A Vicar, Crucified
Page 28
Concerning the Sarmoun Community, there is mystery. Gurdjieff remains our primary source for their existence but do we believe him? Some are sceptical, suspecting he merely used it as an historical anchor for his teaching. Other voices support him, however. The Chilean psychiatrist Oscar Ichazo - another key figure in bringing the Enneagram to the west and no ally of Gurdjieff - also said he learned of the symbol in a Sufi school in Afghanistan. And in Hisham Kabbani’s book, The Naqshbandi Sufi Way, he describes a Sufi symbol in which ‘each of the nine points is represented by one of the nine saints who are at the highest level in the divine presence’. Meanwhile, in the odd but interesting The People of the Secret, Edward Campbell (writing as Ernest Scott), tells of studies in extrasensory perception carried out in the Sarmoun monastery in Afghanistan while the Sufi teacher Idries Shah mentions the Sarmouni several times in his writings, though without ever having had personal contact with them.
Russian philosopher George Ivanovitch Gurdjieff (1877-1949). (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images; Hulton Collection.)
Reliability of witness remains an issue in all these instances; we tread warily on this historical ice. But allowing for appropriate caution, it seems likely there were Wisdom Schools in the East, teaching, among other things, Enneagram insight in various forms. And the Sarmoun community is often mentioned. In my description of the community, I have drawn heavily on the accounts of Major Desmond Martin, though events described in the final chapter are my invention.
And finally, I have done what Abbot Peter has so far failed to do; that is, get a book on the Enneagram published. The Enneagram: A Private Session with the World’s Greatest Psychologist’ is published by White Crow Books should you be interested to pursue this insightful teaching. As the Sarkar reminds us, we have only scratched the surface here. For myself, I have been both student and beneficiary of it for twenty-five years and a teacher of it for fifteen. Maybe it will become a friend to you.
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