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

"The reason why this disease, as well as many other evils, does not exist inthe rest of the continent of Asia is, in my opinion, that most of the beings ofthis continent have retained several very good customs for their dailyexistence, which have reached them from their remote ancestors."These customs are so deeply implanted by their religion in their everydayexistence that, by observing them mechanically without any wiseacring,beings are more or less protected from certain evils which, owing to theabnormally established conditions of existence, have arisen and continue toarise in incalculable numbers on that ill-fated planet."The beings of most of the groups on the continent of Asia are safeguardedagainst many venereal diseases, as well as against many other 'sexualabnormalities,' if only by the customs known there by the names of 'sooniat'and 'abdast. '"The first of these customs, namely 'sooniat' or, as it is otherwise called,'circumcision,' not only saves most of the Asiatic beings of responsible agefrom numerous venereal diseases, but also safeguards most of the children'and youths against that 'scourge' known on Earth under the name of'onanism,' which wreaks such havoc among the young people of thecontinents of Europe and America."According to this custom, the 'adult' beings of almost all thecontemporary groups of the continent of Asia perform on their 'results,' that isto say, on their male children, at a certain age, a ritual which consists incutting what they call the 'frenum' and the 'prepuce' of the penis."Today, the children of those contemporary terrestrial beings who areautomatically subject to this practice are almost completely safeguardedagainst the inevitable consequences of certain evils, already definitely fixed inthe process of existence of your favorites."For example, according to my statistics, the 'scourge' I spoke of, that is,'children's onanism,' is scarcely met with among those who observe thiscustom of 'circumcision,'