1. Like what "it" does not like.

2. The highest that a man can attain is to be able to do.

3. The worse the conditions of life the more productive the work, always provided you remember the work.

4. Remember yourself always and everywhere.

5. Remember you come here having already understood the necessity of struggling with yourselfonly with yourself. Therefore thank everyone who gives you the opportunity.

6. Here we can only direct and create conditions, but not help.

7. Know that this house can be useful only to those who have recognized their nothingness and who believe in the possibility of changing.

8. If you already know it is bad and do it, you commit a sin difficult to redress.

9. The chief means of happiness in this life is the ability to consider externally always, internally never.

10. Do not love art with your feelings.

11. A true sign of a good man is if he loves his father and mother.

12. Judge others by yourself and you will rarely be mistaken.

13. Only help him who is not an idler.

14. Respect every religion.

15. I love him who loves work.

16. We can only strive to be able to be Christians.

17. Don't judge a man by the tales of others.

18. Consider what people think of younot what they say.

19. Take the understanding of the East and the knowledge of the Westand then seek.

20. Only he who can take care of what belongs to others may have his own.

21. Only conscious suffering has any sense.

22. It is better to be temporarily an egoist than never to be just.

23. Practice love first on animals, they are more sensitive.

24. By teaching others you will learn yourself.

25. Remember that here work is not for work's sake but is only a means.

26. Only he can be just who is able to put himself in the position of others.

27. If you have not by nature a critical mind your staying here is useless.

28. He who has freed himself of the disease of "tomorrow" has a chance to attain what he came here for.

29. Blessed is he who has a soul, blessed is he who has none, but woe and grief to him who has it in embryo.

30. Rest comes not from the quantity but from the quality of sleep.

31. Sleep little without regret.

32. The energy spent on active inner work is then and there transformed into a fresh supply, but that spent on passive work is lost for ever.

33. One of the best means for arousing the wish to work on yourself is to realize that you may die at any moment. But first you must learn how to keep it in mind.

34. Conscious love evokes the same in response. Emotional love evokes the opposite. Physical love depends on type and polarity.

35. Conscious faith is freedom. Emotional faith is slavery. Mechanical faith is foolishness.

36. Hope, when bold, is strength. Hope, with doubt, is cowardice. Hope, with fear, is weakness.

37. Man is given a definite number of experienceseconomizing them, he prolongs his life.

38. Here there are neither Russians nor English, Jews nor Christians, but only those who pursue one aimto be able to be.

There is only one kind of magic and this is 'doing'.

All energy spent on conscious work is an investment; that spent mechanically is lost forever.

We must destroy our buffers. Children have none; therefore we must become like little children.

We attract forces according to our being.

Humanity is the earth's nerve-endings through which planetary vibrations are received for transmission.

Everything in the universe has a place in a scale.

No energy is ever lost in the cosmic scheme.

One twentieth of all our energy goes to emotional and instinctive centres. Self-remembering is a lamp which must be kept alight by energy from these two centres. Our thinking centre is not really a centre, but an apparatus for collecting impressions.

Formatory apparatus resembles a hired typist who works for a firm and has a large number of stereotyped replies for external impressions. She sends printed replies to other centres who are the 'directors' of the firm and who are strangers to each other. Wrong replies are often sent, as the typist is asleep or lazy.

In deep sleep all communication between centres is closed. Our sleep is bad because we do not cut off lines of communication.

We have good and bad angels. The good angels work by way of our voluntary, active nature and the bad through our passive nature.

Mr. Self-love and Madame Vanity are the two chief agents of the devil.

Do not be affected by externals. In themselves they are harmless; it is we who allow ourselves to be hurt by them.

We never reach the limits of our strength.

If we do what we like doing, we are immediately rewarded by the pleasure of doing it. If we do what we don't like doing the reward must come later. It is a mathematical law and all life is mathematics.

Man is a symbol of the laws of creation; in him there is evolution, involution, struggle, progress and retrogression, struggle between positive and negative, active and passive, yes and no, good and evil.

Men have their minds and women their feelings more highly developed. Either alone can give nothing. Think what you feel and feel what you think. Fusion of the two produces another force.

