1.

CUARESMA

Dear friends of the work, for the last ten years our group has been
celebrating the 40 days of Lent according with the teachings of
Gurdjieff ,
Bennett and Pierre. This is a very special time where we as a group and
as pre Christians prepare to be able to put in practice the real teachings
of Christ. (See Attachment) Follow link:

http://www.gurdjief fdominican. com/christianity .html

Lent is a very special time of the year and in All an Everything we find
that Christians should perform this 40 days fast and abstain from
introducing into their body any food that derive from animals or the by
product of animals, in order to provide the necessary shock to the
planetary
body and create favorable conditions for the growth of the Higher Being
Bodies. Follow link:

http://gurdjieffdom inican.com/ Beelzebub_ chap_42.htm

Lent finish in Palm Sunday which is the entrance of Jesus in Jerusalem.

Then
for one week we celebrate Easter with various practices and rituals
understanding that we are participating in an event of universal
significance not linked to any particular creed, believe, church or
organization.

(These are only suggestions) .

Also each one must choose something that his body craves or likes very much and
abstain from it until Easter Sunday.

General precepts:
-Abstain from:
-Alcohol
-Tobacco
-Coffee
-Any habits you have observe in yourself
-Wearing or buying new clothes
-Places where they play loud music
-Places where there are people drinking
-Sex or touching adults (as far as possible)
-Eating between meals
-Expressing negativity
 -Talking about your fast
-Unnecessary talking
-Criticisms

Try to:
-Extended arms 5 min the first five days, 10 min the next 20 days and 15 the
rest of lent
-Reading and meditation on the Gospel of Saint John
-Read the Sermon of the Mount every day, so that at the end you can say it by
heart.
-The Rosary as a Zikr
-Prayer of the Heart
-Touch a child each day.
-Wear old clothes (as far as possible)
-Bear the unpleasant manifestation of other people.
-Remember those who have not eaten.
-Remember your Friend (God)
-Be present in everything you do
-Remember that you are traveling from the world of illusions to the world of
Reality. Be content and contained.
-Sitting or Meditate for 10 to 30 min. everyday

Fasting: (Read chapter 42 Beelzebub in America from page 1011 to page 1022)
-The fast should be intelligent and if at some time you feel your body is not
responding or is getting sick you should modify your fast.
· Abstaining from meat
· Abstaining from meat, eggs, milk, butter, and cheese
· Abstaining from meat, eggs, milk, butter, cheese, and fish
· Abstaining from meat, eggs, milk, butter, cheese, fish, oil, and wine
· Abstaining from all foods and beverages except bread, water, juices, honey,
and nuts.
-Never red meat.
- Once a week 24 or 36 hour without food. (The ancient Jews fasted on Mondays
and Thursdays. The ancient church fasted on Wednesdays and Fridays)

"Real Love is Christian, religious love;

with that love no one is born.
For this love you must work. "

Gurdjieff, Prieure, May 24,1923

 “The object of all real esotericism is to connect Man with the will of God” -Maurice Nicoll

Gurdjieff talk - The role of Judas >>

Christianity "The Teaching of Truth"

This Crucial Concept can be taken as the essence of Gurdjieff’s Teaching.

It is important for us to understand, that what Gurdjieff brought to us, is a New way to approach Christianity, -a new way of
becoming ‘Real Christians’-.

When talking about the aim of his institute Gurdjieff stated:

"The Institute can give very little. The program of the Institute, the aim of the Institute, the possibilities of the
Institute can be expressed in few words: the Institute can help one to be able to be a Christian. Simple! , That is
all!"
-G.I.Gurjieff / Views from the Real World,

Everyone who is seriously following this Work, must try to understand the role that Christianity played in Gurdjieff’s life, and in the
teachings he brought to the West.

Gurdjieff’s nature was profoundly spiritual, but this is not taken seriously by people who favor the idea -that the Fourth Way is a
teaching which leads to transformation through different methods and forms without any deeper spiritual significance -.

Contrary to this idea, the Fourth Way as Mr Gurdjieff intended to transmit it, approaches genuine transformation through Love and
compassion, where efforts toward spiritual evolution are not divorced from our “Common Father Creator” as he calls him in "All
and Everything".

