george's a&e talk_0

7/30/2019 GEORGE'S A&E TALK_0

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Proposed talk to A&E Conference April 2009

Conscious Labor and Intentional Suffering Being-Partkdolg-Duty

George Bennett

I propose to talk this morning about conscious labor and intentional

suffering being-Partkdolg-duty. The phrase, in either form, recurs

throughout Beelzebubs Tales, and it is a key concept in Gurdjieffs

presentation. But I believe it has to be much more than an idea for us.

Gurdjieff, through his alter-ego Beelzebub, makes two things crystal clear.

The first is that being-Partkdolg-duty is an obligation for all three-brained

beings and second, that our planet is in dire straits precisely because we arenot actualizing it. If that is the case, and if we take Beelzebub at all

seriously, we need to understand what is meant by conscious labor and

intentional suffering in theory, and how we are to actualize it in practice.

My interest in this topic has undergone some development over the past

three and a half decades since I first heard JG Bennett talk on the subject in

April 1974, but for the purposes of this discussion, I intend to take Bennetts

presentation as a starting point. His talk was delivered to students on the

third of his ten-month courses at Sherborne in Gloucestershire, England. Atthe time, these students had been studying with Bennett for six months and

were entering what he called the esoteric phase of the course. Although I

was in the audience for this talk, it made little impression on me at the time.

In terms of the Work (and much else besides) I was a callow youth and had

no real experience to set against Bennetts presentation. In the past few

years, however, and in the light of my own experience, the talk has assumed

a quite different significance for me. I would go so far as to say that reason

of knowing has begun to give way to reason of understanding.

In passing I should point out that this talk is available, and may even be

familiar to you, in print form as a privately circulated pamphlet and in an

anthology of Bennetts commentaries entitled Talks on Beelzebubs Tales.

In both cases, however, over-zealous or hurried editing has reduced the

impact of the talk - and at some points subtly altered the meaning - and I

recommend listening to the original in full.


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I would like to begin with a prcis of Bennetts presentation and then

consider how far his understanding of conscious labor and intentional

suffering is supported by Gurdjieffs presentation inBeelzebubs Tales.

Bennett begins by discussing what is meant by conscious labor. He firstmakes a distinction between conscious labor, and the effort that all living

things have to exert in order to maintain themselves. That much is probably

self-evident. Then he rules out the idea that the work we do to fulfill

ourselves, essence work we are driven to do by our own nature, comes

under the heading of conscious labor. Finally he discusses striving after a

goal, striving for some reward. Nearly everyone, he says, embarks on our

Work in search of a reward, to become better, to become stronger, to be free

of this or that trouble, to attain higher levels of being. This, says Bennett,

doesnt properly come into the heading of conscious labor. When one is

working for a reward, or the attainment of a result, he says, one mustknow it, and know that the reward is the reward.

In contrast to labor for a reward, he says that the first hallmark of conscious

labor is that it is labor undertaken without regard to the fruits of action,

where one works because one must work. He gives the homely example of a

mother, who works for her child not in the expectation of a reward, but

simply because she must. The work itself is not for anything, it simply

must be done.

Whenever we see something that must be done, he continues, it means

that we become conscious. That seeing what is necessary, and seeing what

is necessary as necessary. That is consciousness. That is the first condition

of conscious labor. It is doing what has to be done because it has to be done

and for no other reason.

He then adds a sentence which I find very significant, in considering the

presentation of being-Partkdolg-duty in Beelzebub Tales: It is only when

we work in that way, Bennett says, that work can liberate us from our own

egoism. If we work for a reward, this reward will satisfy something in us,

and this something in us will certainly include our own egoism.

Bennett goes on to discuss what are the circumstances that make this work

of conscious labor possible, and this is another of the conditions I want to

examine in the light of the Tales. Conscious labor is close - if not identical -

to service, he says, but it has a particular aim. He maintains that the way

Gurdjieff presents this notion of conscious labor and intentional suffering,


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it is invariably connected with serving the future. Invariably has the quality

of the sower sowing the seed. The unconcern with the fruits of action is that

the sower is sowing in hope, and is not concerned with who will reap the

harvest. It is clear that this is Gurdjiefs intention by everything that he

writes inBeelzebubs Tales.

