A Pebble on the Beach

Coast to island narrow sea, three in one and one in three, lock on door and turn of key, one on one in one and free: 1, 2, 3. Today; 12th June 2023, is the 123rd anniversary of the birth of James (Jim); father of Alan James, grandfather of John James, and great grand father of Daniel James. He died in 1959, at the age of 59, but in the collected state, and with the exercise for the deceased; given by Mr G I Gurdjieff, the possibility of sending and receiving force for mutual assistance arises, when remembering the real part of yourself, in the collected state; predominately in essence: in the presence of something Higher, and in the spirit of a journey as a witness to eternity which intensifies and resonates through the life in a blood line. This has been written about by the Maronite Joseph Azize; who wrote the book ‘Gurdjieff; Mysticism, Contemplation, & Exercises.’ In part 1 of the poem A Scapeshifter; the video version of the poem is backed by the song http://www.lolcooperband.co.uk Minds Eye: and the opening lines of this blog are taken from this song which is the opener on the album ‘Soul to Sun.’ Line 33 of A Scapeshifter; relates to the writing of Joseph Azize: it also contrasts the line in The Wasteland “Mein Irisch Kind” (Fresh the wind blows). Joseph Azize has also written a book about George Mountford Adie (a direct pupil of G I Gurdjieff) A Pupil in Australia. George Adie was a British architect, who later ran an esoteric school in Australia where Joseph Azize was a pupil. Mr Adie was married to the concert pianist Helen Adie who played and arranged some of the music written by G I Gurdjieff and Thomas de Hartmann. George Adie celebrated his last birthday on a day when a Macclesfield Forest shepherdess was born, as a synchronicity to contrast the way of the plain and the peak, Gritstone and Woodland. To my astonishment I was given the chance to speak face to face with Joseph Azize; who talked to me about possibilities. He said I was welcome to communicate with him but he would be unable to Work with me as I was involved with another C influence / esoteric school. I did three years with this school before leaving, the school was called Alchemy of the Work http://www.alchemyofthework.com; look up teachings, then what is your truth? There you can listen; to what an esoteric school calls third line Work, and watch the short video, to get an idea of what a school is about, and how they reach out to people; rightly or wrongly? For The Fourth Way is a system that says don’t believe anything until you have verified it for yourself; sage advice! A seeker will stay with a school until they have gone as far as they can with that school; then will move on to the next stage of their spiritual journey, self / Soul development, or they may stay on with the esoteric C influence school and become a teacher themselves if they continue to thrive in their Work and develop in that environment. My introduction to the Fourth Way was through Jacob Needleman; who was a pupil of Lord John Pentland (a direct pupil of Mr Gurdjeff), as was William Patrick Patterson who also runs an esoteric school and publishes a journal which looks to preserve the legacy, and honour the memory of Mr George Ivanovich Gurdjieff. My understanding of the Work, and its application to the practical aspects of day to day life, was and is through Theodore Nottingham; who I have verified for myself to be a master teacher, and who will take the time when required to talk face to face with serious seekers who are sincere in their search. The above names mentioned here are just a few of many, and it is not to say that all of them will agree about the practical applications of the Work, as different places and teachers can put differing inflections on the Work; a seeker should search until they find; then as Mr Gurdjieff recommended; verify what they have found for themselves, and Work accordingly with the teacher of their choice. The Fourth Way and the ideas of G I Gurdjieff; introduced in the early part of the twentieth century by way of the sly man, and explained to me today as relevant to involvement in daily ordinary life; as practical tools for Working to raise being (truth, goodness, and practicality of what one does with ones time here on earth) are timeless teachings, and are woven into the fabric of the poem A Scapeshifter. Rebecca Nottingham, who completed her book ‘Finding the Divine Within’ on her death bed; would often have at the top of a newsletter: an image of a stained glass window; with lines written into it from Ephesians 5:14, which are repeated in line four of part 1 (Call Me Carpenter) of A Scapeshifter, where Mann is spelt with two n’s as a play on Geoff Mann; a musician who recorded in Cavalier Studios in Stockport, and who died on the 5th February 1993 at the age of 36: he can be seen singing a live version of ‘Love Song’ on you tube in Germany in 1991. Chris Mann the TV producer (Orien Mystery and More?) and church warden at St Thomas church, Mellor, in Cheshire, who passed on in the early part of 2023 also calls to mind a sychronicity in the name on Mann. Ted Nottingham, and guides like him are conveyor’s of these timeless teachings, which help connect a moment to eternity in a Worked at state of vigilance, where one can endeavor to move towards becoming a conduit for the Central Creative Power of the Universe, and so becoming a benediction in helping to make the Universe conscious of Itself as we travel in hope (line 313 of A Scapeshifter) . As an example of esoteric Work, a B influence, which originated in C influence; could be the insights of the gospel of St Thomas, which remained hidden for almost 2000 years, and which forms part of what over the last 100 years has become known as the Q source. I once heard it said by a sage, that in the end; the only