For some people religion is useful but for others it is only a policeman.

We are sheep kept to provide wool for our masters who feed us and keep us as slaves of illusion. But we have a chance of escape and our masters are anxious to help us, but we like being sheep. It is comfortable.

He who can love can be; he who can be can do; he who can do is.

Sincerity is the key to self-knowledge and to be sincere with oneself brings great suffering.

Sleep is very comfortable, but waking is very bitter.

Free will is the function of the Master within us. Our 'will' is the supremacy of one desire over another.

Eastern art has a mathematical basis. It is a script with an inner and an outer content. In Persia there is a room in a monastery which makes one weep owing to mathematical combinations of different parts of its architecture. Real art is knowledge and not talent.

An ordinary man has no 'Master'. He is ruled now by the mind, now by the feelings and now by the body. Often the order comes from the automatic apparatus and still more often he is ordered about by the sex centre. Real will can only be when one 'I' rules, when there is a 'master' in the house.

Morality is a stick with two ends; it can be turned this way and that.

From the time when man began to live on the Earth, from the time of Adam onwards, there started to be formed within him, with the help of God, of Nature, and of all his surroundings, an organ whose function is conscience. Every man has this organ, and whoever is guided by it automatically lives according to God's commandments. If our consciences were clear, and not buried, there would be no need to speak about morality, for consciously or unconsciously everyone would behave according to God's commandments. Unfortunately conscience is covered up with a kind of crust which can be pierced only by intense suffering; then conscience speaks. But after a while a man calms down and once more the organ becomes covered over and buried.

You should forget about morality. Conversations about morality are simply empty talk. Your aim is inner morality.

External morality is different everywhere.

You should understand, and establish it as a firm rule, not to pay attention to other people's opinions. You must be free of people surrounding you, and when you are free inside you will be free of them.

To be just at the moment of action is a hundred times more valuable than to be just afterwards.

To gain anything real, long practice is necessary. Try to accomplish very small things first.

There are two kinds of doingautomatic and doing what you 'wish'. Take a small thing which you 'wish' to do and cannot do and make this your God. Let nothing interfere. If you 'wish', you can. Without wishing you never 'can'. 'Wish' is the most powerful thing in the world.

To bear the manifestation of others is a big thing. The last thing for a man.

In the river of life suffering is not intentional. In conscious life suffering is intentional and of great value.

To love one must first forget all about love. Make it your aim and look for direction. As we are we cannot possibly love.

Until a man uncovers himself he cannot see.

One day Mr. Gurdjieff happened to be lunching alone at a small Paris restaurant. His attention was called to a table nearby where he saw a couple, clearly very anxious about the boy sitting with them. He seemed almost like an animal greedily eating the food before him. He was fat, very fat, far overweight. He ate like an animal. Mr. Gurdjieff overheard one or two remarks the couple were making and knew they were talking Armenian. Now it happened that he had a great weakness for Armenians. He said they were a wonderful people of great antiquity. They had not let their country be overrun by Western civilization. They had kept up their old customs, particularly the roots of their language, which was full of old sayings, old customs of the past, and this kept their people clean and unspoiled by the slime of the West.

When Mr. Gurdjieff spoke to them in Armenian, they were clearly surprised and delighted. They got into conversation, he joined them at their table and, of course, being Mr. G, it wasn't long before they were treating him as an old friend. Only the son went on eating, taking no notice. Mr. G explained he was a Russian, a doctor, a child specialist, but of course unknown in Paris, where he was still making his reputation. They arranged to meet again and Mr. G succeeded in getting their confidence and hearing more about their deep anxiety about their son.

