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Movements Foundation  From the Movement:First Dervish Prayer, Performance of the Movements Foundation, Utrecht Holland 2004 Home  The Movements Foundation Movements Music Classes Contact Login Movements Foundation’s view on Gurdjieff’s workWelcome to the website of the Movements Foundation, a foundation dedicated to work according to Gurdjieff’s teaching, music and Movements. I would like to present to you our basic view.As I tried to present my thoughts and associations in an acceptable form, a difficult stumbling block appeared almost immediately. Thoughts and words can be nicely put together in a logical order and this seemingly coherent whole may present a good impression to other people, and may even point out a certain direction for myself. But........., to me it seemed as if my life, my real life, day in, day out, has nothing to do with words. My habits and weaknesses are not concerned at all with thoughts about psychological development. And when I see the strange procession of all my many different personalities walk by, I cannot but wonder whether it is at all possible for these two entities, the world of ideas and words and the world of my own day-to-day life, to meet one another. The best solution to overcome this stumbling block seems to accept this situation as it is and to give each of these two totally different realities the possibility to co-exist in me, while acknowledging their strong difference at the same time.As I was about eighteen in the early sixties, I happened to read a small booklet about spirituality. The author was very negative about this new ‘craze’ - this was the beginning of the Hippie time- and concluded his overview of all spiritual methods as follows: “The only sensible thing humanity so far has been able to find out in this respect is that it will do us good to sit down, preferably under a tree, and be quiet for a rather long time!!”This unexpected conclusion impressed me very much. In fact, even now I agree with this statement completely, if the word ‘only’ were substituted with ‘a’. So, “A sensible thing…” and so on. The first step indeed for us all is to calm down. To take as much time for ourselves as we need to reach an inner calmness. That is a good, and perhaps even the only, practical start for everybody for this kind of work. When I have reached this quiet state, I can try to see my own life: how I was in the past and what I have become, how the chain of events that shaped my life unfolded.Then, almost by itself, the question of how to interpret this life, what kind of criteria to apply, will come up. In other words, the question arises of what is important to me. This is the old root meaning of the word ‘discipline’: “that which is important to me”.This contemplative look brings about a certain distance between my usual self and something in me that just looks. For those beginning, or well into, the Gurdjieff work, it might be interesting to realise that this distance is not just a passing phenomenon, but the very beginning of a whole new possibility of being, a new state of consciousness that Gurdjieff defined as a ‘waking’ state. A waking state which is in contrast to our usual sleeping state when this separation, this distance, is not there and when we are, so to speak, caught by our functions. He was quick to add that this state is easy during relaxation, but as such not productive. It should be acquired during activities as well.The acquisition of this state requires a long time and persistent hard work. Time and time again, I drop out of this state and, again, trust my so-called ‘doing’ more than this quiet look. A look which is like a substance so fine that it penetrates my life, without changing anything. This look can be compared to the light that slowly fills a room in the morning so that we can see where we are and in what state the room is. And then it could happen that, while the morning light slowly shows all contours in the room, I would prefer to continue looking in amazement and wonder at all these objects and reflect on them, rather than to take a hammer and saw to change them.Imagine if we had started to change things in the dark. What result would that have had? And yet, that is just what I keep trying to do. I still do not have enough trust in this higher state of consciousness. My logical mind tells me, like a stern judge, that every desire to change something comes from fear, and yet I keep trying to change. Daly King, a brain surgeon and scientist, and also a pupil of Gurdjieff, wrote in his last book that he was told - he did not say by whom, but it was probably Gurdjieff - that the existence of this state of consciousness was the real mystery of the Sphinx. A long time ago, when I asked my Movements teacher, Solange Claustres, what the Gurdjieff work was about, she answered: “The work means to have the guts to look at yourself and to keep looking.”In the rare moments that I try to look, I cannot avoid seeing a sharp contrast between my ideals and the reality of my life. To balance these two forces in myself through persistence and suffering creates a possible new harmony in me. I have to be a bridge between two worlds. That is as close as I can come to Gurdjieff‘s Law of Three.I am convinced that the look I spoke about is also a vital element in the dynamic process of evolution in life. And that is as close as I can come to an understanding of the first interval, the first conscious shock, in the process of a note that tries to climb up to his higher octave. Movements are Gurdjieff‘s practical method for bringing us into contact with this finer substance, this ‘waking’ consciousness. In Gurdjieff‘s words they will give us “a taste of the Sacred”. Movements, therefore, are an organic part of Gurdjieff‘s teaching. It makes no sense to ‘hammer’ a few Movements into our system if we forget what they represent on a scale of being. If we forget this wish and rely on our functional system, we will degrade the Movements.The mind makes a caricature of them through its tendency to dogma. The feeling will bring them down to a level of seeking for ‘ecstasy’, or some form of hysteria. The body will try to convert them into senseless gymnastics.At the Movements Foundation, we are exploring the many analogies between Movements and inner work. For instance, how the sensation of an exact axis of the body during bends, displacements and swaying represents the inner axis of awareness. The balancing of centres that occurs during Movements is another example. This creates an energy allowing us to observe ourselves in a new way.There is nothing wrong with the functioning of centres. Each centre can do amazing things: the mind can predict the future in scientific experiments; the feeling can create works of art that still radiate after centuries, the body can accomplish incredible tasks. But functions cannot see ourselves as we really are. For this, the cooperation of the centres is needed in order to fuel the powers of attention and observation.At the moment that I am writing this text, it is a very hot night in the city where I live. All the windows are wide open and I hear how somebody on the other side of the street is trying to play one of Schubert’s heavenly melodies. I can hear how stiff his fingers are (I can hear it is an adult male) and how much beyond his capacity this musical piece is for him. I almost slide into a feeling of superiority because I had a better training, but ... am I not exactly the same? Am I not trying to ‘play’ with ideas that are far beyond my level and possibilities? At least the pianist at the other side of the street is trying and that is exactly what I should admire and do as well. In fact, it is our position in this work: we will try to play, that means try to work with Gurdjieff’s ideas, and I am deeply grateful that this is at all possible.Thanks to Pauline Tiben for her editing of this textWim van Dullemen, september 2006 |
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