“Real love is the basis of all, the foundations, the Source. The religions have perverted and deformed love. It was
by love that Jesus performed miracles. Real love joined with magnetism. All accumulated vibrations create a
current. This current brings the force of love.
Real love is a cosmic force which goes through us. If we crystallize it, it becomes a power—the greatest power in
the world.”
-G.I.Gurdjieff – from Meetings at 6 rue des Colonels-Renard, Paris -1938

Gurdjieff Himself calls the Fourth Way “Esoteric Christianity”, leaving the door open for research and investigation, instead of
accepting blindly what is stated by the church and different religions.

“The object of all real esotericism is to connect Man with the will of God” -Maurice Nicoll

This idea of “Esoteric Christianity” was emphasized from the beginning of Gurdjieff”s teachings, as we can see from different
manuscripts and talks given by him.

Somehow the Christian approach has been push to the background, as if it was something non essential, presenting the Work
-cold and devoid of real feelings, making it only an intellectual proposition-.

After Gurdjieff death many Fourth Way groups around the World have tried to put the idea of Christ aside or even completely
forgot about it.

“Inner Morality is your aim. Your aim is to be Christian. But for that you must be able to do –and you cannot.
When you are able to do, you will become Christian.” G.I.Gurdjieff / Views from the Real World,
Gurdjieff was always very straight forward when he was asked about Christ and Christianity, or whenever he wrote about it.

Here are few of the many examples :

"If instead of religion in general we take Christianity, then again there exists a “Christianity number one, that is to say, paganism in
the guise of Christianity. Christianity number two is an emotional religion, sometimes very pure but without force, sometimes full
of bloodshed and horror leading to the Inquisition, to religious wars. Christianity number three, instances of which are afforded by
various forms of Protestantism, is based upon dialectic, argument, theories, and so forth. Then there is Christianity number four,
of which men number one, number two, and number three have no conception whatever. "In actual fact Christianity number one,
number two, and number three is simply external imitation. Only man number four strives to be a Christian and only man number
five can actually be a Christian. For to be a Christian means to have the being of a Christian, that is, to live in accordance with
Christ's precepts. "Man number one, number two, and number three cannot live in accordance with Christ's precepts because
with them everything 'happens.' Today it is one thing and tomorrow it is quite another thing. Today they are ready to give away
their last shirt and tomorrow to tear a man to pieces because he refuses to give up his shirt to them. They are swayed by every
chance event. They are not masters of themselves and therefore they cannot decide to be Christians and really be Christians.”

G.I.Gurdjieff/ In search for the Miraculous / Chapter 4

*******

"First of all it is necessary to understand that a Christian is not a man who calls himself a Christian or whom others call a
Christian. A Christian is one who lives in accordance with Christ's precepts. Such as we are we cannot be Christians. In order to
be Christians we must be able 'to do.' We cannot do; with us everything 'happens.' Christ says: 'Love your enemies,' but how can
we love our enemies when we cannot even love our friends? Sometimes 'it loves' and sometimes 'it does not love.' Such as we
are we cannot even really desire to be Christians because, again, sometimes 'it desires' and sometimes 'it does not desire.' And
one and the same thing cannot be desired for long, because suddenly, instead of desiring to be a Christian, a man remembers a
very good but very expensive carpet that he has seen in a shop. And instead of wishing to be a Christian he begins to think how
he can manage to buy this carpet, forgetting all about Christianity. Or if somebody else does not believe what a wonderful
Christian he is, he will be ready to eat him alive or to roast him on hot coals. In order to be a good Christian one must be. To be
means to be master of oneself. If a man is not his own master he has nothing and can have nothing. And he cannot be a
Christian. He is simply a machine, an automaton. A machine cannot be a Christian. Think for yourselves, is it possible for a
motorcar or a typewriter or a gramophone to be Christian? They are simply things which are controlled by chance. They are not
responsible. They are machines. To be a Christian means to be responsible. Responsibility comes later when a man even partially
ceases to be a machine, and begins in fact, and not only in words, to desire to be a Christian."

