September 14, 2009
- From “Meetings With Remarkable Men” -
This ancient saying, chosen by me for the beginning of the second series of my writings, is formulated thus:
“Only he will deserve the name of man and can count on anything prepared for him from Above, who has already acquired corresponding data for being able to preserve intact both the wolf and the sheep confided to his care”
An analysis of this saying clearly shows that the word “wolf” symbolizes the whole of the fundamental and reflex functioning of the human organism, and the word “sheep”, the whole functioning of a man’s feeling. As for the functioning of the man’s thinking, this is represented in the saying by the man himself.
Anyone calling himself a man must never be lazy, but, constantly devising all sorts of compromises, must struggle with his self-avowed weaknesses in order to attain the aim he has set for himself: to preserve intact these two independent animals confided to the care of his reason, and which are, by their very essence, opposite to each other.
(a bit paraphrased from the introduction to Gurdjieff’s 2nd book)
I’ve been keeping this in my drafts for about a week now, but now seems like a good time to post it. The youtube clip is of Peter Brock’s film based on Gurdjieff’s book, with actual Gurdjieff dances. The above is one of my favorites. If you’re interested, the whole movie can be seen here.
Gurdjieff also spent a lot of time in Russia, and, thanks to English Russia, we have a bunch of pictures from right around that same time period. Check ‘em out… Pretty wild stuff.
Comment by Ian — September 14, 2009 @ 12:07 pm
A wolf is a predator. A carnivore. Its the carnal side of man. A sheep is obedient and docile. That’s how I look at it.
A wolf would eat Beer and red meat all the time and spend all its money on weapons and Titty bars and a Sheep would spend all its time volunteering at homeless shelters and buying hemp clothing and putting “save Tibet” bumper stickers on its Prius.
Comment by Ted — September 15, 2009 @ 2:29 pm
Great Photos, so Stark and severe!
Comment by Ted — September 15, 2009 @ 2:31 pm
Yeah, that’s definitely what he’s saying there, I think. And that it’s our job to get those two things to make friends and work together. That’s maybe not so easy… :)
As an analogy, he goes on to describe the riddle about a man needing to transfer a wolf, a sheep, and a cabbage across a river in a boat that’s only big enough to hold one thing at a time. The problem is how to get everything over without the wold eating the sheep, or the sheep eating the cabbage. Luckily, the cabbage does not eat the wolf…
Anyway, the point is that it’s a lot of extra hard work to get everything to move together properly in the correct way…
How’s the travels? All red meat, beer, and tittybars, or is there some sheepery thrown in as well? ;)
Comment by Ian — September 15, 2009 @ 3:22 pm
I got the perfect balance man! I drink organic beer and only go to unionized employee owned strip clubs! Seattle is great!
Comment by Ted — September 15, 2009 @ 4:54 pm
So you cram the cabbage in the wolves mouth? That way the wolf can’t eat the sheep and the sheep stays away from the wolf and thus the cabbage?
seriously though, this balancing the wolf and the sheep within me has been a theme for me and I feel like over time I am achieving a harmony. Its like a dynamic tension.
That’s whyi really like the work of Artist Alex Grey. Grey is name he adopted to describe this balance.
Comment by Ted — September 15, 2009 @ 4:59 pm
Nice. Unionized strip clubs… :)
The sheep/wolf/cabbage thing is just kind of a brain teaser. It’s about doubling your work to make everything ends up alive at the end, and no, you can’t stuff the cabbage in the wolf’s mouth (kind of ruins the cabbage). You can only take one thing at a time, and you have to leave the other two on the shore while you row one across in the boat. And you can’t leave the sheep + cabbage, or the wolf + sheep together, cause then one goes missing.
Comment by Ian — September 16, 2009 @ 8:31 am
Oh, Ok, So you take the sheep across and leave the wolf and the cabbage. Then you come get the cabbage, then return with the sheep, switch the sheep with the wolf, the come back for the sheep?
Comment by Ted — September 16, 2009 @ 3:35 pm
Exactly.
I remember hearing this when I was a kid, drove me crazy trying to figure it out. I was a little more inside-the-box as a kid. :)
Comment by Ian — September 16, 2009 @ 3:50 pm