More and More Fishy
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For full citations of references, please see Introduction and Bibliography.
Where are we now with the exploration of the meaning of "fishes" in Gurdjieff's teaching? In the previous posts on "Blessed Fishes," listed above, there was the trout, "leaping alive," lover of difficult places, which accumulated active elements; and the stranded sardine, squirming and struggling on the sand; the diagram of the connection of the six centres from Orage, that looks like a fish1; and an implication that the idea of fishes or, at least, some kinds of fishes, may be something to do with the intermittently present sixth step of the octave of the digestion of food, and thus with conscience.
On the evening of 13th of November, 1930, in New York, Gurdjieff addressed for the first time a general meeting of a group of Americans, followers of his ideas, who had up till then had A.R. Orage as their principal guide. This was in one of the studios of Carnegie Hall,2 and Gurdjieff had just arrived in New York by steamer.3 He informed his audience, with lengthy explanation, that "something in me is today, as it is said, 'fishy.' "4
Elizabeth Bennett records that Gurdjieff joked with people at his Paris apartment on 11th August, 1949, the last year of his life, having planned, and then cancelled, going to Dieppe (famous for fish) the day before5:
We ate delicious fish, and someone made a joke about being at Dieppe. He smiled and said, “Yes; mountain come Magomet."6
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