G.I.Gurdjieff/ In search for the Miraculous / Chapter 6

********

"Generally speaking we know very little about Christianity and the form of Christian worship; we know nothing at all of the history
and origin of a number of things. For instance, the church, the temple in which gather the faithful and in which services are carried
out according to special rites; where was this taken from? Many people do not think about this at all. Many people think that the
outward form of worship, the rites, the singing of canticles, and so on, were invented by the fathers of the church. Others think that
this outward form has been taken partly from pagan religions and partly from the Hebrews. But all of it is untrue. The question of
the origin of the Christian church, that is, of the Christian temple, is much more interesting than we think. To begin with, the church
and worship in the form which they took in the first centuries of Christianity could not have been borrowed from paganism because
there was nothing like it either in the Greek or Roman cults or in Judaism. The Jewish synagogue, the Jewish temple, Greek and
Roman temples of various gods, were something quite different from the Christian church which made its appearance in the first
and second centuries. The Christian church is—a school concerning which people have forgotten that it is a school. Imagine a
school where the teachers give lectures and perform explanatory demonstrations without knowing that these are lectures and
demonstrations; and where the pupils or simply the people who come to the school take these lectures and demonstrations for
ceremonies, or rites, or 'sacraments,' i.e., magic. This would approximate to the Christian church of our times.

"The Christian church, the Christian form of worship, was not invented by the fathers of the church. It was all taken in a ready-
made form from Egypt, only not from the Egypt that we know but from one which we do not know. This Egypt was in the same
place as the other but it existed much earlier. Only small bits of it survived in historical times, and these bits have been preserved
in secret and so well that we do not even know where they have been preserved.

"It will seem strange to many people when I say that this prehistoric Egypt was Christian many thousands of years before the birth
of Christ, that is to say, that its religion was composed of the same principles and ideas that constitute true Christianity. Special
schools existed in this prehistoric Egypt which were called 'schools of repetition.' In these schools a public repetition was given on
definite days, and in some schools perhaps even every day, of the entire course in a condensed form of the sciences that could
be learned at these schools. Sometimes this repetition lasted a week or a month. Thanks to these repetitions people who had
passed through this course did not lose their connection with the school and retained in their memory all they had learned.
Sometimes they came from very far away simply in order to listen to the repetition and went away feeling their connection with the
school. There were special days of the year when the repetitions were particularly complete, when they were carried out with
particular solemnity—and these days themselves possessed a symbolical meaning.

"These 'schools of repetition' were taken as a model for Christian churches—the form of worship in Christian churches almost
entirely represents the course of repetition of the science dealing with the universe and man. Individual prayers, hymns,
responses, all had their own meaning in this repetition as well as holidays and all religious symbols, though their meaning has
been forgotten long ago."

G.I.Gurdjieff/ In search for the Miraculous / Chapter 15

**********

“A Christian is a man who is able to fulfill the Commandments.

A man who is able to do all that is demanded of a Christian, both with his mind and his essence, is called a Christian without
quotation marks. A man who, in his mind, wishes to do all that is demanded of a Christian, but can do so only with his mind and
not with his essence, is called pre-Christian. And a man who can do nothing, even with his mind, is called a non- Christian.”

G.I.Gurdjieff /Views from the Real World / Separation of Oneself from oneself

***

____________________________
“ Not all are united with Jesus, but Jesus is united with all. There are many possibilities of union which for us are both different and
not different.” J.G.Bennett – Intermediate state of Salvation / The way to be free.

Lent begins - Ash

Wednesday, Every Year
Lent is a forty-day period before Easter, beginning on Ash Wednesday.
We skip Sunday when we count the forty days, because Sunday
commemorate the Resurrection.
Lent begins on February 25 - 2009 - Ash Wednesday.

Palm Sunday marks the beginning of Holy week - April 5 - 2009

Good Friday - commemorate the death of Jesus on the Cross - April 10 -

2009

Easter Sunday marks the end of the Holy week - April 12 - 2009
This is a time of struggle, renunciation and intentional suffering. As it is
mentioned in "All and Everything" by G.I.Gurdjieff, it is a time to provide
shocks to "the Planetary body", by means of abstinence.
This period of the year is an opportunity open to us to acquire the strength
necessary to overcome the impulses of our denying forces, by creating
conditions of sacrifice and intelligent suffering, like "fasting and prayer.
"The-result-of-the-manifestation-is-proportionate-to-the-force-of-striving-
received-from-the-shock"
The arch-preposterous / "All and Everything"

Fasting
means not
eating
anything,
while
abstinence
means not
eating some
things.
Fasting is
what
Muslims do
during the
Ramadan
between
sunrise and
sunset. The
Christian
Lent meant
in its origins
abstinence of
all food of
animal origin.
Ideally there
was only one
meal a day.
"Traditionally,
in its origins
Christians
abstain from
meat
consumption
during Lent"
"During the six
weeks
between
Carnival and
Easter (forty
days of the
withdrawal
into the
wilderness of
Jesus) there
was an extra
prohibition.
 Not only meat,
but also milk,
butter, cheese
and eggs
were banned
from the
table." - Lent
History / Catholic
Source

"Every week Day in Lent is a fast day..."

