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

"Well then, when these other terrestrial important and power-possessingbeings enter such societies and begin to participate in their affairs with theirpersonal, egoistic, and vainglorious aims, they very soon 'throw overboard' allthe tasks and everything accomplished by the beings with a resurrectedconscience, and also put genuine 'spokes into the wheels' of the originalfounders of these societies."And that is why these societies, founded for the common planetarywelfare, always die quickly and, as I have already told you, without any deathagony."As for the practical results of all the good beginnings of these importantbeings, our worthy Mullah Nasr Eddin has another very wise saying'Past centuries have shown that Karabaghian asses never sing likenightingales, nor will they ever refrain from indulging their noble taste for realShooshoonian thistles."Here I think it will be opportune for you to know that, during my longcenturies of attentive observation of the three-brained beings of the planetEarth, I never once noticed, among the members of the societies founded fromtime to time for devising means to assure the happy existence of the masses,any beings with more or less Objective Reason, although, as I have alreadytold you, a certain number of your favorites did attain this result by theirpersevering efforts toward self-perfection."In the course of the observations I made during my last sojourn there Icleared up, among other things, why it is that beings with Objective Reasonnever belong to such societies."The point is that to belong to one of these societies a being must ofnecessity be 'important' and, in the abnormally established conditions ofbeing-existence, only he is considered 'important' among them who has eithera great deal of money or who becomes what is called 'famous. '"And since during recent times only those can become