He told them that, in his opinion, it was their love that had spoiled the boy. His condition had become a disease. It was quite well known in Russia, where parents were often overindulgent to their children. It was fear of starvation really. They had known terrible days of famine. Their children must never know that, so they encouraged them to eat and eat well, with the result that some of them could not stop and the thing became compulsive, serious

He was very busy, he told them, and it was only because he had a weakness for Armenians that well, he would make them an offer: "Give your son to me. I will cure him. It will take about three months. But there are conditions. You must not see him, write to him, or come anywhere near him during this time. Your absence is part of the cure." They were a bit doubtful about this, adoring their son and never having been parted from him. "Besides, three months that's a long time what will it cost?" Gurdjieff brushed all this aside. "It will cost what it costs. Whatever it costs, you must promise to pay it without question. Your faith in me is part of your son's cure" Well finally they agreed. Probably it was only because Mr. Gurdjieff was what he was that such an extraordinary arrangement was possible

The first thing was to gain the trust of Sarkisthat was the boy's namehis trust and affection, that was all-important and not difficult. He had a naturally open and affectionate nature. Gurdjieff started by painting a pitiable picture of his own state. A terrible thing had happened. "Just today! Just when I was going to take off on holiday with you!" he said. "I was robbed! In business." The man would be caught, of course. He would be rich again, but for the moment he had nothing. They would have hardly enough to eat. But soon everything would be better! (He kept on inventing these 'bad luck' stories). But tomorrow never came, they had hardly enough to eat, but now they trusted each other, shared everything, it would be bound to come out all right.

Well, Sarkis believed him and began to adore him and over the next weeks, getting used to starving without noticing it, he grew into a healthy young man, ready to do anything and everything Gurdjieff asked of him. The money never turned up and they were always very poor, had to work, had to struggle to make ends meet, but together they would make it. This regime went on for weeks, Gurdjieff putting more and more work on Sarkis' shoulders, with the excuse that he himself was getting weaker, older

At last, at the end of a long day when they had climbed all the stairs up to the top flat where they were living, Mr.G, accidentally tripped over the trash can and sent the whole lotit was fullcascading down the staircase and landings below. Starting in at once to pick up all the mess, piece by piece, and get it back in the bin, without the least sign of any blame or irritation at Mr. G's carelessness was a climax. The boy was cured, both in body and mind. Gurdjieff threw his arms round him. It was over!

At the family reunion the parents, overjoyed at their newborn son, now an athletic and normal young man, almost timidly asked Mr. G for the bill. Mr. G showed them the itemized account Sarkis and he had made together of what they had spent. Every detail was shown. The total was so small it looked ridiculous.

THE GREAT HARMONIZER received The Sun reporter in Apartment Q, one of the six apartments which he maintains at 204 West Fifty-ninth street. A curious group of folk sat around the long, narrow luncheon table, bare but spread with exotic foodsstuffed vine leaves, pungent soups, bear meat, Asiatic fruits and luscious melons. A bearded man who spoke nothing but Russian, and that only occasionally, sat at one end. Two lovely Oriental-eyed children sat next to him.

The Great Harmonizer, massive and solid, with shaved head and great walrus whiskers, held down the other end, and between were several women, each of a different nationality, each garbed in a colorful costume, one in a sort of flowing Asiatic garment, long earrings and a colorful sari.

The Great Harmonizer held aloft a slender glass. "You are just in time," he said, "to drink to the thirteenth variety of idiot!"

The guest did as ordered, and drained the glass of a strong syrupy, foreign liquid. Throughout the luncheon toasts followed in quick succession until the whole twenty-one varieties of idiots which composed the peoples of the world had been properly toastedthe last toast to the Arch Idiots.

Job So Big It Takes a Staff

Conversation flowed merrilynow in this language, now in that, for the Great Harmonizer was having luncheon, prepared by his own hands, for the twelve members of his staff, who are busily engaged in translating his monumental work containing the cream of the world's wisdom into twelve languages.

When English was spoken at all it came in the form of parables, punctuated by outbursts of laughter, a bit incomprehensible to the guest. But there was no lack of hospitality. Melons, which, it was explained came by special boat for the Master, were pressed upon the reporter. Melons and fruits and long slender black cigarettes from the heart of Asia.

"I am in America," said the Great Harmonizer, "to shear sheep."

When luncheon was over the guest, still mystified, was invited to accompany the Master to his Sanctum Sanctorum, the heart of the six apartments which are required to house the Harmonizer in his varied moods. The guest would be allowed the most unusual privilege of reading the observations of Beelzebub to his favorite grandson, as they referred to the life of mankind in that curious country called America, a manuscript in the Master's lighter vein, written in Russian, but already translated into English by the young Oxford graduate on the staff.

