24.08.09
In the news: Louise March
Louise March, the remarkable secretary of George Gurdjieff
- Louise MarchIn the Spring of 1970 I was young, idealistic and full of energy to devote to a cause. I had just dropped out of college after participating in a student strike that shut down SUNY Brockport in protest against the Vietnam War. I began attending a Gurdjieff study group, and the weekend after the student strike, I visited the Gurdjieff esoteric school, East Hill Farm near Middlesex, New York. The school’s teacher, Mrs. Louise March, was a strict Swiss lady who had been Gurdjieff’s personal secretary for many years and was a friend of Georgia O’Keeffe. She had a knack for reading people’s minds and giving them exactly the teaching that they needed to know. So the first talk she gave after I arrived had to do with “non-violent” resistance and how it really caused violence. I had prided myself in being a pacifist and following Gandhi’s example of peaceful protest when I joined hundreds of other students in blocking the stairs and halls of the administration building at SUNY Brockport during finals week, preventing students from taking finals and doing important business. But after Mrs. March’s talk I could see how I caused violent emotions in students trying to enter. I particularly remember one overweight student who desperately needed a teaching certificate. She became so upset and red in the face, I thought she was going to have a heart attack. On another occasion when I came to the farm during a time when I was experimenting with chanting mantras, she had everyone sing the Russian chant “Gospodi Pomilui.” Then she gave a profound teaching on chanting and how it should involve the whole heart and mind and not just mindless, heartless repetition.