Jane Heap - A Monograph

JANE

HEAP

1887-1964

 A Monog Mo nograph raph

also THE

APHORISMS

Sayings used in Jane Heap’s Teaching as remembered by b y some o f those she she taught.

Printed and Published by Richard Edmonds at the Phene Press, Haslemere, Surrey, England. 1987

‘I

bring yo u the teaching

exactly as Gurdjieff gave

it

to m e’ Jane Heap often told her people in S t.Joh t.J ohn n ’s Wood, Wo od, where she spent the last active years of her active life. She died in London in the summer of 1964, having devoted forty years to presenting the work   to groups, groups, first first in N ew York, Yo rk, then in Paris, Paris, and finally in London, Lond on, where whe re she she was sent by Gurdjieff, leaving behind a memory that, to those who knew her, is crystal clear to this day. After the funeral service in the Armenian Church in St. John’s Wood, Jane Heap was buried in a green plot in the cemetery at East Finchley, where later a rough-hewn block of Cumberland stone was set up, bearing just her signature. On the day of the funeral, before her people stood in turn beside the grave, one of her group recited the lines which are quoted in  M  Mee eetin tings gs With Rema Remark rkab able le Me Men. n. I AM THO U T H O U A R T I, I, HE IS OURS,  W E B O T H A R E HI S. SO M A Y A L L B E F O R O U R N E IG H B O U R .

Jane Heap’s constant aim was to plant in the minds of thos thosee who w ho worked w ith her some some underst understandi anding ng o f the true true esse essen nce o f the teaching; like like Gurdjieff himself him self she she illuminated illum inated the scale scale o f possibility possibility for m an; an ; she she offere offered d the th e key to his his inner world which is the birthright of all. 1

Fuller com mentar me ntary y on Jane’ Jan e’ss life life could coul d only onl y be attempted attemp ted  by  b y those w ho lived and w orke or ked d w ith it h her over ov er m any an y years,  bu  b u t some accoun acco untt o f her h er early days, days, in which wh ich she she travelled trav elled so far from unstimulating surroundings, can be an aid to appreciation o f this this remarkable hum an being w ho influen influenced ced so many people of her time to their lasting gratitude. Her legacy lies in the response she evoked. Jane Heap was born on November 1,1887, in Shawnee County between Kansas City and Topeka, Kansas, in the very heart o f the United U nited Stat Statees. Her H er father came from Cheshi Cheshire re and her mother mo ther from Norwa No rway. y. Her grandmother was a Lapp, whose family had lived a three days journey  beyon  bey ond d the th e Arctic Circle. Jane Jan e Heap He ap’’s upbr up brin ingi ging ng in Kansa Kansass was lonely and spiritually isolated. Her father was warden of a State Asylum for the Insane. ‘There were no books to read in this place except the great volumes in the patients’ library’, Jane wrote in an article touching on her early life in

The Little Review.

‘I had read them the m all. all. There Th ere was no

one to ask ask about anything. any thing. There Th ere was was no way to make a connection connection with life life.. Out Ou t there there in the world wor ld they were working and thinking; here we were still. Very early I had given up everyone except the insane’.

There was little challenge for Jane’s fertile brain. However, she made something out of everything, and even used to listen to the walk and tread of mental patients to try and relate them to their illnesses. ?

