2. Who was Kouzmin?
(a) a fellow member of the Essene Brotherhood
(b) the abbot of the chief monastery of the Essene Brotherhood
(c) an artillery officer and pyrotechnical expert
(d) Dean Bosh's friend

3. What was awakened in Gurdjieff while listening to Bogachevsky and his friends' discussions around the samovar?
(a) an interest in becoming a member of the Essene Brotherhood
(b) an interest in abstract questions and spiritualism
(c) an interest in mathematics
(d) a feeling of inferiority when he compared himself with them

4. What did Pogossian's parents do for a living?
(a) His father was a teacher, his mother a laundress.
(b) His father was a dyer, his mother an embroideress in gold
(c) His father was a potter, his mother a seamstress.
(d) His father was a merchant, his mother a housewife.

5. What had Gurdjieff's family first intended him to be?
(a) a cattle herder
(b) an ashokh or bard
(c) a soldier
(d) a priest

6. Gurdjieff changed his custom of drinking armagnac from liqueur glasses to drinking from what kind of glass?
(a) champagne glasses
(b) wine glasses
(c) shot glasses
(d) tumblers

7. What treasure did Gurdjieff secretly get from the Armenian priest?
(a) an ancient map of Armenian treasure caves
(b) an ancient parchment with esoteric secrets
(c) a copy of an ancient Armenian parchment
(d) a copy he makes from an ancient map of "pre-sand Egypt"

8. What, in Gurdjieff's opinion, has harmed contemporary literature?
(a) writers seeking fame rather than quality
(b) readers who are easily taken in by inferior, sensational writing
(c) not enough good writers
(d) the grammars of all languages

9. What did Pogossian do after graduating from the seminary?
(a) He left the church and studied languages.
(b) He worked with Gurdjieff at the railway station as a locksmith
(c) He married and became a priest with his own parish.
(d) He became a teacher at the seminary.

10. With whom did Gurdjieff's father carry on long conversations about philosophy and theology?
(a) with Gurdjieff's first tutor, Dean Borsh
(b) with his close friend, Ivan Ivanovich
(c) with Gurdjieff himself
(d) with his brother, Gurdjieff's beloved uncle

11. What was Gurdjieff's purpose in traveling to Echmiadzin?
(a) He was visiting relatives.
(b) He sought answers to questions of supernatural phenomena.
(c) He was looking for work since he was out of money.
(d) He was on holiday.

12. What is it impossible to do even if one is an excellent linguist?
(a) dream in a foreign language
(b) speak more than five languages fluently
(c) think in a foreign language while speaking one's native tongue
(d) speak like a native in a foreign language.

13. Who, in Gurdjieff's opinion, invents the grammar of languages?
(a) learned, well-educated grammarians
(b) university professors
(c) people who are on a lower level than ordinary simple people
(d) linguists

14. What had Gurdjieff promised himself to do after completing his first series of writing?
(a) consult with all his learned tutors
(b) visit his relatives and friends and relax
(c) drink all the bottles of Calvados in the wine cellar of the Prieure
(d) go on a vacation to the Black Sea

15. Who was allowed access to Father Borsh's room?
(a) Anyone seeking help or advice
(b) Gurdjieff and Gurdjieff's father
(c) Any students at the Kars Military Cathedral
(d) Gurdjieff and Father Borsh's orderly

Short Answer Questions

1. What is the title of the anecdote Gurdjieff uses to show the inferiority of modern life to ancient wisdom showing that modern life and literature are poison to the human race.

2. What did Gurdjieff's aunt warn him about?

3. According to Gurdjieff, contemporary literature falls into which three categories?

4. Why did people think Dean Borsh was peculiar?

5. In which towns did Gurdjieff's family live during his childhood?

(see the answer keys)

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