Mystery of the Ages

This is the first time I've seen someone saying what I've been thinking for years:

"No one these days can read about the ghastly George Gurdjieff and his sidekick Piotr Ouspenksy without wondering how on earth so many sensible, educated people of the mid-20th century came under the influence of such a disreputable pair. Peddling a hodge-podge of Hinduism, the occult and some rather embarrassing dancework à la Isadora Duncan, this unlovely duo expertly fleeced their wealthy followers." --"A Spoonful for Bile: Review of Mary Poppins She Wrote: The Life of PL Travers by Valerie Lawson," Kathryn Hughes, The Guardian, December 3, 2005.

Gurdjieff created a concoction of unchallenged untruths and sentiments that resonate to this day in new age circles. Part of Gurdjieff's genius, if one can apply such a label to a con man, is that he described a world inhabited by those awoken, i.e. his followers, and the rest of us robots going on about our business. Thus, Gurdjieff and his believers could dismiss criticism as ignorant and incoherent ramblings. One of these days I am going to see if I can find out if Charles Manson had ever read any of Gurdjieff's books.

Quote of the Month

Or year for that matter:
"The most grandly absurd thing about historians’ obsession with theory is that — for the most part — we don’t even believe the stuff ourselves. In theory, historians are postmodernists, but in practice, we’re pragmatists, both in our historical writing and in our everyday politics. The rest of the academy has mostly moved on, and it’s high time we did so too. "
--Critical Distance I: On Theory
Jason Kuznicki on Jun 30th 2006