Eugene’s Comment
I have been inspired to emerge from my self-imposed exile by some comments by reader Eugene which you can peruse here.
This is an idea I had myself quite a while back but nothing came of it for the simple reason that it is impossible to get the people who have the capacity for this. In short; Gurdjieff’s ‘Seekers of Truth’ and any equivalent we may foreseeably cobble together are not the same thing and - in the present climate - there is absolutely zero possibility of even reaching 1% of the quality of consciousness of those people. Imo.
It is a matter of my constant experience these days that things are their opposites. Show me a ‘saint’ and I will be more than likely be able to show you a devil. Show me ‘justice’ and I will definitely be able to show you tyranny and show me the thing I am most at pains to avoid - a ‘spiritual seeker’ (or God help us, someone who thinks they have ‘found’ ) and I won’t be able to show you anything. Not just because there are no words that come remotely close but because I will have run screaming and deranged into the night.
These are some of the reasons this idea failed last time. The reasons why I would not wish to do it this time are different. Because I am different.
Here they are, in no particular order, and I throw them open for dissection and discussion:
1) Not only do I no longer believe there are ‘Masters’ in the East in the way Shah and Gurdjieff describe, I do not believe they exist anywhere else either.
Imo, this is a metaphor for something else and it is this ‘something else’ that the seeker is seeking. Or should be. In fact the search may well be to resolve this question and find out exactly what it is one is looking for.
I may be wrong and probably am but in any event it is an unsuitable basis for involvement in such a project.
2) But this is the major reason: myself.
I have for long periods of my existence defined myself as a ‘seeker’. This has generally, and rather lamely, taken the form of looking for ‘groups’ and trying to join them. I have joined many groups in this manner and contacted and met many of the ‘big cheeses’ in this area but in the end I always came to the conclusion that the teaching/group was incorrect, not for me or ‘non-genuine’, as I believe the buzz-word is (I would exclude Shah from this as I have never managed to gain access to his groups per se, though I do have a large experience of many people who apparently have and the same would apply to them personally in the main - albeit with one or two notable exceptions) and this gives one pause for thought.
What exactly does this mean, this rejection of the groups?
Well, in pondering this over time I can say that, for me, it means one thing: that the groups did not meet my expectations of what a real group should be. That is to say, I am defining what I seek and then looking for it - not surprisingly, I cannot find it - because I have invented it myself. I am not looking for truth but truth as I define it.
I further observe when I am in these groups and evaluating them negatively that there could be situations where I would accept them as genuine. And this tells me everything. Because if the group accepted me - ie recognized my ‘amazing spiritual qualities’ then I would accept it as genuine. But it doesn’t and I don’t.
So in short, I can only speak for myself but I am in a position where I would not recognize a real group. But this is not as bad as it could be because this knowledge also holds the key to the solution. I know what needs to be done to reach that capacity; to work on reducing the egotism that blocks this perception and attempt to reach a real humility.
So I already have a task and this to me, IS seeking. Shah’s books are - imo - a way of doing this and, again imo, this is their purpose rather than serving to inspire anyone to seek in a more literal manner. In any case I would not be able to accompany such a caravan for all these reasons and I throw the idea (not just my comments) open to readers.
If anyone does want to embark on this, don’t let me put you off! And feel free to discuss, contact, plan or whatever in this space - it’s as good as any and it needs to see some action...........
