Absence of a permanent I in man. Role of small I's. Absence of individuality and will in man. Eastern allegory of the house and its servants. The "deputy steward." Talks about a fakir on nails and Buddhist magic.
"Man has no permanent and unchangeable I. Every thought, every mood, every desire, every sensation, says 'I.' And in each case it seems to be taken for granted that this I belongs to the Whole, to the whole man, and that a thought, a desire, or an aversion is expressed by this Whole. In actual fact there is no foundation whatever for this assumption." p.59
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"Man is a plurality. Man's name is legion." p.59
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"It is the tragedy of the human being that any small I has the right to sign checks and promissory notes and the man, that is, the Whole, has to meet them. People's whole lives often consist in paying off the promissory notes of small accidental I's." p.60
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"The comparison of a man to a house awaiting the arrival of the master is frequently met with in Eastern teachings which have preserved traces of ancient knowledge, and, as we know, the subject appears under various forms in many of the parables in the Gospels." p.61
What is meant by “rolls” in these sentences? I wondered if they possibly meant ‘roles’.
But their strength is the strength of the 'rolls' in the centers. And all I's making up a man's personality have the same origin as these 'rolls'; they are the results of external influences; and both are set in motion and controlled by fresh external influences.
I think he is making an analogy of phonograph rolls to describe "a mechanism adapted for receiving many kinds of impressions," (in each centre) as he puts it in "Views from the Real World." Pages 73-4 of that book provide a useful overview.
Titbits:
"Man has no permanent and unchangeable I. Every thought, every mood, every desire, every sensation, says 'I.' And in each case it seems to be taken for granted that this I belongs to the Whole, to the whole man, and that a thought, a desire, or an aversion is expressed by this Whole. In actual fact there is no foundation whatever for this assumption." p.59
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"Man is a plurality. Man's name is legion." p.59
-
"It is the tragedy of the human being that any small I has the right to sign checks and promissory notes and the man, that is, the Whole, has to meet them. People's whole lives often consist in paying off the promissory notes of small accidental I's." p.60
-
"The comparison of a man to a house awaiting the arrival of the master is frequently met with in Eastern teachings which have preserved traces of ancient knowledge, and, as we know, the subject appears under various forms in many of the parables in the Gospels." p.61
What is meant by “rolls” in these sentences? I wondered if they possibly meant ‘roles’.
But their strength is the strength of the 'rolls' in the centers. And all I's making up a man's personality have the same origin as these 'rolls'; they are the results of external influences; and both are set in motion and controlled by fresh external influences.
I think he is making an analogy of phonograph rolls to describe "a mechanism adapted for receiving many kinds of impressions," (in each centre) as he puts it in "Views from the Real World." Pages 73-4 of that book provide a useful overview.
https://www.holybooks.com/wp-content/uploads/Views_from_the_Real_World_-_Gurdjieff.pdf
Thank you, Till - that's helpful.