Uses Russian in Frivolity

For, it was explained, just as the Master needs a variety of environments, so he needs to express himself in the particular language which best harmonizes with the mood of the moment, and the subject matter. Thus when he is in his light and humorous vein, he writes in Russian. Pure intellectual thought requires Greek. Sharp wit may be expressed best in French. Asiatic languages lend themselves to the more esthetic and esoteric moods. He is equally at home in all of them, but very short on English.

Down a flight of stairs, through various corridors, the guest followed the Master, to the apartment of relaxation, where thick steaming Turkish coffee was waiting on a brass tray, together with still another variety of cigarettes. This apartment contrasted sharply with the rugged simplicity of the first; furnishings were not particularly sumptuous, but it had, nevertheless, a luxurious air, further emphasized by a heavy scent of a most unusual and exotic perfume.

Master Not Discursive

The guest was invited to read from the sayings of Beelzebub to his favorite grandson, which comprises the two hundred and twenty-ninth chapter of the Critical Survey of the Life of Mankind, one of the lighter chapters, and therefore a good one to begin with, entailing not too great a strain on the intellect. The reporter had not been reading aloud long, however, when the Master interrupted.

"Don't read now," said the Master. "You can finish that later."

Now, thought the guest, I shall find out all about this harmonious development of mankind. But unfortunately the Master was not in a mood for discussion. This was the hour for relaxation, and as for as the guest could gather, this harmonious refreshment of body and soul has something to do with freeing the soul from its prison confines.

The Great Harmonizer is George Gurdjieff who already has aroused considerable curious comment in New York, for at certain hours each day he chooses the busiest of a chain of popular restaurants, and with coffee and cigarette to hand, loses himself in his own soul and writes. It is only in the midst of the greatest clatter that he can really concentrate, and not a single one of the six apartments is noisy enough for his purpose. Most of his work was written in the Café de la Paix across from the Opera in Paris, probably the noisiest and most distracting spot on earth.

Women Attend His Words

For some time he gave lectures to his American disciples in Carnegie Hall, where on a previous short visit to America he staged esoteric Eastern dances. But of late he has devoted himself to authorship, content to receive guests and disciples at luncheon and in the evening.

His American disciples, some of them are prominent men and women, mostly women, who have attended his Institute for the Harmonious Development of Mankind at Fontainebleau, near Paris. Many strange stories have been told of this curious colony, where wealthy women scrubbed floors as if their souls required it and where aristocratic men worked in the fields or forests, joining at night in weird Oriental dances or listening, in a lavish setting of Asiatic luxury, to esoteric music brought out of the east in the Masters various explorations.

Among his followers were many artists and writers, among them the late Katherine Mansfield, the sister-in-law of the late Lord Northcliffe, and A. R. Orage, editor of the New Age.

The "harmonious development" consisted of developing each of three distinct personalities or souls which comprise the human being. Most persons apparently suffer from the over-development of one or the other and if we are sound physically and mentally we probably suffer from emotional malnutrition.

This book is without doubt one of the most extraordinary books ever published. Its title is no exaggeration, for the book not only touches on all and every conceivable subject, but it also is all and everythingthat is, a collection of science fiction tales, an allegory, a satire, a philosophical treatise, a sociological essay, an introduction to psychology, a cryptogram and, for those who follow Gurdjieff's teachings, a bible. It is a highly unusual mixture of entertainment and esotericism, humor and seriousness, obscurity and clarity.

GEORGE IVANOVITCH GURDJIEFF ranks among the most controversial men of the 20th century, and he may well be one of the most important. He was born in 1877 of Greek ancestry in Russian Armenia and died in Paris in 1949. As a young man he devoted his energies to searching for the fundamental truths of life. He traveled extensively throughout the East, sometimes gaining entrance to esoteric schools that few, if any, Westerners had ever been admitted to. He became convinced that there was a way for man to become much more that what he is. He then set about putting what he had learned into a form that would be understandable and meaningful to the Western world. He developed a method whereby a man could evolve through his own efforts. The basis of the method seems simple enoughto observe oneself objectively, impartially and at each moment. But the execution of it is extremely difficult, which led to it being called "the Work." Through efforts "to work on oneself" and increase one's self-awareness or consciousness, Gurdjieff maintains that a man can develop new faculties which, because they are based on objectivity and impartiality, enable man to function harmoniously. Gurdjieff believes, unlike many religious philosophers, that man has to develop a soulhe is not born with itand these new faculties contribute to the development of the soul. He presented his ideas in three formslectures and writing, music, and sacred dances and movements to correspond to the three main areas of manhis intellect, his emotions, and his physical body. What was possibly most important and unique about Gurdjieff was that he was a living example of what his method could produce. Even people who didn't like him had to admit that here was a man in control of himself, a man who operated from the inside out rather than being in the power of external influences like most men.