In this strange and unreal environment one particular thought sustained her; ‘who had made the pictures, the  books, the music in the world? wor ld? . . . A nd h ow could coul d you yo u tell tell the makers makers from just jus t people? people? Did they the y have a light around their heads? It was when Sarah Bernhardt came to St. Louis that Jane saw her performance from the balcony of the theatre, the  price o f that th at seat seat in the gods taxing tax ing her slender resources. resources. ‘Even when they spoke the great actress’s name’, said Jane, ‘it had a light around it’. It was then that she resolved ‘some day I would wo uld go to Paris Paris.. Other people had got that tha t far. far. I would go on living for that’. Jane Jan e did did get to Europe, but first she she was was to carve out for herself in America a career as writer and editor that was to bring her wide recognition, a certain notoriety, and eventually a sense of direction in what she saw was a chaotic world of false values. This brief account passes over Jane’s early years of education, little or nothing being known about them. There is a big gap gap in our ou r knowledge over a long period, but it it is known that she graduated from the Chicago Institute of Art in 1905, when she was eighteen, and studied costume  jew  je w elry el ry design at Chicag Chi cago’ o’ss Lewis Institute. It was in 1916 Jane met Margaret Anderson in Chicago, and there was was at once once a meeting o f minds. Margaret Marg aret was was 3

the editor of The Little Review, an avant-garde  avant-garde  publication exalting the role of the artist, initially based on Chicago and then on New York. Y ork. Jane becam becamee a contributor, contribut or, later co-editor and finally sole editor. The Little Review  Review  under their joint guidance went from strength to strength in esteem, despite its fluctuations in financial well-being. It attracted some of the great writers o f the day, among them W .B. .B. Yeat Yeatss and James James Joyce. It was the publication o f Joyce Jo yce’’s Ulysses  Ulysses  that brought notor iety and the threat of imprisonment to the editors. Because Because o f Jane’ Jan e’ss awarene awareness ss o f the art moveme m ovements nts o f the  period  per iod The Little Review  Review  acquired an international stature, and its striking layout, style and typography, which Jane introduced as co-editor, helped to consolidate its position, although it was noticeable that she deliberately and contin uously too t ook k second second place to Margare Ma rgarett Anderson as far as the magazine was concerned. What was significant at this period was the change of emphasis that took place in The Little Review,  Review,  which had  become  becom e more mo re Europe Eu ropean an in outloo ou tlook, k, partly par tly because because o f the influence of Yeats, and was tending to look more deeply into esoteric themes influenced by Georgette Leblanc, the singer and lifelong friend of Maeterlinck. This new direction led the editors in due course to the work of Ouspensky, the brilliant author of Tertium 4

Orgdtium, and then to t o Gurd G urdjie jieff— ff—a a natural progression.

It was at that point that Alfred Orage, Gurdjieff’s rep resentative, resentative, came to New Ne w York.

Orage, Orag e, describe described d by

Margaret Anderson as ‘the most persuasive man I have ever known’, made an immediate impact upon the writing fraternity fraternity of o f N ew York, but most o f all on the editor editorss o f The Little Review.

When Gurdjieff himself arrived in New York in 1924 the impact was no less remarkable, and, although it did not last from a public point of view, it led to the formation of groups for the study study of o f his his ide ideas as.. One On e such such group g roup began began to meet in Jane Heap’s home on East 9th. Street, and from that time on to the end of her life she was engaged in the teaching teaching,, although she she did did not no t immediately follow Gurdjieff to Fontainebleau, as some did, and maintained her interest in writing and the world of art. Fritz and Tom Peters, wh om Jane had adopted adop ted after after the break-up b reak-up o f their parents’ marriage, did d id go to the th e Prieure, howeve how ever1 r1. Jane visited Fontainebleau in 1925 in company with Orage, but she continued her work with

The Little Review

until 1929, for the most part without Margaret Anderson, w ho had h ad become become disench disenchant anted ed with the themes themes of o f art. In that year this this celebra celebrate ted d journa jour nall was published published for the last time. Margaret Anderson returned to write a final editoria editorial, l, and Jane, in her ow n last last contribution contrib ution,, declare declared d that ‘art ‘art today is no t a very very importan imp ortantt or adult concer concern. n. Art 5

is not the highest aim of man; it is interesting only as a pro nounced symptom sympto m o f an ailing ailing and aim aimless less society.’ society.’ So Jane Heap broke brok e w ith her past. past. ‘W e have gone on running

  she The Little Review’ 

wrote, ‘or I thought I had

until I found it was running m e’. e’. She She was no longer prepared p repared to be a victim. From then th en on o n her he r life life centred on Gurdjie Gur djieff’ ff’ss teaching, and the road was to take her to France and even tually to England to promote those ideas among those who had a wish to know. It would be wrong to say the effort was self-eftacing, but she was no longer in the limelight of the world o f literature literature and art.

