Main idea: Gurdjieff recalls an early moment when one of his guiding inner principles was activated.
Second idea: It occurred during his transition from child to adolescent troublemaker.
Third idea: The setting is a rooftop pigeon hunt with other boys—informal, playful, and unremarkable on the surface.
Fourth idea: A peer’s comment about pigeon anatomy plants the seed of questioning received knowledge.
- “The first event... ‘vivifying sources’...”
- This was the origin of one of two key forces that deepened his grandmother’s directive to resist imitation.
- “chubby mite into... ‘young rascal’...”
- He marks this as the developmental stage when he became mischievous and socially aware.
- “perhaps even specially combined by Fate itself.”
- He hints at metaphysical orchestration behind this pivotal memory.
- “laying snares for pigeons...”
- The mundane, almost comic setting contrasts with the internal importance of the moment.
- “the pigeon’s reserve strength is concentrated [in the toe]...”
- The boy relays scientific knowledge that carries unseen symbolic weight for Gurdjieff.
He is stating that:
During a trivial rooftop moment with friends, Gurdjieff experienced a flash of inner resonance—a recognition triggered by a seemingly random statement about a pigeon’s anatomy. This became a foundational spark—one of two key inner “sources”—that fueled his lifelong impulse to resist the automatic, conventional behaviors around him. His grandmother’s dictum found nourishment in this unexpected encounter.
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He treats a childhood prank as esoteric initiation... turning a casual pigeon hunt into a karmic alignment of fate.
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He introduces “data” as subtle energies... not ideas, but living forces that nourish inner injunctions.
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He elevates a child’s remark into a cosmic pivot... showing how truth can slip in disguised as trivia.
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He embeds metaphysical irony inside humor... mixing the sacred and the ridiculous to dissolve pretension and awaken real memory.