurdjieff and his guests and their individual interactions, combined to produce a complex net or mesh in which spiritual energy or baraka could be produced, projected and shared. The meals were also an opportunity for ‘self-observation’ and ‘self-remembering,’ cornerstones of Gurdjieff’s practical psychology. Gurdjieff’s personal use of alcohol attracted criticism as it seemed contrary to the qualities of behaviour usually expected of a spiritual teacher. In recent decades there have been numerous accounts of contemporary spiritual teachers with drug and alcohol problems which have seriously impacted their spiritual communities and relationships with individual students.(31)Some spiritual teachers have suggested that excessive alcohol use is a sign of “spiritual sickness”and a warning flag for potential seekers of wisdom:Excessive drinking reveals a craving that would not be there if one were fully realized. Enlightenment is about freedom– not freedom to play out one’s cravings, but freedom from one’s cravings. If one would uproot the dualistic sense of self and other, he or she would not feel the compulsion to drink to excess. That person would feel complete without needing a substance that ispotentially destructive. Excessive drinking is destructive. (32) Gurdjieff’s use of drugs, and especially alcohol, with his students raises important questions concerning the nature of the teacher-student relationship and the methods employed on the pathof spiritual transformation. Substances which transform ordinary states of consciousness have been used throughout human history in the quest for spiritual enlightenment. While some believe that they open doors to higher realms of experience and spiritual possibilities, others argue that they create illusory states of mind based on subjective imagination. Gurdjieff may have employed alcohol and certain other drugs as “temporary means” to advance his students’ spiritual growth. He clearly placed importance on this approach, as the Toasts to the Idiots ritual was a fixture in Gurdjieff’s experiential teachings for more than 25years. However, critics argue that there was an unhealthy element of coercion in the application of this “spiritual exercise.” Gurdjieff insisted that all guests present at his table must drink his powerful alcoholic toasts and he brooked no exceptions.
8However, in his later years, Gurdjieff seems to have relaxed his strict admonition that every-one at his table drink. Student William Welch reports that in 1948 during the Toasts to the Idiot sritual “some did not drink at all, and stories to the contrary notwithstanding, when someone who knew his capacity or had a true disinclination to alcohol declined to drink, he was never, in my experience, treated with anything but consideration by Gurdjieff.”(33) Many pupils have revealed that they “cheated” at these toasts, using a variety of subterfuges to avoid drinking the full complement of toasts. And who can honestly blame them? Force and compulsion in matters of the spirit is inherently unhealthy, contrary to the principles of personal responsibility and conscience, and ultimately counterproductive. Unquestioning obedience to authority, whether secular or spiritual, deprives human beings of freedom of choice and provides fertile ground for the development of a cult. And some of Gurdjieff’s most virulent critics have accused him of leading a cult that manipulated and brainwashed his gullible and malleable followers.There is, of course, no real evidence to support this assertion. But certainly open to questioni s the way in which Gurdjieff forced his pupils to consume significant amounts of alcohol when it was clear that many of them objected to this practice for a variety of valid moral and personal reasons. Perhaps the ultimate lesson is that no human being, spiritual teacher or otherwise, is infallible in their knowledge, judgement or actions in the world.
NOTES
(1) P.D. OuspenskyIn Search of the Miraculous: Fragments of an Unknown Teaching(NewYork: Harcourt, Brace &World, 1949), pp. 8-9.(2) John Pentland, who was appointed by Gurdjieff to head the Work in America following his death, warned of the dangers of using drugs as a method of spiritual development in William Patterson Eating the “I”(San Anselmo, California: Arete Communications,1992, p. 77):Lord Pentland had talked about how drugs weaken the will, burn up the fine energies of the body, create imagination in the higher emotional center,and keep one from doing the work. Sometimes, though, he said, they could show what the next step would be. “But one has to pay for it.”(3) Rafael Lefort The Teachers of Gurdjieff(London: Victor Gollancz, 1973), p. 78.(4) G.I. Gurdjief fMeetings with Remarkable Men(London: Routledge &Kegan Paul, 1963),p. 134.(5) P.D. OuspenskyIn Search of the Miraculous: Fragments of an Unknown Teaching(NewYork: Harcourt, Brace &World, 1949), p. 33.(6) William Patterson “Gurdjieff & Money” www.gurdjieff-legacy.org/40articles/money.htm
