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

"At every step, one can observe an absurdity of this kind: one of them whodoes not have the slightest idea what the ordinary tiny being called 'flea,'which often bites him, really looks like, writes a huge volume or organizes'public lectures,' as they are called, to explain that the flea whose bite caused aswelling on the neck of a certain king known in history as King Naookhan,had on its left paw an 'abnormal, orange-crimson growth of a very odd form.'"Well then, this 'flea expert' who writes his voluminous work about the'orange-crimson growth' on the flea whose bite caused King Naookhan'svenerable neck to swell, or spends a whole evening lecturing on this subject,will not only be offended but even greatly indignant if anyone expressesdoubts to his face; and he will be indignant chiefly because this person is suchan 'ignoramus' that he has never even heard about the 'truths' communicatedby this 'expert.'"To satisfy that astonishingly strange psycho-organic need to teach others,your favorites, in order not to suffer, must always have at least one 'victim' forinstruction, but in those who for some reason or other have acquired a certainauthority in these manifestations, and who by prolonged habit have becomemore brazen, the appetite grows and requires an always greater number ofthese victims."And so, my boy, if a normal being existing there were to observe suchpictures that are met with at every step and seriously ponder his ownperceptions, he might acquire full knowledge of all branches of ObjectiveScience."Moreover, if one day you should ever happen to exist among them andwitness these incongruous being-manifestations, you will be unable, in spiteof knowing their cause, to keep from 'laughing' inwardly. At the same timeyou will pity these unfortunates with the whole of your being, and your 'innerlaughter' will gradually be suffused with what is called 'essence-palnassooriangrief.'"This property of the psyche of the three-centered beings