Are We Having Fun Yet:
The Play of Forces in the Gurdjieff Work
Let us pause a moment from our over-busy lives to watch a match of
boxing. You do not know the game? No matter, let us see what we can
see...
Those tiny warriorslet us say this is a live event, not television,
we are high above the ring because we did not pay for ringside seats.
Suddenly in spite of distance, we are there among them. Why do they
puff and grunt, why extend their life force to the breaking point? Do
they like this cruelty, hurting and being hurt, trying to hurt the
other more? Why did they suffer endless workouts in the gym, dead
tired, missing wife and children, punishing the body like a
flagellant? Why is it called “the sweet science?” Why do they
embrace after the match, bloody, wobbling from hard blows, hug the
man who even may have broken sacred rules, tried to cheat them? This
is happening, and we, though spectators are part of it.
It is not for us they do it, nor for money, which is little. The real
thing is this play, this play of forces, physical, but also moral,
even intellectual.
The television anchor now accosts the winnerwe can see it on the
screen above us in the emptying arenatheir talk is stupid, trivial.
But in the face, though bruised, a glow, a special Buddha smile,
speaks volumes. It was Fun!
We are in the presence of a secret: work, all sufferingis fun.
Who in our tradition has not born the yoke of cruel planners who
assigned a task beneath his dignity? And yet did it. Did he have fun?
He should have, could have if he knew the secret. Or if he, embracing
his “resistance”, found a way to thwart the plan, endured pursed
visages, persisted, broke through barriers both inside and
outsidemore fun! Who has not accepted, confident and proud, what
proved to be a hopeless task, failed miserably, yet found rewarding
truth in failure? Who has not thought deeply on a question, then when
speaking been reduced to idiocy? This is our sweet science, these
(among others) are our play of forces.
So don’t say “I am here to work”maybe say that to the faceless
judges if you have tosay within yourself “I come to play.” Like a
novice jazzman, play an improv far beyond yourself.
This is all outer though. Fun, but there is more. Where the deeper
play of forces is, is where “is” is “is not”. Can you go there?
Sometimes, rarely, one is given a free ticket. How to pay the price
for ringside seats inside the self…
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