esoteric school is life, and the most important teacher is the Holy Spirit. So have I gone off the at a tangent here from Jim? well! I am writing this at his old desk, in my office, with his smoking cabinet on the raised area above my lap top, and my Grandfathers Christening cup at the side of the computer, but the church he and my Grandmother Hannah attended; St Augustine’s in Stockport, had been abandoned by the time the mud slinging calumny of COVID was in full swing, and by 2022 had been turned into 9 flats by a developer, a sign of the times, yet still things connect, but the connection needs to be tempered with discernment (diakrisis; line 4 in the epigraph to A Scapeshifter) as the Fourth Way Work prompts us to Work on ourselves rather than trying to change the world, changing the world is probably something we cannot do, but paradoxically; we may improve it by developing ourselves, which is hard enough in everyday life where we often fall short and at times seem to be forever beginning again in the moment, it’s not easy and takes time; that’s why they call it the Work. Sacred space is sacred space, be that a place or a man or woman’s inner world, and it has been said that in the Fourth Way Work, and this is often reiterated by William Patrick Patterson; that for a prayer to be heard; it should be said thrice; once for the welfare and peace of ones parents, once for the welfare of ones neighbors, and then once for the welfare of oneself; one and one and one is three; then there may be something extant. Anyhow! The Law of Three is made up of Affirming, Denying, and Reconciling. Mixed in with A Scapeshifter’s 1,2,3 is Jean Toomer, an American direct pupil of Mr Gurdjieff; who was born on the same day as one of the three Miranda’s in A Scapeshifter. The writer of A Scapeshifter can be seen in the way of the Fili at the start of the Ian Toomey cover of Sound of Silence, found on his you tube channel 15 seconds in. This was released in 2018 in a year when the writer celebrated his 54th birthday on the 15th January; the 123rd anniversary of the last day of the 1935 Ashes test in Australia, when Albert Trott took 8 wickets for 43 runs, which the writer of a Scapeshifter duplicated at Hawk Green in 1993 playing for Birch Vale, with former first class cricketer Don Smith (brother of architect and Cambridge blue Sir Colin Stansfield Smith) umpiring at the bowlers end, and saying of the last man clean bowled; that the batsman had been undone by the perfect leg break. Myself as the bowler back then; and in a feature of vanity in false personality in the moments of such a comment, imagined I could divest myself of this negative emotion, by lying to myself and feigning modesty: but in the event was told by the umpire; that in June 1951, as a first class cricketer, he had opened the bowling for Lancashire against the touring South Africans, and as a consequence knew his cricket; and could recognize a perfect delivery when he saw one. The question is, where does perfection end, or is it like a thing that is alive and grows, for this 1993 season was the English summer when Shane Warne bowled his ball of the century at Manchester’s Old Trafford Cricket Ground, I was at the match that day, and watched in amazement as Mike Gatting was dismissed by what looked like wizardry, and I can verify that in moments watching that occurrence, in terms of the fall of that wicket; that the raised consciousness there for me was connection to eternity, and also verification was arrived at in an understanding that the ball bowled by Shane Warne at Old Trafford was much better than the perfection the umpire said was achieved at Hawk Green in the same season, which as good as it may have been; did not go on to be remembered as the ball of the century, because it was not; however perfect it may have been on the day. And now! after all that waffle, Anybody bothering to read this blog, will know what G I Gurdjieff meant in his powerful teachings when he described one of our biggest enemies as identification, along with negative emotion, and time wasting associated stories, which include the jovial trait of too much unnecessary depth and intrigue, which can eat our Good Work, and take can steal our energy as in the many too many sentences above. It was said by William Faulkner that poetry is the heart in conflict with itself, and in line 360 of A Scapeshifter a poetic synopsis of this 1993 season and the one to follow it can be found. This year of 2023 is the 30th anniversary of that 1993 season and this year is also the 100th anniversary of Jean Toomer’s 1923 book Cane; but that’s another associated story. An example of the depth and intrigue mentioned earlier would be the 15th of January 2019 following on from the Ian Toomey Sound of Silence video where Paul Simon had a dream which told him to expect going forward the inspiration and content which would become his long song album Seven Psalms released as his 15th studio album released in this year of 2023; in interviews about the album he talks about the way the words and music came through to him and about his current sound of silence to one side of his hearing. One year on from the Paul Simon dream which gave the musician Seven Psalms marked the 123rd anniversary of the birth of the poet Xu Zhimo who wrote the poem ‘Taking Leave of Cambridge’ the first and last lines of which are on a memorial stone at the Backs of Kings College Cambridge; “Softly I’m leaving, just as softly as I came, Gently waving my sleeve, I’m not taking away a single cloud.” Do the poets see it first, perhaps seeing the invisible within the visible, where do intrigue and depth serve no purpose and where does coincidence have meaning? When things connect like 1,2,3 it’s time to verify the validity, for one and one and one is three; the mystery of A Scapeshifter connectivity.