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

was old and had a benign face, I suddenly decided to ask his advice, andimmediately sent my servant to invite him in." 'When he had entered and, after the customary greetings, was seated onthe "mindari," I told him of the state of my soul, without concealing anythingat all.'' 'When I had finished, the dervish became deeply thoughtful, remainingsilent for some time, then he looked at me steadily and said, as he rose fromhis place."There is only one way out for you—devote yourself to religion. "" 'Having said this, he walked away intoning a prayer, and left my houseforever." 'After he had gone, I again began to ponder." 'This time, the result of my pondering was that the same day I decided,irrevocably, to enter a "brotherhood of dervishes"—not in my native countrybut somewhere far away." 'The next day I began to divide and distribute all my wealth among myrelatives and the poor, and two weeks later I left my native country foreverand came here to Bukhara." 'Once in Bukhara, I entered one of the numerous "dervish brotherhoods,"selecting the one whose dervishes were known among the people for theausterity of their mode of life." 'Unfortunately, the dervishes of this brotherhood soon had adisillusioning effect on me, and I therefore transferred to another brotherhood,but there again the same thing happened.'Finally I was admitted into the monastery whose sheikh set me the taskof devising the mechanical stringed instrument I have already told you about.'After that, as I have also told you, I became passionately interested inthe science of the laws of vibrations and have studied it unceasingly up to thepresent day.