In all cases, says Bennett, those who are represented as having reached

objective reason through conscious labor and intentional suffering, have

always been people who have been serving the future of mankind.

Let me sum up the three aspects of conscious labor, as Bennett sees it. First

of all, it means being able to recognize what is needed. Secondly, it means

to do what is needed without regard to the fruits of action, and thirdly it

requires being content to have sown the seeds for a harvest that others willreap. He reiterates, to quote again, that Its not difficult to see that if one

works in this way this will contribute to liberating us from our own egoism,

from the consequences of the properties of the organ Kundabuffer.

What, therefore, is meant by intentional suffering? In his talk, Bennett takes

considerable pains to differentiate intentional suffering from every other

kind of suffering. To this end he discusses many forms of suffering: evil,

unavoidable, and harmless but useless. Finally, he distinguishes between

intentional suffering and voluntary suffering.

Voluntary suffering is the suffering incurred to achieve a task. The example

he gives is the athlete who deprives himself of the ordinary pleasures of life,

in order to win a race. This voluntary suffering is justified only by the result.

If the result is what we want, then the suffering is worthwhile.

Intentional suffering is quite different from this, says Bennett. Intentional

suffering is the suffering that one exposes oneself to, in order to do onesduty. To accept a situation, knowing that this situation may result in trouble

for oneself.

To illustrate this, Bennett describes the life of three messengers from

above, the Buddha, the Prophet Mohammed and Jesus Christ, all three of

whom are discussed in Beelzebubs Tales. Their lives are evidently

examples of work for the future. Their considerable labors for the welfare of


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mankind also resulted in suffering for themselves, which they intentionally

accepted.

Bennett blithely asserts, you may recall, that the way Gurdjieff presents this

notion of conscious labor and intentional suffering, it is invariablyconnected with serving the future. Invariably, he says, it has the quality of

the sower sowing the seed.

Is this correct? Is Bennetts analysis supported by Gurdjieffs writing, and

secondly, why does this matter? Id like to address the first and relatively

easier question first. Relatively easier because, as you may perhaps have

noticed, the message of the Tales is rarely presented in unambiguous clarity.

To begin almost at the beginning, with Chapter VII, Becoming Aware of

Genuine Being-Duty, you will recall that Beelzebub and Hassein have just

heard details of the various systems of propulsion for ships of intersystem

and interplanetary communication.

Now consider Hasseins reaction:

Only now, he says, have I come very clearly to understand that everything wehave at the present time and everything we use, in a word, all the contemporary

amenities and everything necessary for our comfort and welfare have not always

existed and did not make their appearance easily.

It seems that certain beings in the past have during very long periods labored and

suffered very much for this, and endured a great deal which perhaps they even need

not have endured. They labored and suffered only in order that we might now have

all this and use it for our welfare. And all this they did, either consciously or

unconsciously, just for us, that is to say for beings quite unknown and entirelyindifferent to them.

Since, as the chapter title tells us, Hassein is becoming aware of Genuine

Being-Duty, it does appear that this duty is essentially disinterested work

for the future. Moreover, although Beelzebub then says that Hassein is at

present too young to worry about paying for his existence, his present task is

to prepare himself for the future. Only, says Beelzebub, when that period


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of your existence arrives which is proper for your becoming aware of such

essence-questions, and you actively mentate about them, will you

understand what you must do in return. If, as is often said, we ourselves are

in the position of Hassein, it is we who are being told to actively mentate

about what we must do in return. Notice, incidentally, the word must.

In the light of this initial clarification, I would like to consider three other

examples of conscious labor and intentional suffering, in connection with

some of the surprisingly large number of people of whom Beelzebub

actually approves. The first of these is the careers of Choon-Kil-Tez and

Choon-Tro-Pel, the second is the efforts of the learned society Akhaldan,

and finally, the labors of the Very Saintly Ashiata Shiemash.

