So far as I can see, there is no parallel in life for what happens in the authentic Gurdjieff contemplative exercises—what he called once “Transformed-Contemplation” and, in All and Everything, “Aiëssirittoorassnian-contemplation.”

Let us take the Four Ideals Exercise, in the form in which Gurdjieff taught it to Mr Adie in 1948.

It is understood to commence with a full relaxation of the body, and then raising the body to conscious sensation. Now both of these are known in ordinary life, especially the need for relaxation. I shall return to relaxation at the end. But every person who is learning to do something new with their bodies, does control their sensation, to some extent. Sometimes, as in physiotherapy, bodywork treatments of varied descriptions, martial arts, stretching, yoga, and so on, the conscious sensation of the body or, more often perhaps, part of the body, is an articulated goal. Then there is passive sensation such as during massage, physiotherapy or in a bath, when one enjoys the sensation. This comes with a certain amount of consciousness, sometimes, perhaps, so much that it amounts to not just a semi- but rather a reasonably conscious experience.

As I said, there we do have parallels in life. But I know of none for the next step: the representation of the higher hydrogens or substances which have been emanated, and the drawing them into the body by means of a represented thread. Nowhere in life, do we call a higher element into ourselves by using the mind alone. Even if we imagine things, and this is sometimes done in physical exercises and so on, do we imagine drawing their substance into ourselves? Not in ordinary life. I have never heard of it, that I can think of. I can imagine people following spiritual practices doing so, but that is not ordinary life. Even then, I cannot think of when I have heard of it.

I must reiterate, because people so often read something other than what I have written. I am NOT saying that the Four Ideals Exercise has no relation to anything else in any other tradition. I am saying, rather, that the effort which is made to represent to oneself these higher substances and then to draw them into oneself by means of a thread is not one which has any parallel in ordinary life.

Now to pause there for a moment; the upshot is that the effort we wish to then make likewise has no parallel in ordinary life. That being so, we are probably disposed towards making the sort of efforts which we do make in ordinary life, and that would be an error. If we are faced with something new, and new in an unparalleled way, then it makes sense to at least be open to the possibility that the effort must be correspondingly unparalleled.

This, I suspect, is part of the value of the “relaxation” which Gurdjieff calls for before each exercise. He often uses phrases such as “relax completely.” Deep relaxation may have the desirable effect, that we do not use muscular exertion in our effort. This “unparalleled” work cannot be done through the use of brute force, pushing, or straining. But it can be engaged upon by the use of our nascent power of will, and this will is very quiet. It is like a policeman directing traffic. It waves a hand and the cars move on. I write “engaged upon” because it cannot ever really be “done” like a steak on a sizzling grill. But then, it doesn’t have to be: it is given for the process, the octave of development which, as always, will eventually pass to the next octave should it reach a certain pitch.

The same thoughts apply to those parts of the exercise where the limbs become accumulators: where is this ever done in life? And then the breath is inhaled and blended, consciously blended with the elements stored in the limbs. Where is anything analogous to this done in life? So too for the sending to the genitals, the feeling, and Mr Adie used the very word “feeling” of the genitals, not the sensing. And so on all through this remarkable exercise.

Although I have been working with this exercise for almost forty years, it is only now that the enormity—and the extraordinary privilege—of what we have has started to come home to me. So often, we don’t know what we’ve got until we have lost it. I am saying: let’s wake up to this now and value it as it deserves,