All & Everything International Humanities Conference April 26 to Sunday, April 30, 2023

All & Everything International Humanities Conference

Call for Papers and Artwork

The 28th International Humanities Conference

Online and Live

Wednesday, April 26 to Sunday, April 30, 2023

All and Everything Conference Mission

The All and Everything International Humanities Conference is an international forum for the presentation and discussion of studies associated with the exploration of G. I. Gurdjieff’s work and legacy, and in particular his writings.

The conference aims to provide an impartial, serious, and congenial atmosphere for those who wish to explore these teachings with the hope that, by sharing questions and insights, a wider horizon of understanding and practical incorporation may appear.

The conference is open to all students of Gurdjieff’s work and legacy. While providing a framework for structured meetings, discussions and readings, the conference also aims to facilitate interactions to encourage relationships and exchanges among individuals and Work groups.

The All and Everything International Humanities Conference was proposed by Mrs. A.L. Staveley for the purpose to “try and fathom the gist” of Mr. Gurdjieff’s writings as “companions of the book.”

When referencing, quoting from, or basing a presentation on Beelzebub’s Tales to His Grandson, the preferred edition is the original 1950 edition for all submissions. Thank you.

https://aandeconference.org

Gurdjieff Groups on Google Maps - Gurdjieff Movements Seminars

Gurdjieff Groups on Google Maps - Gurdjieff Movements Seminars - Gurdjieff Blogs - Fourth Way Publishers - Fourth Way Audiobooks

G. Gurdjieff appeared. But, he was no longer the same man. He was transformed. He emanated a great radiance, without his outer appearance being changed. His presence was filled with an unusual majestic force, which he had never shown us. He looked at us intently, as if passing us a message. What I felt from him made a very deep impression.

G. told me of an exercise that I was to give to my companions at our next meeting:

"To think of him, Mme de S. and all the group members as a network, all connected to one another, even at a great distance."

I relayed the exercise that evening at a meeting in his flat in the Rue des Colonels Renard. This gave us a greater consciousness of our relationship with him and the group.

Solange Claustres - Becoming Conscious with Mr. Gurdjieff p.86

Edgar Cayce on P.D. Ouspensky

In 1925, a Hebrew stock broker asked Edgar Cayce for help with his study of P. D. Ouspensky's book, Tertium Organum. At the end of the reading came this gratuitous comment:

...Ouspensky....was the sage of the mountain in the third generation of the peoples of the Mahabbs in Tibet -- 1777 -- seventh month -- seventh day -- seventh hour -- Mahaba Tarhl and the keeper of the records in the mount.

(900-88, 7/2/25)

It was to this stream of eastern metaphysics that the Cayce source of information directed four people between 1925 and 1932. A man seeking guidance to prepare himself to become an A.R.E. study-group leader received this response through Cayce:

Q). Outline or suggest material for study and reading, names of books, subjects, etc.

A). With the study first, to be sure, of HIS words -- as He gave, as is recorded, those philosophical experiences of the writers -- as James, as Ouspensky, as those who have followed in the lines of their studies -- as Swedenborg, or the like: but weigh these all well with thine own, for -- as HE has promised -- "I will be your God, will ye [if ye will] be my people...."

(256-4, 08/19/32)

source: http://www.huttoncommentaries.com/article.php?a_id=15

connecting oneself to the Greater Mind

"You know that all this Work-and all real forms of esoteric teaching-are designed to make it possible for a man to begin to feel the influences of Higher Centres. These centres, the Higher Mental and the Higher Emotional Centres, correspond to what is called Greater Mind. But you must remember that logical thinking, based on the senses turned outward to the external world, does not put us in touch with these Higher Centres, which exist in everyone and are fully developed and send their influences down to us. Our trouble is that we have not any receptive apparatus to hear them with. For that reason one definition of this Work is:

"the preparation of lower centres for the reception of the influences coming from Higher Centres. All that this Work teaches practically - namely, self-observation, non-identifying, Self-Remembering, not making internal accounts, not internally considering, not justifying, not going with negative 'I's, not being depressed, making Personality (especially False Personality) passive, separating from negative states, breaking buffers, destroying pictures, seeing ingrained attitudes, and not accepting them, stopping wrong imaginations, in fact, all that this Work teaches, is to purify lower centres for the hearing of Higher Centres. When a man wishes to keep in touch with this Work which really means to keep in touch with any moments of insight or Self-Remembering that he has had, from Higher Centres, then he begins to have a psychology."