9(7) Paul Beekman Taylor Gurdjieff and Orage: Brothers in Elysium(York Beach, Maine: Weiser Books, 2001), p. 147.(8) William Patrick PattersonGeorgi Ivanovitch Gurdjieff: The Man, The Teaching, His Mission(Fairfax, California: Arete Communications, 2014), pp. 459-460.(9) P.D. Ouspensky In Search of the Miraculous: Fragments of an Unknown Teaching(NewYork: Harcourt, Brace &World, 1949), p. 162.(10) John Bennett Gurdjieff: Making a New World(New York: Harper &Row, 1973), p. 232.(11) William Patterson Voices in the Dark(Fairfax, California: Arete Communications, 2000),p. 71.(12) Kenneth WalkerThe Making of Man(London: Routledge &Kegan Paul, 1963), p. 114.(13) Trungpa even makes an allusion to Gurdjieff in describing the nature of conscious drinking in The Heart of the Buddha(Boston: Shambhala, 1991, p. 188):Mr. Gurdjieff, a spiritual teacher who taught in Europe, spoke of the virtues of‘conscious drinking’ and insisted that his students do conscious drinking together.Conscious drinking is a real and obvious demonstration of mind over matter.It allows us to relate to the various stages of intoxication: we experience our expectations, the almost devilish delight when the effect begins to be felt, and the final breakdown into frivolity in which habitual boundaries begin to dissolve.(14) Chogyam Trungpa The Heart of the Buddha(Boston: Shambhala, 1991), p. 189.(15) James Moore Gurdjieff: The Anatomy of a Myth(Rockport, Massachusetts: Element Books, 1991), pp. 353-355.(16) William Patrick Patterson provides insightful descriptions of the scale of Idiots, with 21gradations ranging from ‘Ordinary Idiot’ to ‘Unique Idiot’ (God) in his essay “The Science of Idiotism” in his biography Georgi Ivanovitch Gurdjieff: The Man, The Teaching, His Mission(Fairfax, California: Arete Communications, 2014), pp. 542-546.(17) William Patterson Ladies of the Rope(Fairfax, California: Arete Communications, 1999),pp. 259-260.(18) Kenneth Walker, who did not usually drink, provides a vivid portrait of his personal experience consuming alcohol during the Toast of the Idiots ritual inThe Making of Man(London: Routledge &Kegan Paul, 1963, pp. 121-122):The vodka was terribly powerful and soon my inner life and the outer room were engaged in unpleasant movements. I was forced to remind myself from time to time of where I was, and of what I was doing . . .here I was not allowed to go to sleep, but had to stay awake and to cling on to the one remaining point
10 of steadiness which remained within me . . . At long last the toasts came to an end and coffee cups and packets of cigarettes appeared on the table. I felt much as a shipwrecked sailor must feel when, after being buffeted about in a turbulent sea and all but drowned, he suddenly discovers that he is still alive and within sight of land.(19) P.D. Ouspensky describes in In Search of the Miraculous: Fragments of an Unknown Teaching(New York: Harcourt, Brace &world, 1949, pp. 181-198) the complex process whereby the three foods enter the human organism(called the ‘three-story factory’) and are transformed into finer substances through the law of octaves.(20) Jessmin and Dushka Howarth It’s Up To Ourselves: A Mother, a Daughter, and Gurdjieff(New York: Gurdjieff Heritage Society, 2008), pp. 245-246.(21) William Patrick Patterson Georgi Ivanovitch Gurdjieff: The Man, The Teaching, His Mission(Fairfax, California: Arete Communications, 2014), p. 353.(22) William Patrick Patterson Georgi Ivanovitch Gurdjieff: The Man, The Teaching, His Mission(Fairfax, California: Arete Communications, 2014), pp. 322-323.(23) Jessmin and Dushka HowarthIt’s Up To Ourselves: A Mother, a Daughter, and Gurdjieff(New York: Gurdjieff Heritage Society, 2008), p. 245.(24) Thomas and Olga de Hartmann Our Life with Mr. Gurdjieff(London: Arkana, 1992), p. 46.(25) Jessmin and Dushka Howarth It’s Up To Ourselves: A Mother, a Daughter, andGurdjieff(New York: Gurdjieff Heritage Society, 2008), p. 246.(26) Kenneth Walker Venture with Ideas(New York: Samuel Weiser, 1972), pp. 145-146.(27) Jessmin and Dushka HowarthIt’s Up To Ourselves: A Mother, a Daughter, and Gurdjieff(New York: Gurdjieff Heritage Society, 2008), p. 252.(28) Jessmin and Dushka HowarthIt’s Up To Ourselves: A Mother, a Daughter, and Gurdjieff(New York: Gurdjieff Heritage Society, 2008), p. 450.(29) Paul Beekman Taylor Gurdjieff’s America(Lighthouse Editions, 2004), pp. 202-203(30) William WelchWhat Happened in Between(New York: George Braziller, 1972), p. 124.(31) In some spiritual communities, substance abuse has led to public scandals, disgrace and disillusion. In some cases, where the teacher was alcoholic and encouraged drinking,many students followed suit. With some teachers, addiction to alcohol or drugs is hidden;with others, it is public and open. Clandestine alcohol and drug addiction is frequently combined with abuses of sexuality and power. Certain Buddhist and Hindu spiritual communities have even felt the need to start AA groups to deal with their addiction problems. Alcoholic and addicted teachers have led to the downfall of whole com-
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