It is fortunate that he put his ideas in writing, because throughout history we can see what has happened when wise men have entrusted the dissemination of their teachings solely to their disciples. Distortions, disagreements and even reversals are inevitably the final result. This is not to say that many of the books written about the ideas and method of Gurdjieff are not quite good. Ouspensky's In Search of the Miraculous, Kenneth Walker's A Study of Gurdjieff's Teachings, and C. Daly King's The States of Human Consciousness are excellent introductions to Gurdjieff and his ideas. But these are secondhand and consequently not as complete or as accurate as something coming directly from Gurdjieff himself.

Because the book is so unique, the reading of it does present certain challenges. Gurdjieff suggests that All and Everything be read three times, and not until the third reading should the reader try to fathom the gist of it. However, this does not mean that a tremendous amount cannot be gleaned from the first reading. A good guide to understanding the book is the section "From the Author" at the very end. Here Gurdjieff steps out of his role as storyteller and talks to the reader directly.

Another guide is to keep in mind Gurdjieff's purpose in writing All and Everything, which he states in no uncertain terms: to destroy mercilessly all man's beliefs and views about everything existing in the world. To reinforce this aim, Gurdjieff selects a most diabolical name for his herothe name of the devil himselfBeelzebub. However, All and Everything is not like so many philosophy books that brilliantly show man what a farce he is and then leave it at that. Its exposé of man is not an end in itself, but rather a beginning. Gurdjieff sets out to destroy only in order to create. He believes that before man can proceed to uncover and develop his hidden possibilities, he must first question the condition in which he is, must feel dissatisfaction, must have an inkling that there is more to life than what the senses perceive.

Two other important points to keep in mind are the sub-title, "An Objectively Impartial Criticism of Man," which implies this is no ordinary criticism, and Gurdjieff's statement that the book is written "according to entirely new principles of logical reasoning." It is impossible to explore here all the ramifications of these two points, but they mean that Gurdjieff does not propose palliative measures of reform nor does he present his arguments in a traditional way. He makes it clear that mankind cannot be "worked on" from the outside; that is, things like war or disease cannot be eliminated even through the best forms of legislation or science or artistic endeavors. The only possible solution is that enough men embark on a road leading to higher states of consciousness.

Probably the biggest challenge in reading the book lies in its richness of content. What is said can be taken on so many different levels, and it is often hard to know how to go about deciphering it. In general, it could be said that Gurdjieff is working on the hypothesis "as above, so below." Thus, when he talks about the universe and the sun and the moon, he is also talking about man and what he is composed of.

SINCE GURDJIEFF HAS CHOSEN to present his ideas in part in the form of allegory, one can read those parts of this book simply as fascinating science-fiction. The story opens aboard the space ship Karnak. Beelzebub is traveling to a conference where his sage advice is needed on matters of cosmic significance. He is accompanied by his grandson, Hassein, and his old and faithful servant Ahoon. As they travel, Beelzebub regales Hassein with tales about the Earth, about events in the universe, and about cosmological and psychological law. Beelzebub tells Hassein how he happened to become interested in the planet Earth. During his youth, he intervened in affairs that were of no concern to him and as punishment was banished to Mars, in a "remote corner of the Universe" (our solar system). There he builds a telescope in order to study the goings-on on Earth and to observe the strange customs of its inhabitants. He finds man's inclination to "destroy the existence of others" particularly strange and repugnant. The significance of Mars is perhaps in its distancethat is, one cannot become as easily prejudiced if one has perspective.

