Beelzebubs-Tales-to-His-Grandson-by-G-I-Gurdjieff

of Nature's most immediate aims, since on account of their unbecoming,abnormal life they have lost any possibility of serving higher purposes.Owing to these consequences, not only does the recognition of such terrorsfail to arise in the psyche of contemporary people, but to calm themselves theyeven invent all kinds of fantastic explanations, which are plausible solely totheir naive logic, for what they really sense and also for what they do not senseat all.For example, suppose that the question of our inability really to sense variousgenuine terrors, in particular the terror of our own death, should become a"burning question of the day," as occurs from time to time with certainquestions in contemporary life, then in all probability everybody, ordinarymortals as well as those called "learned," would offer a categorical solutionwhich they would not doubt for a moment and, "spluttering at the mouth,"would set about to prove that what in fact saves people from experiencingsuch terrors is just their own "will."But if this is conceded, why does not this presumed will protect us from allthe little fears that assail us at every step?In order to sense and understand what I am now saying with your wholebeing, and not merely with that "mind-fornication" of yours, which to themisfortune of our descendants has become the dominant inherency of contemporarypeople, picture to yourself the following.Tonight, after the lecture, you go home, undress, and get into bed but, justas you are pulling up the covers, a mouse jumps out from under the pillowand, scuttling across your body, disappears into the folds of the blankets.Admit candidly, does not a shiver actually run through your whole body atthe bare thought of such a thing?Is it not so?Now please try to make an exception and, without the