Source Text
“Sex enables us to touch each other’s ‘being’ and be touched. As personalities and minds we may meet like passers in the night; but in our essence, or being, we remain with each other for the rest of our lives.” —Anthony Blake
In his magnum opus Beelzebub’s Tales to His Grandson he tells of monks who try this sublimation and caricatures them as fat or thin according to whether they masturbated or not—the thin ones masturbated, the fat ones did not. For the most part, Gurdjieff advocated a “normal” sexual life just in order not to be caught up in delusional pursuits. Gurdjieff’s attitude was complex. In his writings he would denounce homosexuality; but in his teaching practice, some of his closest pupils were homosexual. He was renowned womanizer and had several illegitimate children. In Beelzebub’s Tales to His Grandson, Gurdjieff tells of a mythical planet on which there are three sexes needed for a conception.
Although Mr. Gurdjieff’s language was not always the most polite, I give here an extract from a meeting in Paris on 8 April, 1943, dealing with this subject. It came in answer to the question, “Why does the greater part of the associations which interfere with my work come from sexual associations?”
The first is the result of ordinary food and eliminates itself naturally. This has to be done daily otherwise all sorts of illnesses can occur.
They may originally enter us simply from our contact with other people or by impressions from the spirit world3* and then take hold in us as they do because of our inner tension and carelessness.
Let me make this as clear as I can. The real delight of sex is neither in mental stimulation nor in emotional excitement but in the enhanced clarity, power and strength of experience on all levels. For example, true feelings, such as joy, wonder, hope and love are not disturbing and exciting because they reach deeper than the egoistic self.
What is required of us is that we become sensitive to what is right and learn how to align ourselves with the impulses of essence rather than those of personality. There needs to be developed in us a special kind of taste, similar to that which can arise in aesthetic matters, that is free of conditioning and independent of external pressures.
Man should first of all cease to be the slave of his sex function before thinking of creating consciously.”
The opening of finer perceptions in us is of fundamental importance for our transformation, for without them we cannot see what is necessary.
AI Summary
Sex and Spiritual Development by John Godolphin Bennett and Anthony G.E. Blake presents key insights from the Gurdjieff tradition. The 9 passages above capture the essential teachings.
Core Themes:
- [To be expanded]
Key Passages: Highlights 1, 3, and 9 are particularly representative.
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