Ending the Beelzebub Wars:
Beyond “Us and Them”
Stephen A. Grant

“We have met the enemy and he is us.” — Pogo1

A STRIKING FEATURE of G. I. Gurdjieff’s teaching is the cosmic scale of history, referring back to ancient civilizations thousands of years ago and pointing toward the evolution of humanity in future millennia. He and his fellow Seekers of Truth had rediscovered the forgotten science of seeing reality, and he had passed on the ideas and inner practice to his closest followers, P.D.Ouspensky and Jeanne de Salzmann. Nevertheless, with a cosmic perspective, versed in the history of early Christianity, he knew that the appearance of the Fourth Way would be a process drawn out over several generations.

Hearing the Cries of the World
Mark Nepo

THIS STORY IS SO OLD we don’t know who told it or who it’s about, except that it speaks to all of us. We no longer know if it was a “he” or “she” at the center of the story. No doubt the story has grown for every telling. But for this telling, let’s call our central character Kwun and let her be a heroine.

Emanations of Divinity:
The Cosmology of Hieronymus Bosch
Lee van Laer

PERHAPS NO OTHER single piece of artwork in the entire Western world so deftly summarizes the intersecting forces of Heaven and Hell as Hieronymus Bosch’s THE GARDEN OF EARTHLY DELIGHTS. Painted between 1490 and 1510, and now in the collection of the Prado Museum in Madrid, the famous triptych is one of the world’s most astonishing accomplishments in cosmological iconography.

Awakening to Giftivism, in Pune
Nipun Mehta

In the 1930s, Gandhi convened India’s independence movement leaders for a pivotal meeting. It wasn’t a productive meeting. Polarities widened and rifts deepened as Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel (widely known as “Iron Man of India”) threatened to quit. No resolution emerged, but Gandhi left the meeting and quietly gave up salt from his diet. A month later, the same people found a common ground for cooperation. It’s hard to say how Gandhi’s sacrifice of salt affected the outcome of that meeting, but Gandhi’s life offers repeated examples of how he believed his practices of inner transformation could create external impact.