Gurdjieff sounded like a rascal to me. I don't know if he was really enlightened or not.
But students who follow others in order to learn how to be individuals are like people who are having promiscuous sex in order to be more chaste.
It's sort like buying a book that says, "Think for Yourself! We Can Show You How! Just obey these easy to follow instructions...."
It's funny that people will say that the answer is within and all that and yet at the same time they encourage others to follow and obey. The best way to own slaves is to help people believe the illusion that they are freeing themselves and becoming independent while they give up their agency and originality.
Maybe the best way is to eschew what other people think and start going on your own path. I think the biggest obstacle to this is dealing with a very basic, painful, embarrassing level of making tons of mistakes over and over until you just learn for yourself.
I've been incredibly slow at it. Retardedly slow. But I have made some progress.
