Feeding the animal or where’s my cup of coffee
One of the best-known stories of Gurdjieff using a task to help bring a student to a higher level of self-awareness is that of A.R. Orange digging a ditch. There are a few versions of this floating around but essentially it was a make work task (Orage didn’t know this). Orage arrives at the Prieuré, Gurdjieff’s Institute in France, as a student. Orage having spent time with Ouspensky in England was at the time a very successful, well-respected and well-known editor. For Ouspensky/Gurdjieff English students, the Work was primarily about the complex ideas as taken in by the intellectual center, a work tailored to a man #3 (dominate intellectual center) of which Orage was a classic example. Orage was apparently “out of shape”, soft and overweight when he arrived in France. What Orages’ expectation of life at Gurdjieff’s Institute for the Harmonious Development of Man is unclear, but he gave up his career and magazine to work with Gurdjieff, who set him about digging a ditch. After relocating the ditch several times while Orage was digging it, Gurdjieff simply abandoned the project and had Orage fill it in. At some point in the process Gurdjieff says “Now, Orage, I think you dig enough. Let us go to the café and drink coffee.” Gurdjieff ends the task with a reward for the animal, coffee, and for the man, time with the Teacher. While the physical task of ditch digging is completely secondary to the Work, the animal, residing in the lower story of man cares not a wit for the Work. The animal can be made to work, it can be for a time be made subservient to the intellectual center.
Will the animal ever forget?
What is unsaid in the Orage story is why Gurdjieff took him to get coffee. Orage had made his animal work because he had a task and an aim, do what Gurdjieff asked of him. That he was able to do so says much about Orage. Perhaps, in spite of a current life style that was urbane and intellectual, he may have worked in a physical manner in the past. Therefore, when the call to work physically came the animal simply responded, and the body worked. Gurdjieff may have been surprised by this, possibly thinking Orage had always been a man of the mind with a neglected body. But regardless, Gurdjieff knew exactly how to make friends with Orage’s animal. A small reward for the work done but just enough when done at the end of the physical work. A book titled Gurdjieff, a Master in Life: Recollections of Tscheslaw Tschekhovitch speaks to this aspect of Gurdjieff. For Gurdjieff well understood the functioning of the human being in ordinary life as well as the small portion of humanity which has been called to evolve its consciousness. Men who work with or have worked with their bodies, are around others who work physically and particularly those who direct other men in physical work, if successful, must know how to work with and befriend other’s animals. It’s not a thought-based process, it is simply action taken, spontaneous action and Gurdjieff was quite familiar with this. One can force a two brained animal to work with a whip but the animal will never forget what has been done, and with a human the whip can be psychological as well as physical. Can we posit that the human animal would respond in the same way as its corresponding two brained animal? Humans have different types of inner animals. Gurdjieff had a great understanding of both humans and animals. He fed Orage’s animal after ending the task much as one would take care of a horse or oxen after a day’s work in the field. For Orage, the food was both physical and psychological. And Gurdjieff’s psychology went well beyond the science of his day and still does, Ouspensky called it art, such was its depth and beauty. But perhaps in this case it was simply something he had learned in life. It really takes little to keep an animal happy, human or other. Treat it well and it will respond, super efforts may require a bit better treatment. Otherwise, two or three brained it may react in the moment or at a time in the future when the event is relived, and the event may be relived like it happened in that moment. The persons mind or perhaps a conscious understanding, in a human may be able to contain the reaction so as it doesn’t manifest…may. But all are better off if the animal is relaxed and treated well, it can’t change.
Make friends with your animal or better, make friends with the animal
In any discussion or question of the inner animal in my group, and there were not very many, the statement Mr. Gurdjieff said, “make friends with your animal” was invariably uttered. The author cannot find this phrase in any of the direct verified quotes by Gurdjieff but that said it is a very good idea. Why? Why not just subdue your animal? Can it be of any worth to one’s spiritual work? The answer is yes, the lower story centers are invaluable to the work of creating a balanced system. They are the source of much raw energy which can be refined in the human machine. Gurdjieff knew this and so he rewarded Orage’s animal, it was simple and expedient. The most commonly represented two brained being who never forgets being wronged is the mule. Interesting that it sterile and the result of the inter-species breeding of a horse and a donkey. It is said that a mule may wait for years to avenge a serious wrong that it has suffered from a handler. Though man is not a mule and has a relatively well-developed intellectual center, yet our animal often doesn’t forget being “wronged” either.
Some years ago, a student was given a project to work on during work days. The project involved some work that was very familiar and some that he had little experience in. The project dawdled along for months, the task only being done on Work days under poor conditions with substandard equipment, when suddenly there was a demand, by the teacher to finish the project before the January 13th celebration dinner. As was typical there was no reason given. It was seen by the student that it would be impossible to complete this without help and without working outside of the once-a-week work day. Additionally, completion on this schedule required moving the project to another city where better conditions and tools were available at another student’s shop. The time frame after months of no pressure dawdling was very tight. The work became very arduous and demanding of body and mind. The work to remain present was also quite difficult. There was physical exhaustion experienced over a period of several weeks. This was pushed through by the student, the animal was made to work, responded and the project was completed. It turned out quite well, designed and built for its function as well as being pleasing and attractive. Though the deadline was related to the dinner nothing was said other in passing than it was complete. And the project was not used at all for years. The physical exhaustion from the project was quite severe. A statement made that it nearly killed the student to complete it on schedule was only a minor exaggeration. There was no “coffee” there was no mention of the quality and as was typical (and expected) no thank you was offered, no talk with the teacher. Nothing, why? In my opinion the teacher had never worked in a physically demanding profession and certainly had never overseen men who did so in ordinary life and therefore had no concept of what the inner animals’ needs were. Those aspects of the student that valued the Work could understand the task, the change in completion and so forth. The fact that this perhaps became a “super effort” (or close) task was understood by the student, mentally and emotionally, there was no negativity. But the animal was a part of the student, it had been asked to push itself to the brink by the teacher, in effect the teacher becomes the farmer who used the whip (psychologically in this case) on the mule and as was said above the animal couldn’t care less about the Work. This teacher unlike Gurdjieff is/was not a Master in Life. As was previously posted teachers are not infallible. To this day when this project comes into the student’s consciousness a palpable anger toward the teacher can arise from the lower story, the Mule kicks. end post
.
Open to Openness 