first and third Wednesday of every month - May 2 and 16
One Hundred Years of Gurdjieff’s Work
October 5th - 7th, 2012
The Companions of Duty (Les Compagnons du Devoir) are a lay community of French artisans—carpenters, masons, plumbers, metal-workers, shoemakers, drapers, etc.—organized under a secret Rule over six hundred years ago and still in existence in France today. Originally, houses were established by the Order in the principal cities of France, where the young artisans lived and came together under the protection and guidance of a Mother, chosen for her exceptional character, assisted by a doctor, an employment officer and others.
The Compagnonnage was reformed and revived early in the nineteenth century in time to survive the industrial revolution and the growth of the trade union movement, many of whose benefits it had anticipated. In 1927, facing the mass production culture created by contemporary technology, a group of Compagnons met to discuss the question that has throughout the centuries been the reason for their existence: What is the work of a man who wishes to make his life a manifestation of quality? Following are excerpts from their exchanges, translated from Joli Coeur de Pouyastruc by Albert Bernet (Paris, Edition des Initiations Ouvrieres, 1928).
Gallant Heart of Pouyastruc:
Greetings and honor to you, old Masters of the Work. Our shoulders bend under the weight of the burden of perpetuating what you stood for. You were and still are the symbol of moral beauty, material beauty, and true beauty. Your dream will be realized on the day when men become better, wiser, or less mad and when they will have finally understood your teaching. That desirable day will bring peace to a sad humanity, and with it happiness.
We shall leave this place as apostles, to tell the world what you were so that human conscience may be renewed in an essential leap. The aim of our efforts is that the cathedral left uncompleted by you should be finished, both in the material and intellectual domains, in order that your dream should come true, that beauty reign as mistress, that through her all scourges of society disappear forever, and that generations to come be born in the splendors of this beauty.
Perigord Loyal Heart:
The Coterie Gallant Heart of Pouyastruc has told us about our forebears in his corporation and what kind of men they were. You have felt his faith and force. We almost felt that he built his cathedral! I am moved more than I show because I totally understand his thinking. By speaking as he has done, he has reminded us that the worship of memory is one of the beautiful qualities of the Companions, for the noble words he has uttered are no less than an act of faith toward our fathers. While we are waiting to prepare a serious work, let us ask him to speak to us again tomorrow, telling us more about the Stoneworkers and Masters of the Work.
These words marked the end of the meeting, the first of a new era of the Companionage. The ivory tower in which the Companions have lived and worked is about to crumble and the secular world will finally know what they were and what they are.
The Masters of the Work and Stonemasons in the Foreign Companions of the Duty of Liberty are divided into three degrees or grades:
1) Youth (aspirant, apprentice)
2) Companion
3) Master
Only the first two grades were familiar to all Companions. The third was a supreme and secret degree known only to those who had been initiated into it. It was not revealed to initiates of the 1st and 2nd degrees until 1862.
One should know how initiation to the different degrees was given. Though I shall reveal nothing of the secret mysteries or of the rite that made up the initiations, there will, nevertheless, be much to say since these three degrees represent symbolically and actually the different stages in the life of man. Likewise they represent the path of progress in understanding that can be acquired in all domains of knowledge.
The first degree was awarded to every aspirant who was about to end his apprenticeship, after approximately five years of actual labor in the workshop. In every case it was necessary that he be judged worthy by his peers, both from moral and technical standpoints. After obtaining this degree, he took the title of Youth.
After at least two years of novitiate, the Youth who had completed courses in various Companionage Cayennes of the Tour of France was called upon to produce his Masterpiece. If his work showed sufficient technical and artistic worth, the Youth was received as Companion and took the title. As was said earlier, initiation stopped at this point for most Companions.
What is the origin of the third degree, which conferred the right to the title of Master? We believe, in accordance with our archives, that the third grade must have arisen from and been the perpetuation of the supreme assemblies of the builders of the cathedrals. These groups consisted of delegates from the different corporations elected to collaborate with the master of the Work in directing the entire project. The Master himself was chosen by them.
We can consider Masters as perfect initiates in technique, art, morality, and philosophy.
Gallant Heart of Pouyastruc reads
"The Duties of a Companion Toward Himself"
Companion, work.
The most acceptable sacrifice to the Creator is respect for His creatures. You owe your existence to Him. Respect yourself by following the principles given by nature for your own preservation.
Companion, respect yourself so that others will respect you. Always listen to the voice of your conscience, and honor virtue as being destined for each Companion. Preserve the good that God has given you. He has endowed you with reason to distinguish good from bad and true from false. You were created free, even though you might have been born in irons. Companion, always keep your soul in a state pure enough to appear worthy before God. Learn to know yourself. This is the greatest and most difficult duty of a Companion. The most beautiful duty of a Companion is to know how to conquer his passions and correct his faults.
Companion, try to attain perfection through the free and complete development of your whole nature, and do not forget that ignorance in a Companion is a crime when it results from indifference to the truth.
Perigord Loyal Heart:
In beauty alone I draw the courage to live and work. In the process of making a Companion into a healthy and strong man of sound mind, while giving him only those qualities that are not false to beauty, an obligation is assumed for him to stay on the right path. This is why I am proud to be called the Romantic.
If this surprises you, I shall explain what I mean. For me the word, romantic, symbolizes release from the old formulas in the domain of letters and arts. I love this liberation because those who have brought it about have not broken the limits either of reason or wisdom. They have left us a rational architecture, and painting of impeccable design in which color has been carefully employed and the governing idea of the composition has been the interpretation of truth.