The careers of the two great terrestrial learned beings, the twins Choon-Tro-Pel and Choon-Kil-Tez, are described in detail in Chapter XL,

Heptaparaparshinokh,but let us look at just one aspect of the description.

We are told that Choon-Tro-Pel and Choon-Kil-Tez:

began to continue the intentional actualization in their common presences of

being-Partkdolg-duty in the field of the profession chosen by them for their

responsible existence, namely, scientific research in the branch called medicine.

Their labors led to an understanding of the law of Heptaparaparshinokh that

is described as a blessing for future generations. Inevitably, however:

the gradual distortion and ultimate almost total destruction during two or three

centuries began of just that blessing [the understanding of Heptaparaparshinokh]

which had been created for them by their great ancestors [Choon-Kil-Tez and Chon-

Tro-Pel] thanks to their conscious labors and intentional sufferings.

For the purposes of this discussion, the interesting point is that this blessing

was created by Choon-Kil-Tez and Choon-Tro-Pel, through their conscious

labors and intentional sufferings, for the benefit of their descendants. In

other words their being-Partkdolg-duty consisted in serving the needs of

future generations. If there is a benefit for those that labor, it is the benefit

that comes from doing ones duty to the future.


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If we now look at the labors of the learned society Aklhaldan, it is not

difficult to see that they were, at least in part, directed towards the future. It

is hard to imagine, for example, that their dispersal across the planet to

discern the character of the second Transapalnian perturbation was a short-

term endeavor, or the result of merely idle or even scientific curiosity.

More specifically there are, in Chapter XXIII, Beelzebubs Fourth Sojourn

on the Earth, several references to the labors of the society Akhaldan that

specifically refer to working for the future. Although it is awkward to

isolate parts of sentences, lets look at three of these references. In the first,

in the context of the arising of the learned society, Beelzebub explains that:

if the three-brained beings there on your planet thanks to their being-

Partkdolg-duty, that is to say, thanks to their conscious labors and intentionalsufferings ever attain anything, then not only do they utilize these for the good of

their own Being, but also a certain part of these attainments is transmitted as with us

by inheritance and becomes the property of their direct descendants.

And in the build-up to the departure of the learned beings to observe the

second Transapalnian perturbation, Beelzebub says:

it was just then - when after incredible being-labors by members of that greatsociety the required tempo of work had already been established with regard to

discernment, conscious on their part, and also with regard to their unconscious

preparation for the welfare of their descendants that certain of them constated that

something serious was to occur to their planet in the near future.

Thirdly, during his stay in Egypt, Beelzebub is describing his travel

arrangements to capture a number of ape-beings and says:

after having stayed there [in Egypt] a few days among the remote descendants of

the great learned society Akhaldan, and becoming acquainted with certain results of

their being-Partkdolg-dutyfor the welfare of their descendants, (my emphasis) I

afterwards, accompanied by two of our tribe, went to the southern countries of that

continent


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In each of these cases, the link between being-Partkdolg-duty and the

welfare of the future is made explicit. At least part, and perhaps all, of the

conscious labors and intentional sufferings of the members of the learned

society Akhaldan was directed towards the welfare of their descendants.

Furthermore, in the following chapter,Beelzebubs Fifth Flight to the Earth,

Beelzebub defines what is meant by the word learned, an adjective almostalways attached, without Gurdjieffian irony, to the society Akhaldan. In

contrast to those beings, especially the contemporary ones, [who] chiefly

became learned who learned-by-rote as much as possible about every kind

of vacuous information, beings who are regarded as learned everywhere in

the Universe are:

such beings as acquire by their conscious labors and intentional sufferings the

ability to contemplate the details of all that exists from the point of view of World-

arising and World-existence

It seems reasonable to deduce from this that conscious labors and

intentional sufferings are connected with taking a corresponding degree of

responsibility for World-existence.

This connection between being-Partkdolg-duty and responsibility for the

evolution of the world is reinforced in the Purgatory chapter (XXXIX).