Beelzebub then relates an engrossing story about the early life of Earth, which is filled with psychological implications. Due to cosmological disturbances, two fragments broke off from the Earth early in its creationone was the moon, the other what Gurdjieff calls Anulios which Earthmen do not know exists. In order to maintain the balance of the universe, it was necessary to ensure that these two satellites remain orbiting around the Earth, and Earthmen were required to give off a certain substance that would facilitate that end. Fearing that if the Earthmen found out what their function was, they might find no reason for continuing to live, the higher powers implanted an organ in them called Kundabuffer which prevented them from perceiving their true condition. Later the organ was removed, but unfortunately its consequences remained and they remain to this day. The Kundabuffer was only intended to prevent man from seeing reality, but it also caused the additional qualities of self-love, vanity, swagger, pride, etc. These qualities are psychological and emotional props which put a cloud over the true nature of man. Hence, man needs a vantage point beyond the cloud, as if from Mars, to see this real nature and to discover there the purpose of his life. Gurdjieff presents this purpose not only as an aim, but as a dutya duty quite separate from the usual ethical and moral obligations.

Beelzebub also tells of his personal visits to Earth where he learns more about the nature of man after gaining preliminary knowledge through his telescope. These trips may be construed as a more advanced step in the method of working on oneselfperhaps implying that once having acquired the ability to see oneself objectively as if from the outside, one can then make closer observations and still retain one's state of impartiality. These descents to Earth are narrated to his grandson for educational purposes, but they are always entertaining stories. In all, Beelzebub makes six trips to Earth, each possibly representing a specific portion of the body or psyche deserving study.

Beelzebub is not alone in his quest after development, and he tells his grandson of other peoplesome extra-terrestrials, some Earthmen and some of divine originalso in pursuit of objective truth. The first of them is Gornahoor Harharkh, whom we first meet in the chapter "The Arch-preposterous." He is an "essence-friend" of Beelzebub's living on Saturn. His prime interest is in electricity called Okidanokh which participates in the formation of all new arisings. Gornahoor Harharkh invents a machine which demonstrates and makes available for his use the properties of Okidanokh. The purpose of his experiments is to develop his Reasonan attribute which, according to Gurdjieff, man does not have by nature but must acquire through effort. The machine is described in great detail, and the experiment might correspond to an exercise or practice connected with "the Work."

Perhaps the most outstanding character in the book (outside of Beelzebub) is Ashiata Shiemash. We learn about him in a series of four chapters which are some of the most emotionally stimulating in the book. Ashiata Shiemash was sent to Earth as a messenger from above, a messiah figure of enormous nobility and beauty. His writings are unusually moving and have a scriptural tone and quality. An example are his three verses on what he calls the sacred being-impulses of Faith, Love and Hope:

Faith of consciousness is freedom

Faith of feeling is weakness

Faith of body is stupidity.

Love of consciousness evokes the same in response

Love of feeling evokes the opposite

Love of body depends only on type and polarity.

Hope of consciousness is strength

Hope of feeling is slavery

Hope of body is disease.

Ashiata Shiemash establishes the Being-Obligolnian Strivings, five rules of objective morality which lead to genuine conscience. These five rules are:

1. To have everything satisfying and really necessary for one's body

2. To have a constant and unflagging instinctive need for self-perfection in the sense of being

3. The conscious striving to know ever more and more concerning the laws of World-creation and World-maintenance

4. To strive from the beginning of one's existence to pay for one's arising and individuality as quickly as possible, in order afterwards to be free to lighten as much as possible the Sorrow of our Common Father

5. The striving always to assist the most rapid perfecting of other beings, both those similar to oneself and those of other forms, up to the degree of self-individuality

Gurdjieff points out that one of the psychological traits of contemporary man which impedes the formation of a conscience is the "disease of tomorrow"i.e., putting off until later or tomorrow what should be done now.