Gurdjieff 
(Maurice Nicoll Vol.3)

why bother to try to teach them

F.P.: "In that case," I asked, "how can they ever learn anything from you - or from anyone else?"

Gurdjieff: "Maybe they not learn anything ever."

F.P.: "Then why bother to try and teach them?"

He smiled, indulgently. "Because is possibility, even if very small, may learn."

Fritz Peters - Gurdjieff Remembered

the emergence of "New Men"

"Its possible that millions of men may be in this unhappy situation, but that must not stop us. Even if there are millions of incomplete half-men - thanks, objectively, to their own fault - with all the suffering this implies, this number can be more readily accepted if even one man escapes the sad fate that awaits all who do not fulfill their duty to nature."

There were immediate protests: “By what right do you assert such things? For what purpose?”

Mr. Gurdjieff smiled compassionately, and said gravely, "You know, one who has been freed can save ten others; these ten can then save a hundred; these hundred, thousands; these thousands, millions. So, millions of suffering and unhappy human beings can cause millions of joyful human beings to appear. Such could be the blessing brought by the emergence of these ´new men’. As for my right to say this, it arises from my duty to serve objective knowledge."

Tchekhovitch - Gurdjieff a Master in Life

only he who sees that he is imprisoned has a chance of freedom

“I knew some sorry prisoners,” Mr. Gurdjieff continued, “who brought up three generations of spiders, which they succeeded in taming and even in teaching tricks. Another became friends with mice and rats, and still another shared his bread with sparrows. Each of these prisoners looked for a way of adapting to his condition and of finding a means to escape, not from the prison, but from himself. But only he one who sees that he is imprisoned in himself has a chance of freedom; that is, if he really desires it and is intelligently prepared. One needs to think very carefully and see who is in prison and what the prison consists of.”

Gurdjieff a Master in Life p.41

Gurdjieff charging a pupil with energy

All the time I was sitting there it was as if I were being charged with electricity, magnetized with energy from Gurdjieff; as if a force were passing between us.

Although I had felt listless and tired when I arrived, and had sat for two hours apparently doing nothing, I was now charged to the brim with bubbling energy, like a battery. Actually, I had made an effort to be active inside - not passive and fidgety.

Also I had learnt something: I was reminded of what a Rishi in India had told me - that it was possible for a teacher to teach a pupil without a word being said. ‘There are times when it is necessary to do nothing - but not to be idle’, as a Chinese saying has it.

C.S. Nott - Teachings of Gurdjieff

You have no idea how many people he’s rescued

I was still reeling a little from this incident, wondering whether I should have told this disagreeable individual off, when I was approached timidly by the elevator boy, who had heard everything.

“That man hates Monsieur Gurdjieff,” he said. “But I love him. How lucky you are to travel with him!” This difference of opinion was interesting, so I asked him, “Why? Do you know him well?”
“Of course! He comes here every year. He s a wonderful man.” The young fellow had an unusual accent, and I commented on it. “Ah! I come from Russia, but now I’m French.” “Is it because you’re Russian that you know him so well?” “Yes,” he answered.

“He does so much good here for all the refugees. He comforts them; he helps them with money. You have no idea how many people he’s rescued from destitution. As for the manager, he despises Russians and must be jealous.”

