Escolar Documentos
Profissional Documentos
Cultura Documentos
Acknowledgements
Introductory Note
Foreword
Acknowledgem ents
Acknowledgements
Introductory Note
This desire to break the bonds of their own laziness may even
lead men to behave in ways that are obviously contrary to their
best interests. Van Gogh threw up a comfortable job as an art
dealer to become a lay preacher among the miners in Belgium.
Lawrence of Arabia refused comfortable government
appointments to become an ordinary aircraftman in the R.A.F.
The philosopher Wittgenstein gave away an inherited fortune to
become a badly paid schoolmaster. These 'outsiders' were
driven by a need to escape a feeling of enstiflement, of
stagnation. The aim was to throw off the 'habit neurosis' the
'habit of inferiority to one's full self.
'He struck the table with his fist for a second time. "You must
promise on your God." His voice was deadly serious. "You must
promise me that you will do this thing no matter what happens ...
Must promise you will do no matter what happens, no matter who
try to stop you."' And Peters adds: 'I would have died, if
necessary, in the act of mowing the lawns.'
In fact, Gurdjieff then made him work harder and harder, until he
was mowing all the lawns in four days.
All had gone into the house for tea, but I went in
the opposite direction towards the kitchen
garden, where I took a spade and began to dig.
Digging in the earth is a searching test of our
capacity for physical effort. A strong man can dig
fast for a short time or slowly for a long time, but
no one can force his body to dig fast for a long
time even if he has exceptional training. I felt the
need to test the power that had entered me, and
I began to dig in the fierce afternoon heat for
more than an hour at a rate that I ordinarily could
not sustain for two minutes. My weak, rebellious,
suffering body had become strong and obedient.
The diarrhoea had ceased and I no longer felt the
gnawing abdominal pains that had been with me
for days. Moreover, I experienced a clarity of
thought that I had only known involuntarily and at
rare moments . . . The phrase 'in my mind's eye'
took on a new meaning as I 'saw' the eternal
pattern of each thing I looked at, the trees, the
water flowing in the canal and even the spade,
and lastly my own body... I remember saying
aloud: 'Now I see why God hides Himself from
us.' But even now I cannot recall the intuition
behind this exclamation.
Bennett walked on into the forest; the most important part of his
experience was still to come.