Ben's Work Notes

This is a collection of notes recorded over a certain period of time. They cannot be called a book, a journal or even a narrative as these passages simply reflect what I observed and posted onto a Facebook page, without any preplanning. I began by recalling a casual conversational reference to somebody who was ‘in the Work’, and asking myself: “What does ‘in the Work’ mean? What does ‘the Work’ mean? What does ‘Work’—or even ‘work’ mean?” What followed was a formless process. It's mostly about what I have picked up from my studies of Gurdjieff, Ouspensky and J.G. Bennett. Reading back over these notes almost two years after I began them, I realize how fickle and incontinent I am in my ideology. If I repeat myself or contradict myself in what follows, I apologize. I put these notes together into print form for presentation to one particular individual who will not otherwise consider either this writing, or my own words. I did not edit or make any alterations, and only removed one single entry which contained a bunch of hyperlinks which will not render in print. There are lot of references which will be meaningless except in the context of the Gurdjieff/Bennett extended community. JGB refers to my father, John Bennett. Sherborne was my father’s school in Gloucestershire between 1971 and 1976; Claymont is a community in West Virginia, which grew from the beginnings at Sherborne. Ouspensky is the name of Gurdjieff’s most prominent pupil. If there is anything else you are interested in pursuing, you can contact me on Facebook at Ben’s Work Notes.