Michel Conge - Inner Octaves p.198

a man with an immense compassion for all mankind

“But behind all that strength, and behind what appears to be ruthlessness, I saw something else. If need be, he could probably be brutal and ruthless, but only in the way that a surgeon is ruthless and brutal when he has the job of removing a malignant growth. Behind all that decision, and all that strength, I caught a glimpse of a man with an immense compassion for all mankind. There is a gentleness, patience and compassion there, as well as a great strength. There is also plenty of mirth and laughter as well as determination and decision. But the word which came to my mind first and which remained with me all the time that I was with him, was the word ‘compassion’. He made me think of the Buddha as he sat cross-legged on that divan and, for me, Buddha is a wise teacher, very richly endowed with compassion.”

Dr. Kenneth Walker

you had an extraordinary impression

With him, you had an extraordinary impression. When he was speaking with you, you continually had the impression that you were, for him, the only person who existed in the whole world. That is something very rare. One second later he would shift his attention to someone else and you no longer existed but that was normal. It seemed very normal to us. It’s something that everyone, to some extent, has a taste of - this potential which is impossible to realize by oneself - it appeared when you saw that man; when you saw him in himself, complete, missing nothing that was happening, noticing even the tiniest details. It was visible in his carriage, in the way he held himself, he was always very calm, quiet, completely and precisely corresponding to what the moment demanded.

Maurice Desselle

the Majority of people over 40 are Zombies

Men cease “thinking originally” at thirty-five years, women at forty years.

The majority of people over forty are one-third to two-thirds dead and merely survive thanks to circumstances over which they have no control.

A.R. Orage - Commentary on BT

the Three Phases of the Gurdjieff Work

Gurdjieff’s work has text, music and exercises. It is a complete method.

First phase: self-observation, participation, experiment.

Second phase: voluntary suffering.

Third phase: conscious labor.

A.R. Orage - Commentary on BT

his presence was filled with an unusual majestic force

G. Gurdjieff appeared. But, he was no longer the same man. He was transformed. He emanated a great radiance, without his outer appearance being changed. His presence was filled with an unusual majestic force, which he had never shown us. He looked at us intently, as if passing us a message. What I felt from him made a very deep impression.

Then, G. Gurdjieff beckoned me to come closer. I went towards him, and G. told me of an exercise that I was to give to my companions at our next meeting:

"To think of him, Mme de S. and all the group members as a network, all connected to one another, even at a great distance."

I relayed the exercise that evening at a meeting in his flat in the Rue des Colonels Renard. This gave us a greater consciousness of our relationship with him and the group.

Solange Claustres - Becoming Conscious with Mr. Gurdjieff p.86

the future of the Fourth Way on Earth

One day G. Gurdjieff had said that the role of the Fourth Way, this teaching which is neither the way of the monk, nor the yogi, nor the fakir, is to appear and disappear, after having deposited what was necessary at this moment, in a certain epoch, in a certain place on the Earth. That this way could blend into society, change form, become an organisation, a religion, or disappear.

Another time G. had said that what had been created would disappear by the fourth generation.

Solange Claustres - Becoming Conscious with Mr. Gurdjieff

Gurdjieff is a multitude

"He is a multitude," Jane Heap had told us. "But if you watch, sometimes you sec the sage pass by."

We watched for the sage and yes, were fearful in case we missed the golden moment when he passed.

We were not so much afraid of Mr Gurdjieff himself as of ourselves, our weakness, our sleep.

A.L. Staveley - Memories of Gurdjieff p.51

Henry Miller´s quotes on Gurdjieff

To begin with, Gurdjieff was a thoroughly enigmatic figure. He was a living example of that Greek word, Enantiodromos, meaning the process by which a thing changes into its opposite. He could be tender, fierce, strict, indulgent, wise, clownish, utterly serious and a farceur all at one time.

Gurdjieff was a perpetual surprise. However, young as he was, and with no preparation for the ordeal, Fritz Peters, the boy, was astute enough to know that he was in the hands of a most unusual human being, a man who has been called a Master, a Guru, a Teacher, everything but a Saint.

Much has been written about the scandalous behavior of Gurdjieff. And it is true that he seemed to care little for conventional behavior. In a sense, he was like a cross between the Gnostics of old and the latter day Dadaists. Certainly, of him the Latin saying "nothing human is beneath me" was true. He was human to the core. At times he reached sublime heights.

