Part III B continued
Plato, Parables and Paradox

The lesson begun in Plato's Cave becomes writ large in the Parable of The Prodigal Son:

"And he said, A certain man had two sons:
And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his living.
And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living.
And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land; and he began to be in want.
And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine.
And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him.
And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father's have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!
I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, And am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants.
And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.
And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son.
But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet:
And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry.
For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry.
Now his elder son was in the field: and as he came and drew nigh to the house, he heard music and dancing.
And he called one of the servants, and asked what these things meant.
And he said unto him, Thy brother is come; and thy father hath killed the fatted calf, because he hath received him safe and sound.
And he was angry, and would not go in: therefore came his father out, and intreated him.
And he answering said to his father, Lo, these many years do I serve thee, neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment: and yet thou never gavest me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends:
But as soon as this thy son was come, which hath devoured thy living with harlots, thou hast killed for him the fatted calf.
And he said unto him, son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine.
It was meet that we should make merry, and be glad: for this thy brother was dead, and is alive again; and was lost, and is found." (Luke 15:11-32)

The prodigal son had to wake up to the real objective reality of his life before he could turn around to begin his own return journey. The man in the public house has to leave his misspent life in order to begin to work upon himself. The parable of The Horse, Carriage and Driver illustrates the next step in becoming able to walk toward the light. Learning how to work on the horse, carriage and driver becomes the via for the freedom to leave the cave of unconsciousness.

Gurdjieff frequently taught in parables. I was delighted to come upon the parable of the Horse, Carriage and Driver in the Essene manuscripts. Parables, as a form, have the capacity to sum up a great deal of knowledge into an easily recognizable/digestible form.

"Man in his ordinary state is compared with a horse, carriage and driver. As Man is, according to this parable, the driver who should be on the box and control the horse and carriage is drinking in a "public house" and spending nearly all his money there. The driver is not on the box because he is drunk and as a result the horse gets little or no food and is in a bad condition and the carriage is in a bad state and needs repairs. The first thing that is necessary is that the driver should wake up from his sleep and begin to think of his situation. He must then leave the public house and then he will begin to see the condition of the horse and carriage. The horse is starving, the carriage in very bad condition. The horse is not properly harnessed to the carriage and there are no reins between the horse and the box; nothing to communicate between the driver and the horse. Here we have somebody who is emerging from the public house, perhaps not very steady on his feet, but possibly capable of looking at his horse and carriage. He may climb up to the box and fall off and yet there is some understanding that this is what he has to do. He must rise in his level to reach a place of control. After attending to the horse and carriage he must climb on to the box and finally take hold of the reins and start driving as best he can. If he does all this a fourth factor may appear on the scene - i.e. the Master may be found sitting in the Carriage and giving directions to the Driver as to where he must go. The Master will never seat himself in the carriage unless the driver is on the box and has begun to take hold of the reins and has done what he could for both the horse and the carriage."

Volumes 2 and 3 from the Psychological Commentaries of Gurdjieff and Ouspensky, by Maurice Nicoll

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