Gallant Heart of Pouyastruc:
I am among those who believe that the force that is productive of beauty is based on work considered as a religion, which fundamentally contains neither egoism nor personal ambition. All the efforts of our forebears tended constantly to make something more beautiful for the greatest benefit of everyone. The labyrinth is the symbol of what I have just described. It is not surprising that men of insight have compared the labyrinth to the most beautiful philosophies. It symbolized the talent, labor, and intimate teamwork of all concerned—communion in beauty.
Should we envy these early Companions? No employers! Everyone equal! Only two things counted, ability and intelligence—certainly not personal ambition, since the names of all those Masters of the Work, glass workers and sculptors, have been lost with only a few exceptions. But what masterpieces they have left! Their brains had conceived marvelous works that their able hands brought into being.
It is different today when the Master of the Work (the architect) wants to see his name displayed on the walls, often forgetting the collaboration of all the crafts. The "I" did not exist then because the signature was anonymous, referring only to the guild. Signature? The signature was the Work.
Father Jean Louis:
In order to perfect myself, I have worked in every place where my obligations as a Companion made it a duty to do so. At Bordeaux, on St. Eloi's day in the winter, I won my title of honest Companion. I was recognized by my brothers under the name Jean-Louis of Lorraine, the Flame of Love. I won colors in all the cities of the Tour of France. I truly believe that I have worthily won them and have never sullied them by a bad deed.
From the day when I took my Tour of France, I had only my brother Companions as family. How beautiful life was with them! Love, goodness, and true brotherhood united us. We always had a song on our lips and our heart in our work. There was a force that made life seem agreeable to me and I drew upon it, surrounded by old Companions and in our Cayennes, where we were taught to love men a little more every day.
Tourangeau the Well-Beloved:
Though the machine has helped to meet our needs for ever greater consumption, it has delivered a mortal blow to some of the guilds of the Companionage. There are no more nail makers, pin makers, or dyers. The duty of woodturners disappeared several years ago as well as that of cleavers, important though they were. It is also painful to see that professional conscience has disappeared along with ancestral trades.
Georges the Burgundian:
At the end of the 18th century the art of the woodworker began to lose its value and the professional level declined considerably. Since this period, workers capable of conceiving and executing the compositions of their ancestors have become extremely rare.
When I stand before the stalls in the cathedral of Amiens or those admirable stalls in the cathedral of Auch created by woodworkers, I think of the consciousness of these men, who, from the choice of material through the execution of their craft, were moved by only one thought—to create a perfect and lasting work.
I also think that these workers had an understanding of descriptive geometry that was as extensive as their knowledge of techniques. They neglected nothing in their trade, were masters of all difficulties. We can classify these wonderful men as perfect workers. There is no more beautiful title to bestow upon them.
It will be argued that in those days neither time nor money counted, whereas both have great importance today. In my opinion this is no excuse. I believe that men then followed a tradition of technique and art and the self-respect of the worker was at stake. He loved his trade, while today very few professionals can say that they have taken a profession as a calling.
Bernard the Basque (a newcomer):
Speaking of professional conscience, I was present at a sorry scene in a workshop. It made me angry, but I didn't know how to show what I felt since I was at a loss for the right words. Here is what happened. One of my comrades in the workshop had carelessly taken the plane of another fellow, who reacted with some harsh words. The man who had taken the plane has a bad character and is unfriendly; he became angry, grabbed a big hammer, and pounded with rage on the plane until it was useless. Needless to say, blows followed insults.
Gallant Heart of Pouyastruc:
Let me tell you the attitude of the Companionage regarding tools and materials. The worker must not believe that he has exclusive ownership of a tool just because he paid for it. From the point of view of society, we believe that materials, instruments and tools are collective property. Those who hold and employ them have merely the right of use, on the express condition that no tool remain unproductive. The tool is borrowed. Its possessor must make it produce, maintain it in good condition, and make it the object of his care and attention. He would do this if he knew how much collective work has been accomplished over centuries in order to bequeath to him such a well-perfected tool. Rights and duties toward materials, instruments and tools are intimately connected.
Bernard the Basque:
Sir, I dream of nothing but the Companionage day and night, recalling everything that has been said and amplifying it several times over with my wandering imagination. I must tell you my thoughts and I hope you will excuse me for being so bold. I ask myself what these men do who have charmed, instructed and interested us. We have heard talks on social, poetic, historic, archaeological, and prehistoric matters. Others have amazed me by their judicious intervention and the part that they have taken in the discussion. I confess that I find it difficult to believe that they are just workmen.
Elder Companion:
Young sir. I understand your state of mind. In the first place, you should know that young Companions generally perfect their skills through daily contact with their elders, who faithful to their mission mutually transfer their entire knowledge to them.
Gallant Heart of Pouyastruc:
Everything that contributes to beauty touches us deeply. Let there be an end to the conflict between manual workers and intellectuals, for both are indispensable. Let the bitterness against scientists also end, for we ought to take from them everything perfected and useful that their modern discoveries have brought us. Let us also honor philosophers and musicians just as our fathers did. Let me finish with this message: each of us must take from the other everything we might lack and everything that is better in order that we may prepare the city of the future.
Bernard the Basque:
Sir, I should like to ask a favor—that you allow me to come again to listen to you, for I see that in this group I shall not be let down. I have liked my job well enough, but after listening to you I like it more. I had never looked at it in the way that I just have, and I see that a man can improve himself in all professions and careers. All he needs is to have courage and to put all his heart into the execution of his work. I promise you, although it may be a little presumptuous of me, that if at times I have envied men in professional positions, I envy them no more. I am happy with my lot. I believe that when I am master of my material, when I really learn my trade, I shall consider myself the equal of anyone.
From "Material for Thought" №10 Fall 1983