The foreign help required to make the transition to the fifth stopinder isactualized only in the three-brained beings, says Beelzebub:

exclusively owing to just those factors mentioned by me more than once and

which are manifested in the being-Partkdolg-duty, that is owing to just those

factors which our COMMON FATHER CREATOR ENDLESSNESS consented to

foreordain to be the means by which certain of the Tetartocosmoses as a final

result of their serving the purposes of the common-cosmic Iraniranumange [all the

results of actualizing the Trogoautoegocratic principle of reciprocal feeding and

maintaining each others existence the common cosmic exchange of substances] might become helpers in the ruling of the enlarged World, and which factors also

until now serve as the sole possible means for the assimilation of the cosmic

substances required for the coating and perfecting of the higher being-bodies and

which we at the present time call conscious labors and intentional suffering.

In other words conscious labors and intentional sufferings are the factors

that serve as the means for assimilating the cosmic substances required for


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the coating of the higher being bodies and they are the factors that are

foreordained to be the means by which three-brained beings might become

helpers in the ruling of the enlarged World. In a nutshell, therefore, the

passage suggests that conscious labor and intentional suffering, and service

to the enlarged World, are intimately linked.

Moreover, the results of conscious labor and intentional suffering are not

only for ones personal benefit, but they are to be shared in a more ordinary

sense, as is shown in Chapter XXXII, Hypnotism. On a well-ordered planet,

says Beelzebub, the perfecting of Objective-reason can proceed by the

process of the sacred Antkooano, in which the process of perfecting the

Objective-Reason proceeds simply by the flow of time. Antkooano can

proceed only in those planets upon which in general all cosmic truths have

become known to all the beings. Moreover, Beelzebub explains:

all cosmic truths usually become known to all on these planets, thanks chiefly to

the fact that the beings of the given planet who by their conscious labors learn some

truth or other share it with other beings of their planet, and in this way all the cosmic

truths gradually become known by all the beings of the given planet without any

distinction.

If this sounds too good to be true, we are told that this Antkooano was a

process upon which, among other things, the Very Saintly AshiataShiemash also counted. Which brings us to the third example I wish to

consider. If there is one hero in Beelzebubs Tales (apart from Beelzebub

himself, of course) it must be Ashiata Shiemash, and the chapters

concerning his very saintly labors are among the most dramatic, and the

least disguised, of the whole book.

Rather than rehearse the specifics of the organization for Mans existence

created by the Very Saintly Ashiata Shiemash, and what is said about

Conscience, let us look at a few specific references to his saintly labors. Itseems impertinent - and probably blasphemous - to ask whether his labors

were conscious, but let us return to what Bennett says in his talk:

seeing what is necessary, and seeing what is necessary as necessary.

That is consciousness. That is the first condition of conscious labor.

Ashiata Shiemashs labors on the mountain Veziniama were directed just to

this seeing what was necessary the first condition for conscious labor in

Bennetts analysis. And in his preamble to the Ashiata Shiemash chapters,

Beelzebub refers to:


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those holy consciously-suffering-labors which he intentionally actualized for

the purpose of creating, just for three-centered beings, such special conditions of

ordinary being-existence in which alone the maleficent consequences of the

properties of the organ Kundabuffer could gradually disappear from their

presences

Furthermore, in Chapter XXVII, describing his organization for mans

existence, Beelzebub says:

thanks to the conscious labors of the Very Saintly Ashiata Shiemash, the said

welfare unprecedented for your favorites was gradually created

In both these examples, the labors of Ashiata Shiemash are clearly describedas working for the future benefit of mankind. Furthermore, in the ensuing

chapter on the destruction of his labors there are three references to the

conscious labors of Ashiata Shiemash and three other references to his

ideally foreseeing Reason. Why do conscious labor and foreseeing reason

go together? Because conscious labor is directed towards the future.

