tieth century, kind of a crazy-wisdom character—
knew the meaning of this slogan. He was living not
too far from Paris in a big manor house with huge
lawns. All of his students came there to study with
him. One of his main teachings was to be awake to
whatever process you’re going through. He liked to
tighten the screws on his students. In fact, it’s said
that he would make you take the job that you most
didn’t want to take; if you thought you should be a
college professor, he would make you become a used
car salesman.
There was a man in the community who was really
bad tempered. He was everybody’s Juan; nobody
could stand this guy because he was so prickly. Every
little thing caused him to spin off into a tantrum.
Everything irritated him. He complained constantly,
so everyone felt the need to tiptoe around him be-
cause anything that might be said could cause him to
explode. People just wished that he would go away.
Gurdjieff liked to make his students do things that
were completely meaningless. One day there were
about forty people out cutting up a lawn into little
pieces and moving it to another place on the grounds.
This was too much for this fellow; it was the last
straw. He blew up, stormed out, got in his car, and
drove off, whereupon there was a spontaneous cele-
bration. People were thrilled, so happy he had gone.
But when they told Gurdjieff what had happened, he
said, “Oh no!” and went after him in his car.
Be Grateful to Everyone 85