1858 Church Calendar, given out to all priests.
Catholic Source Book / by Krein, Peter ___>

Now all that is left for very few catholic is Friday as an obligatory "fish day" In
this way one was weekly reminded of Jesus who died on the cross on what we
call "Good Friday".
"And even this one surviving food custom is either already fading
completely out of the ordinary life of the followers of this religion, or its
observance is so changing year by year that no shock is obtained from
it for the fasters, though it was just for that shock that this "fast" was
established"
"All and Everything" -

Extract from “Lent”

by Pierre Elliot

Lent is an Anglo-Saxon word meaning Spring (Lenten). In France the season is known as Careme; in Italy as Quaresirna, both
from the Latin Quadragesima. All these names are derived from the fact that the first Sunday in Lent was originally called
Quadragesima. the fortieth day before Easter and for those liturgies still using Latin words in their calendars, Lent is actually
divided from Epiphany by the so-called pre Lenten season, the three Sundays of Septuagesima, Sexagesima and
Quinquagesima. These three Sundays preceding the beginning of Lent (or Quadragesima) take these names by analogy and not
because they are respectively the fiftieth, sixtieth and seventieth days before Easter.

The purpose of Lent is not primarily to commemorate the forty day fast of Christ in the wilderness which immediately followed His
baptism. In the ancient church Lent was above all things the period of spiritual training and instruction which preceded initiation
into the Christian mysteries by the sacrament of baptism. The proper time for initiation was Easter Eve, because the Sunday of
the Resurrection is the greatest feast of the whole year for Christians; Christmas is only the beginning.

…Although Lent was primarily a period of preparation for the catechumens before their baptism, the period of forty days
became one devoted to fasting and abstinence for penitents and faithful alike. The fasting itself consisted in special acts of piety
as well as abstention from flesh food. By flesh food is meant blood both Hebrew and Christian symbolism identify blood with the
life principle, and abstention from blood is in recollection of the shedding of the blood of Christ, symbolically the pouring out of the
divine life into human nature.

At present, however, the penitential observances of the church have in practice sentimental rather than a spiritual atmosphere;
they express a sort of feeling of remorse rather than the "metanoia" of which the Philokalia speaks…

How are we to take the time of Lent, which for so called Christians is a time for penance, fasting and also vigils?

I say so called as Mr. G. might well have reminded us, because for most people Lent will be a season simply for a few formalized
penitential practices, half understood and undertaken without interest and which for some will be an occasion for giving up sweets
or chocolate.

"There is, however, a paradoxical aspect of Lent which can be a means of looking into ourselves, really looking into what we are,
an acceptance of one's actual condition and if one does this deeply the acceptance of reality and the shedding of the burden of
illusion brings a special kind of reward and joy. There is the story of the rending of the garments which, if done perfunctorily, lets
in nothing but the cold, and some start Lent with ashes on their foreheads.

I believe that for us none of these practices is appropriate. We should not take upon ourselves a burden of penance but rather
start Lent with an effort to realize what we have not seen before. By all means practice some kind of fasting as a reminding factor,
but do it invisibly and intelligently. Fasting is a good thing because food itself is a good thing. But the good things of this world
have this about them, that they are good "in their season" and not out of it.

I would suggest that for us the key word of Lent should be moderation. Look at the meaning of this word in all aspects of your life.
I would not suggest that anyone sets himself, for example, to follow Mr. B's example of reading "Beelzebub" aloud at one sitting of
over 24 hours until his whole tongue became swollen. Rather take on a judicious series of daily readings for oneself, each
according to his and her capacity in moderation, but without fail.

-What is the appropriate attitude to fasting?

To me the answer is very clear: fasting should be something spiritual. It implies inner exercises or prayers, silence, an internal
disposition of mind, an attempt to be charitable, kind, tolerant etc. Fasting is not to be identified with a good deed that merits a
reward, in the sense of what shall I give up by way of fasting or let fasting be something instrumental and not an end in itself.
Fasting in other words is but a means of reaching a spiritual and therefore for us an integral part of our inner work.

Extract from "All and Everything"

Chapter 42 /

“The changes now taking place in the process of this Christian custom of fasting are very characteristic and provide an
excellent example for understanding how in general all the “good Christian customs” have little by little undergone
change, until they have finally entirely ceased to exist.”