WOVEN INTO BEELZEBUB'S STORIES are pieces of information that seem quite straightforward. For instance, Beelzebub explains to his grandson that man is composed of three brains or centers. They are the instinctive or moving center, the emotional or feeling center, and the intellectual or thinking center. Perhaps Beelzebub and his party can be seen as a demonstration of the three centers functioning together as a unit, each having a definite role to fulfill. Beelzebub himself would correspond to the thinking center. He has all the information, is the maker of plans and decisions, and is the leader of the group. Ahoon, the servant, represents the physical center. He is described as faithful. He is always there, ready to serve and does not intrude with his own personal desiresperhaps a more ideal condition for the body to be in than is generally the case with man. Hassein represents the emotional center. He is young, not fully developed, is in the process of being educated, has willingness and eagerness to grow up, and is often intensely moved by what Beelzebub tells him. In this analogy it can be seen how Gurdjieff's method, which has been called the Fourth Way, differs from the three ways of the monk, the yogi and the fakir. They each try to develop primarily through the means of one center: the fakir through chastisement of the body, the yogi through mental discipline, and the monk through prayer and belief, which are chiefly emotional. For Gurdjieff's work, all three centers must be utilized so that man can develop harmoniously, not lopsidedly.

The knowledge of this concept of three centers is prerequisite to Gurdjieff's treatment of the Law of Three. It is quite an unusual concept and rarely, if ever, appears in contemporary scientific knowledge. Yet Gurdjieff maintains that it is the underlying principle in all phenomena and also plays a very significant role in man's possible development. The Law of Three states that there are three rather than two forces always in operation. We generally, of course, know of only positive and negative. To this, Gurdjieff adds the neutralizing force.

Beelzebub tells how each of man's three centers can play a part in his development through the use of consciously ingested and digested substances. Unfortunately, man in his present condition does not take in these substances and therefore does not fulfill his potentialities. The chapter "Hypnotism" goes into it, telling what these substances are, how they are to be ingested and digested, and what the results of this can be.

Towards the end of the book, in the chapter "Form and Sequence," Gurdjieff draws a distinction between knowing and understanding. Understanding can only result through the conscious verification of knowledge. So, although the book presents knowledge, and perhaps knowledge of a very high order, it is not in itself useful unless one puts it to the testdigests it and converts it into understanding.

INTERSPERSED WITH HIS STORIES, Beelzebub discusses various theoretical and philosophical subjects. At one point in their travels through space, Beelzebub's party learns of the impending appearance of a comet which could, if they cross its path, poison the ship's passengers. Beelzebub decides that the Karnak should wait in outer space until the comet has gone by. He makes use of this time to explain to Hassein the dynamics of space ships, much as the contemporary father explains the workings of an automobile to his young son, and also in keeping with the best tradition in science-fiction. But here, in allegory perhaps, are principles dealing with the methodology of "work on oneself." Included in his explanations is the idea of perpetual motion which Beelzebub puts forth in such a plausible way that one is hard put to find any theoretical flaw in it. Perhaps there are indications here of what kind of fuel could be used to keep oneself in perpetual effort to develop.

Another exciting principle which Gurdjieff brings forth is the Law of Seven, to which he devotes a whole chapter. If one can in any way sum up the intricate logic of this law, it is that all events proceed in seven steps or "deflections," each step having specific attributes and properties which determine the progress of every activity. Gurdjieff links this law and its progressions rather intimately with the stages of a man's development.

The Law of Seven has at least several illustrations in contemporary knowledgeobviously in the music octave, but more profoundly in the periodic table of elements in chemistry. When the elements are lined up in tabular form, each series headed by an inert element, it can be seen that certain of their characteristics repeat in patterns of seven. It is interesting to note here that the electrons of inert elements have closed orbits; they cannot combine with the other elements of this world easily. Thus, we see that Gurdjieff's theories are not solely a product of his rich imagination, and it is fascinating to see how he finds psychological applications in them.

IN MANY WAYS, Gurdjieff seems to be trying to discourage people from reading All and Everything. In the introduction, which he calls "Arousing of Thought," not only thought, but many feelings are arousedsome unpleasant ones toward Gurdjieff himself. Gurdjieff helps to invoke these by such statements as, "cheerful and swaggering candidate for a buyer of my writing...before embarking in the reading...reflect seriously and then undertake it...you might lose your...appetite for you favorite dish and for your...neighbor, the brunette." Apparently Gurdjieff does this to keep the reader from being lulled or feeling complacent. He wants to agitate and unsettle usshake us loose from our ordinary way of thinking and of receiving new impressions.