Jane’s years in Paris extended from 1927, when she first establi establishe shed d a group, for the most pa rt o f expatria expatriates tes,, until she went to London in 1936. Her influence was extraord inary. She She was able to introduce intro duce and make know kn own n the teaching in a unique uniq ue way. In a sen sense se she was Gurd Gu rdjie jieff’ ff’ss intermediary, certainl certainly y his his interpreter. interpreter . W ith it h her person personal al magnetism and powerful energies she became the focus of her group which had a significant impact on the Paris of her day. The group met in Jane’s flat in Montparnasse, and included Gertrude Stein, Georgette Leblanc, Soli*a Solano, Kathryn Hulme, and, whenever she was in Paris, Margaret Anderson. In London, where Jane was sent at the express wishes of Gurdjieff, on purpose to follow Orage in extending the field field o f activity, activity, the group met in Hamilton Hamilt on Terrace, Terrace, and 6

the craft shop, The Rocking Horse, was Horse, was in nearby St.John’s Wood High Street.

The Rocking Horse  Horse  evoked skills that

reflect reflected ed Jane’ Jan e’ss ability w ith her hands - the hands have a life o f their their own,  own,  she used to say —and the days were w ere enriched  by her example exam ple and her he r penetr pen etratin ating g w it. During the 1939-45 war Jane prepared her people to take them to Paris to meet Gurdjicff, and this she brought about when peace came, and right up to the time of Gurdjieff’s death in

1949 .

It is is typical o f Jane’ Jan e’ss approach appr oach to life life tha t hatt she imme im med d iately and totally accepted Jeanne dc Salzmann as the leader and inheritor of Gurdjieffs teaching. The tradition was carried on in St. John’s Wood for another fifteen years until Jane died on June 17, 1964. Throughout the period of her life devoted to furthering the idea ideass o f Gurdjicff Jane was supported by the devotion devo tion of Florence Reynolds and Elspcth Champcommunal, who was was latterly chief designer designer at W o rth rt h ’s in London. From about 1926 Jane was a sufferer from diabetes, living daily with serious inconveniences, because she was partially insulin immune. So this this support suppo rt by her friends helped her to carry on when w hen others others would w ould have abandoned the struggle. struggle. W hen he n Jane Heap died in 1964 the remarkable set set o f notebooks, which she left behind in her home at Hamilton Terrace2 Terra ce2,, bore bor e testimony testim ony to her h er approach to the teaching at 7

differing levels of awareness, and the aphorisms and sayings she used in her work reveal likewise her illumination of thought. A London Lon don evening newspaper newspaper,, which w hich recorded her death, recalled the celebrated New York case over the publication o f Ulysses, Ulysses, and then concluded with wit h a grac graceful eful paragraph saying that Miss Heap had passed her last years ‘in quiet retirement in St. John’s Wood’, conjuring up a picture of gracious living and elegant conversation over the teacups! The Th e circle circle,, which had gathered round rou nd Jane in in London, Londo n, continued in the ‘work’ at Addison Crescent and at Bray. She had left them an inner strength and a sense of the grandeur of an incomparable tradition with all its possibilities for mankind.

N O T E

S .

I. Margaret Anderson adopted her sister Lois’s two children, Fritz and T o n i; and Jan e was a partner in the adoption, adoption, assuming responsibil responsibility ity for their care and education. education.2 consisting o f a short short  2. The Notes otes o f Jane Jan e Heap: This limited edition, consisting selection selection o f the the notes notes made by b y her pupils, was published published in 1983 for private distribution.