If the meaning of conscious labor is relatively straightforward to discover in

the text, the meaning of intentional suffering is less obvious. What is clear is

that they go hand-in-hand. Time after time they appear as a combinedphrase conscious labor and intentional suffering and only together are

they a translation of being-Partkdolg-duty. This is made explicit in

Purgatory, when the intentional absorption and conscious digestion of the

second and third being foods is said to be possible,

exclusively only if all parts of ones presence have been accustomed beforehand

consciously to fulfill both sacred being-Partkdolg-duties, that is to fulfill conscious

labors and intentional sufferings.

In Beelzebubs Tales, the sufferings of those who undertake conscious

labors are evident in what we know of the lives of those historical figures

who are presented as engaged in conscious or saintly labors. In Bennetts

talk he describes in some detail the sufferings intentionally accepted by the

Buddha, the prophet Mohammed and by Jesus Christ. He might also have

cited the normality-loving saint Moses whose labors on behalf of the

children of Israel exemplify the principle of sowing a seed for a harvest that


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others will reap, not least since Moses knew, because he had been told, that

he himself would never see the Promised Land.

We know enough of the lives of these messengers from above to see that

intentional suffering was an inseparable part of their labors, and a freelyaccepted consequence of it. Moreover, anyone of us who has taken on a task

because they see it to be necessary, knows that suffering, or unpleasant

consequences, often attend the completion of the task. When we are able to

accept that suffering in advance the whole experience has an extraordinary

depth. If the labor is to fulfill the task, the acceptance of the attendant,

intentionally accepted, suffering may even be what returns some benefit to

the person who undertakes it. That doesnt make the suffering any less real

or less surprising, and the benefit is probably only seen in retrospect. The

suffering itself is not to be sought after, but only to be accepted.

Is this suffering something that redounds only to the benefit of the sufferer,

or is it necessary from an objective point of view? In Chapter XLIV,

Electricity, Beelzebub says of three-brained beings and being-Partkdolg-

duty:

just these ordinary three-brained beings, who acquire information about every

kind of genuine cosmic fact exclusively only thanks to their being-Partkdolg-duty,

are more competent than any of the Angels or Cherubim with their prepared being,who though perfected in Reason to high gradations, yet as regards practical

confrontation may appear to be only such individuals as our always respected

Mullah Nassr Eddin defines in the following words: Never will he understand the

sufferings of another who has not experienced them himself, though he may have

divine Reason and the nature of a genuine Devil.

The idea that only our own sufferings make it possible to understand the

sufferings of others is not unusual or particularly original, but the idea that

being-Partkdolg-duty makes three-brained beings more competent thanangels, and better equipped than they are as regards practical

confrontation, is an important piece of information. It implies that

conscious labor and intentional suffering has a practical application and it

makes us more competent.

Having looked at various references to conscious labor and intentional

suffering inBeelzebubs Tales, what can we learn about conscious labor and


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intentional suffering from the life of its author? Consider first the labor that

Gurdjieff undertook to assimilate rare or hidden knowledge from many parts

of the world, and his efforts to make this known to people in the West. His

story is of repeated and unremitting efforts to pass on the fruits of his own

researches. He worked first with his groups in Russia, then in the Caucasus

in the hostile environment of the Russian Revolution and its aftermath.Having made the complex and hazardous journey to France he set up his

experimental institute at Fontainebleau, where he tried by any means

possible to pass on what he had learned and understood. Notable among his

pupils in both Russia and France were the kinds of people who would be

able, in their turn, to spread his ideas further. At every stage he encountered

resistance and obstacles. He was shot several times, he was forced to flee

from Russia and, at the height of his efforts in Fontainebleau, he suffered a

near catastrophic car accident.

Gurdjieff accepted these sufferings and, on every occasion, continued with

his task. Following his automobile accident, he began to pass on his ideas in

written form. To the very end of his life he labored unceasingly to assist the

most rapid perfecting of other beings, as it is put in the fifth Obligolnian

Striving. At no time in this effort did he hide his light under a bushel; on

the contrary, he organized public talks and movements demonstrations, and

even suggested that Beelzebubs Tales be read aloud in cafes and given

away on street corners. Clearly, he was not afflicted by inner considering!