“An excellent illustration of this is the manner in which this fast is observed at the present day by those called “Russian Orthodox
Christians“ ‘These Russian Orthodox Christians took their religion in its entirety from the Orthodox Greeks, who passed on to
them, along with other Christian customs, this same custom of “fasting. “Among the millions of these Russian Orthodox Christians
the majority still continue to fast, as is said, “rigorously,” according to the “Orthodox code” now existing there.”

“But as to the manner of their fasting, one cannot help recalling the saying of our dear Mullah Nassr Eddin in such
cases:

“Isn’t it all the same if I sing like a donkey as long as they call me a nightingale?”

“It is just the same with the fasting of these Russian Orthodox Christians as long as they are called Christians and moreover
Orthodox—what does it matter that they receive no “shock” whatever from the fast? “ ‘As I have said, these Russian Orthodox
Christians of the present time still observe very strictly all the seasons and days of fast indicated in their code. ‘But as for what
should or should not be eaten during a fast, it is just in that question that the “left paw of the curly-haired dog of ex-Emperor
Wilhelm” lies buried.

“You will understand clearly how these contemporary Russian Orthodox Christians fast if I repeat the exact words of one
of them, spoken to me not long ago in Russia.”

“I used to meet this Russian there on business and even became somewhat friendly with him and visited him at his house.

‘He was considered by those around him to be a very good Christian and the “patriarchal father of a family,” he came from the
sect of the “Old Believers. “ ‘Old Believers are those Orthodox Christians whose ancestors, several centuries ago, refused to
submit to new rules then laid down by “somebody or other,” and who remained faithful followers of the previous rules, also laid
down by “somebody or other,” only a century or two before this religious schism.

“And so one day, when I was dining at the house of this worthy Old Believer in the company of several other Russians, also
Orthodox Christians, he turned to me and said:

“Ekh! old dear!”

“By the way, I must tell you that the beings of this group have the habit, after the second glass of genuine Russian vodka, of
calling their acquaintances by various pet names, such as “old dear,” “my zapoopoonchik,” “my pot-bellied beauty,” “my little
brown Jug,” and so on and so forth.

“And so this worthy Russian Orthodox Christian, addressing me as “old dear,” said:

“Never mind, old dear! We shall soon be having Lent and then we shall feast together on genuine Russian dishes .

“To tell the truth, here in Russia, during ‘meat days’ we almost always eat the same things .

“But during fasts, especially during Lent, it is quite a different story! “Not a day goes by but one is privileged to enjoy
the most succulent dishes…

…“These last researches of mine made it clear to me that although people’s psyche does indeed deteriorate from the constant
introduction into the organism of the substance ‘eknokh,’ yet it is only at certain times of the year that this substance has a
particularly harmful effect.

“So, my brethren in Christ from all I have said and chiefly from my latest observations, made daily during a whole year on numbers
of people, and which clearly showed me that the intensity of the harmful effect of the substance ‘eknokh’ increases at certain times
of the year, I can only now make bold to express my personal opinion that if there were to be spread among the followers of the
teachings of Jesus Christ the custom of abstaining at certain designated times of the year from the use of products in the
formation of which the substance ‘eknokh’ plays a dominant part, such a custom could conceivably be observed and
would bring the people a real benefit.

“As my numerous alchemical investigations have shown me, the substance ‘eknokh’ participates in the formation of all living
organisms without exception, wherever they may exist—on the surface of the Earth, within its depths, in the water, in the
atmosphere, and so on. “This substance is also present in everything contributing to the formation of these organisms, as for
example in the amniotic fluid of every species of pregnant female, and in such products as milk, eggs, caviar, and so on.

“ ‘The ideas expressed by the great Hertoonano so astounded and agitated all the members of the Council of Kelnuan that the
commotion made it impossible for him to continue, so he was obliged to abandon his speech and descend from the rostrum.

“ ‘The manuscript stated further that by the end of the day the members of the Council of Kelnuan had come to a unanimous
decision to specify, with the help of the great Hertoonano, those times of the year when the effects of the substance “eknokh”
were most harmful for people, and to spread widely among the followers of Jesus Christ the custom of fasting at these times of the
year—that is, of abstaining from products containing the substance “eknokh” injurious for them.

“ With this, the Judaic-Essenian manuscript ended.”