In 1888 the 16-year-old Gurdjieff witnessed a strange incident: he saw a little boy, weeping and making strange movements, struggling with all his might to break out of a circle drawn around him by other boys.
Gurdjieff: "One day I was sitting under the poplars, busy with some work ordered by a neighbour for his niece's wedding the following day. My task was to draw a monogram on a shield - to be hung over the door of his house - a monogram combining his niece's initials with those of the man she was to marry. I had also to find space on the shield for the day of the month and the year.
Certain strong impressions somehow deeply imprint themselves on one's memory. I remember even now how I racked my brains to find the best way to fit in the figures of the year 1888. I was deep in my work when suddenly I heard a desperate shriek. I jumped up, certain that an accident had happened to one of the children during their play. I ran and saw the following picture:
In the middle of a circle drawn on the ground stood one of the little boys, sobbing and making strange movements, and the others were standing at a certain distance laughing at him. I was puzzled and asked what it was all about.
I learned that the boy in the middle was a Yezidi, that the circle had been drawn round him and that he could not get out of it until it was rubbed away. The child was indeed trying with all his might to leave this magic circle, but he struggled in vain. I ran up to him and quickly rubbed out part of the circle, and immediately he dashed out and ran away as fast as he could.
This so dumbfounded me that I stood rooted to the spot for a long time as if bewitched, until my usual ability to think returned. Although I had already heard something about these Yezidis, I had never given them any thought; but this astonishing incident, which I had seen with my own eyes, now compelled me to think seriously about them.
Looking round and seeing that the boys had gone back to their games, I returned to my place, full of my thoughts, and continued the work on the monogram, which was not going well but had to be finished at all costs that same day.
The Yezidis are a sect living inTranscaucasia, mainly in the regions near Mount Ararat. They are sometimes called devil-worshippers.
Many years after the incident just described, I made a special experimental verification of this phenomenon and found that, in fact, if a circle is drawn round a Yezidi, he cannot of his own volition escape from it. Within the circle he can move freely, and the larger the circle, the larger the space in which he can move, but get out of it he cannot. Some strange force, much more powerful than his normal strength, keeps him inside. I myself, although strong, could not pull a weak woman out of the circle; it needed yet another man as strong as I.
If a Yezidi is forcibly dragged out of a circle, he immediately falls into the state called catalepsy, from which he recovers the instant he is brought back inside. But if he is not brought back into the circle, he returns to a normal state, as we ascertained, only after either thirteen or twenty-one hours.
To bring him back to a normal state by any other means is impossible. At least my friends and I were not able to do so, in spite of the fact that we already possessed all the means known to contemporary hypnotic science for bringing people out of the cataleptic state. Only their priests could do so, by means of certain short incantations."
Source: 'Meetings with Remarkable Men' - George Ivanovitch Gurdjieff
Prey or predator?...
- But, might it be that the toad is waiting until the 'line' moves?... -
Keep Ants Away With Chalk
Ants hate chalk and will almost never cross a chalk line. Useful for keeping them away from your house. Just your average Crayola chalk.
Note: Most species of ants use special chemical signals — called pheromones — to communicate with one another. A worker ant that leaves the nest to forage for food will leave a trail of pheromones for other ants to follow. When the path is abruptly broken, they get confused for a while, searching for the lost trail. And, yes: at the same time ants may dislike chalk, too.
Only Crayola chalk?
What about a lady bug?
Neuroethology of Toads: Behavioral Responses to Prey Features (moving stripe!):
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