8

THE

APHORISMS

SIGNPOSTS Shortly after Jane Heap died in 1964 1964 some some o f those those who wh o worked with her in the two groups in St. John’s Wood  brou  br ough ghtt toge to geth ther er from fr om m emor em ory y a num nu m ber be r o f the sayings sayings she used in the course of her work, Many of these sayings Jane used repeatedly in emphasis as a directive towards inner work, towards a transforming into understanding and knowledge. She made it clear that they were only important to others to the extent that they discover them for themselves. They had to be lived through and verified, and above all held in question. Wording of these aphorisms differed from time to time as it was bound to do, and differing also was the recollection  by her hearers o f w hat ha t was said said.. W h ethe et herr they the y were wer e orig or ig-inal, inal, or quoted quot ed from fro m Mr. Gurdjieff or some other ot her source source,, these sayings have their own resonance belonging to the time and place place in which wh ich they were spoken spoken..

They Th ey were

signposts along the way. R. C.E

INJUNCTIONS Come into the method with silence and zeal. Start on the outside and work towards the centre.  Never  Ne ver oppose opp ose someone with wi th the same same centre, always always offer another one.

 Do  Do not not sit sit too too lon long  in the same place.  Do not not sit where yon yon  sho  should uld not not sit. it.  Fill  Fill your your lun lungs and  and   float;  float; enlar large your  your  territory.  Re-value  Re-value your your valu valuees.

See a job finished from the beginning, and do not bring the middle over to the end.  Neve  Ne verr complain, complain , never nev er explain. You cannot stop the stream of thought, but cut through like the prow of a ship ploughing through the waves. You must always remember to be thankful when good chance happens.

Do not work against the resisting force, but with it. You are responsible for what you have understood. As soon as you see it you have accepted the responsibility. You must be able to disengage from the past.

Try every possibility in a situation.  Little step teps for litt little le feet.  Make  Make yourself yourself availa ilable. le.

 Leave  Leave the the bride at the the alta ltar, the dead disinterred. Go on until you drop.  Roll your your tria trian ngle. le.

D o n ’t do anything that empt empties ies or wears wears down your yo ur Centres. We are identified all the time. Choose your identification. ‘The time goes goes out ou t o f it’, (sai (said d if one does does not no t find a thing in a certain time). Growth of understanding becomes hunger for being.

STA TEM ENTS:

MAN.

Am I creating the values I was created to create. If you are present you cannot lose anything. We cannot lose anything that belongs to us, neither can we have anything that does not.

 Repair  Repair the the past, past,  pr  prepare the the future.  Ble  Bless ssed ed ar are they they that feel intensely. Something in us can never be deceived.  Fr  Freedom is ab absence o f ch choice ice o f wishes. wishes.

If you look out you see a planet. If you look in you see a universe. I am a planet walking on a planet, but I belong to light and air. God has tried five times to people the earth. To see yourself as you are would be like looking on the Gorgon’s head. You would be turned to stone.

If you get to know yourself I think you will know God. The strong help the weak, the weak help the strong. We are not here for the first time. Happiness gives nothing. It is only a relaxing of tensions.

The hand has a life of its own.  Liste  Listenin ning g is a scien ience.  Man eats like like a do dog.

What do yon want to he, to do, to know?  Psy  Psych chee is ma made oj appetite tites. s. Stretch, you must have stretch.

W e go into the objective world wo rld with wit h objective objective luggage, luggage, which must be eliminated. Our ordinary presence and psyche is all that is contained in that bit of skin and blood. The eye is the only organ of the body to be used for the same process by all three bodies.

The capacity to endure is no less than the allotted burden. The worse the pain the better the opportunity to work. When anything seems awful, think what it would be to be on a raft in mid-Atlantic. Suppress natural reaction and pay for it later.

The dump heap o f the unive universe rse..  Do  D o you you want want to die die like a dog?  In one ear, and and out  out  dead at the other.  Five  Five minut inutes es is the the classic time of relaxing.