One of the aspects of the book that is quite decidedly "arousing" is the very manner in which it is presented. Sometimes there is digression upon digression, so that Gurdjieff appears rambling and disconnected. But actually each seeming digression adds a new dimension to that which is being discussed. Another problem is that people are so used to what Gurdjieff calls "bon ton literary language"exciting images and lulling reveries requiring little effort on the reader's part. Gurdjieff writes quite otherwise on purpose; he constructs sentences which are, at times, outlandishly long and complexsometimes a quarter of a page in length.

Gurdjieff seems hell bent on disturbing our equilibrium, for there is hardly a "quiet" moment in the book that is not disturbed by one of Gurdjieff's classic "Otherwises." This, as he explains in the introduction, is based on an injunction from his grandmother which states, "In life never do as others do...Either do nothingjust go to schoolor do something nobody else does."

It is sometimes hard to determine when Gurdjieff is being humorous and when serious. He will often discuss a most weighty problem in a tone which is light, sometimes facetious, often with tongue-in-cheek. A prime example of this is his discussion of our responsibilities towards, as he puts it, "Mister God." In reverse, in the chapter "America," Gurdjieff discusses many topics with mock seriousnessthe American "dollar-business," drinking and prohibition, the Chatterlitz school of languages, a strange fellow from Chicago called Mr. Bellybutton and on and on. This chapter is really spiced with pungent wit!

One of the best elements of Gurdjieff's humor is his timing. He doesn't allow the reader to get heavy and ponderous, because he sprinkles his humor strategically throughout. Often when considering a most serious question, he interrupts with a quote from the legendary Arab philosopher, Mullah Nassr Eddin.

Also contributing to the fact that the course of the reading is not, to quote Mullah Nassr Eddin, "Roses, roses," is the liberal usage of the Karatasian languagethe strange words that belong to Beelzebub's vocabulary. These words are often an unusual assemblage of syllables with three of four consecutive vowels. Some of the roots are traceable such as Triamazikamno (tri=three) coming from 'tri' for three and Egoplastikoori and Legominism (ego=I), coming from 'ego' for I; but always connected with them are syllables not so easily traceable. It is not that Gurdjieff leaves the reader hanging, for he often goes to great length to define and illustrate these words. But an examination of their construction can no doubt shed even further light on them, and Gurdjieff offers quite an adventure in word exploration for those so inclined. There is the word zion in the names of two "searchers after truth"King Konuzion and Makary Kronbernkzion. Then there are words which seem to come directly from various eastern languages, like the name of the space ship Karnak that Beelzebub and his company are traveling in, which means "dead body" in Armenian.

DESPITE ALL THE inherent difficulties which Gurdjieff has implanted in this book, the rewards are there. But and in keeping with Gurdjieff's philosophy, the rewards are commensurate with the reader's struggle to find them. The book is certainly well worth the struggle.

In the last chapter, Beelzebub, in an exultant experience, is graduated to a state of higher Reason, which he has earned through his efforts to develop. The ritual connected with this has the solemnity of a religious ceremony and is deeply moving and inspiring. So, "An Objectively Impartial Criticism of the Life of Man" ends with a triumphal sense of hope, of salvation, of redemption. But not before Hassein is invited to ask one final question of his grandfather. Hassein asks what hope there is for the salvation of people on Earth, and most aptly the story ends with the reply:

"The sole means now for the saving of the beings of the planet Earth would be to implant again into their presences a new organ, an organ like Kundabuffer, but this time of such properties that every one of these unfortunates during the process of existence should constantly sense and be cognizant of the inevitability of his own death as well as of the death of everyone upon whom his eyes or attention rests.

"Only such a sensation and such a cognizance can now destroy the egoism completely crystallized in them that has swallowed up the whole of their Essence and also that tendency to hate others which flows from itthe tendency, namely, which engenders all those mutual relationships existing there, which serve as the chief cause of all their abnormalities unbecoming to three-brained beings and maleficent for them themselves and for the whole of the Universe."