It delivers over to us one of the most enigmatic and controversial figures of our time, one unfortunately too little known by present day man. I have read the book several times myself and each time with renewed interest. In a way of speaking I regard it as something on a par with Alice in Wonderland, a real treasure of our literature.

"Gurdjieff was one of the most mysterious figures of the twentieth century. His writing was incomprehensible to me, yet I feel I know him intimately because of a delectable book titled, Boyhood With Gurdjieff by Fritz Peters."

"Political leaders are never leaders. For leaders we have to look to the Awakeners! Lao Tse, Buddha, Socrates, Jesus, Milarepa, Gurdjieff, Krishnamurti."

Steal the Dog

Gurdjieff had appointed a prim, control-oriented woman. Miss Ethel Merston, as his administrator when he was away. On a trip, he and Miss Merston stopped at an inn where a large dog seemed to adopt Gurdjieff: he and the dog became instant friends. At their next stop, Gurdjieff asked Miss Merston if she would like to do something for him. All too eagerly, she said she would. Very well, Gurdjieff told her, that dog at the inn should belong to me. So go back to that inn and steal that dog.

Miss Merston was horrified. As Gurdjieff knew very well, this act of theft was utterly contrary to her nature. But he insisted - it must be done! Forcing herself every inch of the way, she returned alone to the inn. She immediately saw the dog wandering around, and - agonizing over it - she induced the animal to get into the ear. Then the innkeeper popped up. She was busted! She began to babble some explanation about how the dog had jumped in the car on its own but the innkeeper only expressed puzzlement that they’d left the dog behind in the first place - because the gentleman with her earlier had already bought the dog.

Gurdjieff had never really put her at risk of being arrested - but, quite harmlessly, he’d forced her to go against the grain of her programming and confront her greatest fears.

John Shirley - Gurdjieff. An Introduction to His Life and Ideas

Thomas de Hartmann talk from 1950

“He gave an imitation of how we wriggle and scratch after a movement stops — the devil always finds something for us — but we must remain quite still after a movement till one more note gives the signal to move. ‘This will make a big impression on your audience—and on you if you watch some day’.

‘I tell once for ever about beginning of the music of Georgi Ivanovitch. In 1917 M. and Mme Ouspensky and others did movements, but 1918 was the beginning of music. Georgi Ivanovitch lay on a sofa at Essen- tuki with a guitar — but he did not strike it the ordinary way - and gave the melodies. There was a violin, he told me, ‘In two days you must play it’, so I had to: and ‘a plate for putting glasses on’ as a drum.

Then in Tiflis we had a piano. Georgi Ivanovitch could do the impossible. In the midst of revolution he was working intensively on each one of us, our inner psychic states. It was a terrible piano. He said: ‘Any idiot can play on a good piano’, so I had to play on it. (See p 86).
When he wanted to make me angry, he gave the melodies each time a little different; he was training me. With these melodies there is only one right way to harmonize them, you have to ‘catch’ what they need. It is not ‘my music’, it is his. I have only picked up the Master’s handkerchief. Mme Salzmann remembers that time.

All the movements have their own scales. No. 19 is the five tone scale of Bali. The Chinese and Tibetan scale is different. Some have to be like “Little Bells’’ that hang in the temples.
The music and movements are one, they are like the body and soul in man, the rhythm is what joins them. You do not move in jerks on hearing the sound, like electric bells or lamps flicking up, but feel it beforehand. It is like a circle going round all the time, but as it passes a tangent touching a certain point, the actual movement comes” He drew a big circle in the air with his right arm, brushing the left hand each time it passed.

“Those who had the great happiness to live with Georgi Ivanovitch know that something was given them, more than they deserved. He was trying to hammer a soul into man, something that could survive. Perhaps he is present here in reality.”

Mr. de Hartmann’s talk at Colet Gardens on 9th March 1950.