The feeling of expectancy that we have is the expectancy of being. Few of us need what we want; few want what we need. Every stick has two ends. Look for the other. (Wherever you find sentimentality you find brutality.) The state of your room is a reflection of the state of your mind.

RELATIONSHIPS If you consider, you ruin a person. We have to bless those who despilefully use us. What you do to people is your concern. What they do to you is not your concern.

 A rela relati tio onship hip needs feedin feeding. g. Only the boring are bored. You cannot be a leader  i f you cons consid ider er.. We can see only our own faults and virtues in others.  It is har harder to receive ive than to give. Why shouldn’t you be hurt? To make a relationship with someone is to make a relationship with oneself. People think that to make a relationship with someone means to get on with them. A relationship cannot be based on sex, although most  people  peop le try tr y to do this. this.

EFFORT Time is wearing down the place of my existence. Everything is difficult, nothing is impossible. Man has every possibility, but must earn his way back. Unconscious we are tools of nature. Conscious we  become Sons Sons o f God, instead o f slave slavess o f nature na ture..

 He who can he, can do.  Hope  Hope witho without ut effo ffort  is a curse.  Attentio  Attention n is equ equal to God.  A being ing is in life life to encounter difficulties. Think of death as a  spu  spur. It is a  poten  potentia tiality lity.. Shoulder it and it is the lightest thing in the world. We never refuse in the work. Only super efforts count. After a while we have the right to hope, and this is the hope of consciousness.

The body is the soil in which a soul can grow. The work   is the preparation of a soil in which a soul may grow. Your body is only a tool. It is all you have.

The The ‘T ‘T does does not ca care. re. ‘T is in the esse essenc nce, e, hut not of it.  Em  Emotion otionss are a myste ystery ry..  In the the womb omb one experien iences the life o f the spec species ies..  After birth irth one experien iences the life o f the planet.

The body is innocent and can never be blamed. All possible structural principles are to be found in the spine. Use your body in the spirit of love for the purpose o f reaso reason. n. The cathedral and the spine are to be compared.

NATURE

The look of a lion is one of waiting for men to move on. Animals are nature’s experiments and embody all the emotions. Animals and nature take their orders from above. If man develops he will bring the animals up with him.  A cat is all all essence.  Es  Essence rem remembers.  A cat has a com comple pletely tely emotional body.  A cat never ever con conside iders. The horse is the evolved  note of the dog. The horse horse is spirited. What  Wh at  does he wish to become?

The aesthetic emotion is the only one not provided  by nature. natu re. Bread is one of the few foods that feeds all three centres.  Natu  N ature re abhors a straight strai ght line. line. If man kills off wild animals where does their essence go? (e.g. ferocity.)

ART All arts should be an expression towards being. The public has no taste. Taste cannot be taught. It can be developed. As an artist your Triad is Life, Matter, Form. A line is the path of an emotion. There are 1500 shades between grey and white. The movements  movements  are a manifestation of living art. If you can draw you can do anything. (quoting Michael Angelo.)

SEX

AND

MONEY

Sex Sex and mone m oney y are the chief c hief motivating motiva ting forces forces o f Society Society.. Money is a physical centre thing.  Nev  N ever er get emotio emo tional nal abou ab outt money. mon ey. Money is power. Wit is only a manifestation of sex. Emotional sex is no different to going to the lavatory. People in love can think only of themselves.

FURTHER

STATEMENTS

All that falls from the waggon is lost. The bible has the key, but we have lost it. Purgatory is to understand more than we can do. The whole earth is soaked in blood a mile deep.

Water is the blood  of the planet.  Nothing  Nothing dies ies quick icker  than water.  Fa  Facts witho without ut emotio otion ns are nothing. To pour from from the the empty into the void. What is all this probing into space? We should know the earth is our Mother. Three ways o f teac teaching hing - Competition, Example, Example, Magnetism. Time is the unique subjective. If you believe this to be true, then its conquest by yourself is certain. There is no death, only loss.