Live data from Hacker News

Gurdjieff and the Women of ‘The Rope’ (1997)

gurdjieff.org

11–20 of 44 posts

Re: Gurdjieff and the Women of ‘The Rope’ (1997)

#11

Alan Watts on Gurdjieff: "Gurdjieff was a magnificent old rascal, who lived a joyous life, and most of his disciples live extremely restricted, rigid, and serious lives -- because the object of Gurdjieff's method was to weed out those who understood from those who do not, and those who understood went away and those who did not understand remained. "Gurdjieff laid a trap for people who think that the purpose of life…

> the object of Gurdjieff's method was to weed out those who understood from those who do not, and those who understood went away and those who did not understand remained.

It is kind of like when scammers claim they are from Nigeria or purposely misspell words or use bad grammar. "Here! Perform these 40 silly dances and you'll become omnipotent" is the early 20th century version of "Hello kind sir/m'am. I am the crown prince of Nigeria..."

Re: Gurdjieff and the Women of ‘The Rope’ (1997)

#12

From Wikipedia's article on Gurdjieff: >> Gurdjieff taught that most humans do not possess a unified consciousness and thus live their lives in a state of hypnotic "waking sleep", but that it is possible to awaken to a higher state of consciousness and achieve full human potential. Gurdjieff described a method attempting to do so, calling the discipline "The Work"[5] (connoting "work on oneself") or "the Method".[6]…

"Please don't post shallow dismissals, especially of other people's work. A good critical comment teaches us something."

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Re: Gurdjieff and the Women of ‘The Rope’ (1997)

#13
post #10

Alan Watts on Gurdjieff: "Gurdjieff was a magnificent old rascal, who lived a joyous life, and most of his disciples live extremely restricted, rigid, and serious lives -- because the object of Gurdjieff's method was to weed out those who understood from those who do not, and those who understood went away and those who did not understand remained. "Gurdjieff laid a trap for people who think that the purpose of life…

As someone who had much more to do with Gurdjieff followers when growing up than is healthy or happy, this is a very refreshing perspective on his followers at least, and absolutely hits the nail on the head as far as my experiences go! Also, if you read his works they are not top shelf philosophy by any means. They are more an organized compilation of thoughts he came across than a true original opus. I have no idea…

What were your experiences with Gurdjieff followers when growing up? I've not heard any stories from this point of view. Would be interested in whatever you can share.

Re: Gurdjieff and the Women of ‘The Rope’ (1997)

#14
post #13
post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As someone who had much more to do with Gurdjieff followers when growing up than is healthy or happy, this is a very refreshing perspective on his followers at least, and absolutely hits the nail on the head as far as my experiences go! Also, if you read his works they are not top shelf philosophy by any means. They are more an organized compilation of thoughts he came across than a true original opus. I have no idea…

What were your experiences with Gurdjieff followers when growing up? I've not heard any stories from this point of view. Would be interested in whatever you can share.

I am not going to pull all that shit back up since it would take a lot for me to find my calm afterwards. Suffice to say its structure was fluid and never totally defined, its fuel was sophistic like much of Gurdjieff's maxims (there was a lot of fuel), and its hidden goal was always unacknowledged control masquerading as wisdom. It wound up spiraling out of control. The tight clamps could not hold back the more powerful fuel and people burned themselves out.

Re: Gurdjieff and the Women of ‘The Rope’ (1997)

#15
post #12

From Wikipedia's article on Gurdjieff: >> Gurdjieff taught that most humans do not possess a unified consciousness and thus live their lives in a state of hypnotic "waking sleep", but that it is possible to awaken to a higher state of consciousness and achieve full human potential. Gurdjieff described a method attempting to do so, calling the discipline "The Work"[5] (connoting "work on oneself") or "the Method".[6]…

" Please don't post shallow dismissals, especially of other people's work. A good critical comment teaches us something. " https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

I think Hitchens' razor applies there. "What can be asserted without evidence can be dismissed without evidence"

Would you leave the same remark under a comment dismissing some flat-earther?

Re: Gurdjieff and the Women of ‘The Rope’ (1997)

#16
post #15
post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

" Please don't post shallow dismissals, especially of other people's work. A good critical comment teaches us something. " https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

I think Hitchens' razor applies there. "What can be asserted without evidence can be dismissed without evidence" Would you leave the same remark under a comment dismissing some flat-earther?

I'm afraid this comment is breaking the same guideline. Dismiss as much as you like, but please don't post like this to HN. It's informationless and therefore boring and therefore off topic here.

Re: Gurdjieff and the Women of ‘The Rope’ (1997)

#17

From Wikipedia's article on Gurdjieff: >> Gurdjieff taught that most humans do not possess a unified consciousness and thus live their lives in a state of hypnotic "waking sleep", but that it is possible to awaken to a higher state of consciousness and achieve full human potential. Gurdjieff described a method attempting to do so, calling the discipline "The Work"[5] (connoting "work on oneself") or "the Method".[6]…

What if being awake is worse than the "waking sleep"?

Recently I was awoken to the reality of how fragile our lives are. I would prefer to stay asleep.

Re: Gurdjieff and the Women of ‘The Rope’ (1997)

#20
post #12

From Wikipedia's article on Gurdjieff: >> Gurdjieff taught that most humans do not possess a unified consciousness and thus live their lives in a state of hypnotic "waking sleep", but that it is possible to awaken to a higher state of consciousness and achieve full human potential. Gurdjieff described a method attempting to do so, calling the discipline "The Work"[5] (connoting "work on oneself") or "the Method".[6]…

" Please don't post shallow dismissals, especially of other people's work. A good critical comment teaches us something. " https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

[deleted]
Post reply on HN