When we look at Gurdjieffs life as a whole, we can see that he never

allowed setbacks to deflect him from his task of making the Fourth Wayknown in the West.

My own teacher, JG Bennett, whose talk formed the preamble to this

discussion, was another who saw his task as one of sharing Gurdjieffs ideas

and methods, and the results of his own researches, as widely as possible.

He, too, set up a research institute, at Coombe Springs, near London with

the aim, among other things, of verifying the practices and ideas of

Gurdjieff himself. Bennett, too, investigated a variety of traditions in the

hope that they might illuminate his own understanding, wrote books andgave public talks and, finally, set up a school at Sherborne in England,

modeled explicitly on Gurdjieffs institute at Fontainebleau. As Bennett

said, he did not decide to devote what he described as his declining years

to these courses just to help individuals find their own personal

transformation. On the contrary, he felt that there was a much greater task to

be performed and that a corresponding number of people were needed.


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Why did Gurdjieff labor unceasingly to pass on his teaching? What was the

task that Bennett referred to? Most important of all, is conscious labor and

intentional suffering, in the sense that we have considered here, only for the

exalted few, or is it required of all of us?

To understand the answer to these questions, let us consider the present

world situation. The old world is coming to an end. This was clear to

Gurdjieff and it should be increasingly apparent to us now. We are entering

an era in which egoism will become not just a psychological handicap but

will become the seed of social disaster, if it hasnt already. In the new era

which needs to emerge, cooperation and sacrifice will be required. We and

our descendants will have to learn to manage with less and be happy with

less. We will have to be able to cooperate closely with each other, to put our

own wishes below the needs of others, of our race and the planet as a whole.

This is work for all of us, and the teachings of Gurdjieff can enable us to doit.

Consider the results of the labors of Ashiata Shiemash. Within ten terrestrial

years, people had ceased to divide themselves into separate state

organizations. Separate classes or castes had disappeared, and with them the

basis for the crystalization of egoism in people. Now remember here what

Bennett said about conscious labor and egoism: Its not difficult to see that

if one works in this way, he said, this will contribute to liberating us from

our own egoism.

We who have been interested in the results of Gurdjieffs own conscious

labors and intentional sufferings have been given an extraordinary array of

ideas and practices, many of which we have been able to test and verify for

ourselves. We can see that these teachings have a practical value in helping

us as individuals bear the kind of stresses that we can foresee, and this

benefit. My own experience of seminars, courses and communities, and I

am sure this is true for all of us, show that this benefit is multiplied when we

work together. The practices and ideas of the work can be the glue thatholds a community together.

It seems entirely reasonable that just as Gurdjieff didnt sit back on the

results of his researches, neither should we. We have a duty to share what

we have received, as far as we are able, and probably a lot further than we

are willing. Remember Beelzebubs reply to Hassein when he becomes

aware of genuine being duty in Chapter VII, only when you actively


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mentate about (such essence questions) will you understand what you must

do in return (my emphasis).

Not only is it important to share the ideas but we need to work together in

groups, communities and associations like this conference of differentgroups. Any group of people engaged in the Work together is greater than

the sum of its parts.

We can expect that sharing what we have understood will bring trouble on

ourselves; it will almost certainly involve intentional suffering. If we put our

head above the parapet and try to share our understanding of Gurdjieffs

ideas and methods with others, we will suffer setbacks. On the one hand we

may be criticized as reckless, and on the hand we may meet with

misunderstanding and humiliation. At the very least we will have tosacrifice our own convenience. Working in communities and groups is also

an occasion of conscious labor and intentional suffering, as we can probably

all recognize. None of this need deflect us. All the practices of the Work,

inner exercises, self-observation, Movements, struggle, sacrifice, and

studying Beelzebubs Tales, can prepare us to be able to undertake the

conscious labor of preparing for a better future and intentionally accepting

the suffering that such labor will almost certainly entail.

george's a&e talk_0

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