Thursday, February 01, 2007
GURDJIEFF AND SUFISM
Webb attempts to track the source of Gurdjieff's system, devoting an entire chapter to the effort. Among the many sources Webb explores is Sufism:
...nothing will be said about the possibility that Gurdjieff took ideas from any Sufi order, though certain Sufi methods--most notably the "Stop" exercise--were clearly important to him, and it is possible that several ideas which will be discussed in a European context--such as Cabala or numerology--were first imbibed by Gurdjieff in an Islamic (that is to say Sufic) form.(p. 500)
The more his theoretical teaching is studied, the more it divides itself into two sections: a definitely Oriental part, based largely on Buddhist thought with an admixture of Sufi lore; and a definitely Western part, founded on European occultism as derived from the Gnostics, Neo-Platonists, and Rosicrucians. (p. 540)
In researching Rodney Collin on the web, I found a website belonging to Katinka Hesselink, a Theosophist and member of the Theosophical Society in America. There are numerous links here including a webpage devoted to Sufism and Fourth Way where Gurdjieff, Hazrat Inayat Kahn, Idres Shah, and Joyce Collin-Smith provide essays, and where there are also links to Blavatsky quotes, Modern Theosophy, Jiddu Krishnamurti and a link to Hassellink's Newsletter titled "Lucifer7".
With such associations, it is simply beyond comprehension how the Gurdjieffian Enneagram can be promoted in Catholic retreats.
