Gurdjieff’s Best Kept Secret
Nov/Dec 2019
During his 1928-1932 visit to New York, George Gurdjieff imparted a crucial teaching to his followers about the importance of focusing on the "back of the head" as a meditative point to connect all three centers of the Enneagram: physical, emotional, and intellectual. This triune focus, aligning with specific brain regions such as the hindbrain, limbic system, and neo-cortex, provides a unique way to navigate mental, emotional, and physical stress.
Explore how this meditative technique, which has proven effective in enhancing personal well-being and overcoming challenges such as sleep disorders, offers a deeper connection to the whole self and possibly even mystical experiences.
During George Gurdjieff’s 1928-1932 visit to New York he worked closely with a dedicated group of followers, including Edwin Wolfe, who later published a pamphlet of his Episodes with Gurdjieff, two of which are quoted below.
In the spring of 1932, ….. I with several others in our group were with Mr. Gurdjieff in his daytime office at Child’s Restaurant on Columbus Circle. He had told us this was his final visit to America.
He stood up as if to leave. “Mr. Gurdjieff’,” I said, “you said this is your last visit to America. You are not coming back. There will be no more group meetings, or readings, or anything ….. We’ll be all alone now.
What can we do, Mr. Gurdjieff? Please tell us something.”
He looked at all of us slowly. He touched the back of his head. “You keep here,” he said. “You not forget. Keep here.”
After this group evolved into the Gurdjieff Foundation of New York, thankfully, at least one of the descendants of the early members has continued to selectively pass on this keystone, but poorly understood, tenet of Mr. Gurdjieff to “Keep here” in back of head.
Importantly, in focusing on the “back of head”, Gurdjieff’ definitely did not intend to substitute “mind observation” for one’s whole “self-observation”, as Wolfe explained in an earlier episode.
“We feel that there may be something wrong in the way we are doing self-observation. Are we wrong, Mr. Gurdjieff?”
“Never you do self-observation,” he said forcefully. “You do mind observation. Mind observation you do. Can even make psychopath.”
Also, we know from Ouspensky’s In Search of the Miraculous that Gurdjieff’s whole self involves all three of our Enneagram centers as a triune, which are outlined below.
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The physical / moving center (i.e., the way of the fakir)
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The feeling / emotional center (i.e., the way of the monk)
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The intellectual / thinking center (i.e., the way of the yogi)
In addition, we learned from scientific discoveries a few decades after Gurdjieff’s departing guidance, that focusing on the “back of head” can also involve convergently focusing on the hindbrain, the limbic system and the neo-cortex, as illustrated below. While these three areas of the brain perform many overlapping functions, their respective emphases parallel Gurdjieff’s three Enneagram centers, as outlined and illustrated below.
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The Hindbrain emphasizes physical/moving capabilities
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The Limbic system emphasizes feeling/emotion processing
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The Neo-cortex emphasizes intellectual/thinking activities.
Moreover, the triune quality of Gurdjieff’s Enneagram centers can be triangularly illustrated, as follows.
While we usually favor one of our Enneagram centers over the other two, this “back of head” focal point is the only place on/in the entire body where a person’s intense meditative focus can simultaneously converge all three Enneagram centers as a triune constituting the whole self. Since the whole self is involved when addressing stress, this triune meditative focus can provide a unique gateway to a tranquil harbor in a sea of mental, emotional and/or physical turbulence. This process is symbolized below as a metaphorical eye into tranquility.
One way I personally established that the “back of head” triune focus is superior to the many other more conventional focal points for meditation, I compared which focal point was more effective in overcoming sleep problems. However, I had to work continuously to avoid allowing the goal of overcoming my sleep problem become the meditative focus replacing the “back of head” triune focus which can undermine the meditative process. In other words, focus on the process, not the outcome.
Looking for additional confirmation I discovered another test involving stationary exercising equipment, when there were no external distractions. By concentrating on the “back of head” triune focus while exercising, my performance metrics improved considerably, but only while holding the focus. Thus, I was thankfully forced to extend my meditative period, but was careful not to exceed healthy physical limits given my newfound capacity.
While the above examples lend themselves to relative measurements, other mentally, emotionally and physically stressful situations (e.g., anxieties, phobias, addictive tendencies and pain) seemed to find relief from the “back of head” meditative focus.
Should identifying the “back of head” as an intense meditative focus prove difficult, evolution provided an alternative by endowing each of these three areas of the brain with varying degrees of audio receptors. Thus, by meditatively focusing on a neutral background sound that does not favor one area’s audio receptors over the other two areas (e.g., OM chant recordings, background sounds of nature, an air conditioning fan, city noises, etc.) I learned to converge all three areas into an intense triune meditative focus. Non-neutral background sounds, like music, which favor the emotional oriented limbic system over the other two centers did not work for me. Also, the audio receptors enabled me to feel, more so than visualize, my “back of head” triune focus. If background sounds need augmenting, I track my nasal breathing through the back of my head where the air passages make a right turn downward. Of course, the more this technique was utilized, the easier it became and thus increasingly impactful on my daily life. Nevertheless, during high anxiety periods, maintaining this meditative focus can be very challenging.
In addition to serving as a metaphorical eye into tranquility, I found that meaningful new mental, emotional and/or physical insights may surface from this sea of anxiety. While such insights can be subtle and easily overlooked, their pursuit must never be allowed to replace or dilute the “back of head” triune focus which would destroy the entire meditative process.
Lastly, the inevitable question: “Can the ‘back of head’ focus improve upon traditional meditative approaches for accessing the mystical, similar to the improvements seen in the more measurable applications discussed above?” This would imply that the unique triune convergence of the physical, emotional and intellectual at the “back of head” extends to a mystical counterpart. Meaningfully, the possibility of such a compelling natural extrapolation can be inspirational to any of the “back of head” triune experiences.
Footnotes
Wolfe, Edwin; Episodes with Gurdjieff, pp11 and 20 San Francisco: Far West Press, 1974
Ouspensky, P.O.; In search of the Miraculous, pp 44-47; Harcourt,1949, Paperback.
Illustrations are based on a traditional view used by many sources for the triune brain, original unknown.