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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Between what ages did Father Borsh feel a male was fully developed?

2. Who was the fortuneteller whom Gurdjieff's aunt consulted?

3. What was Gurdjieff's youngest niece supposed to do for him?

4. What was Gurdjieff's father forced to become because of life's circumstances?

5. Gurdjieff changed his custom of drinking armagnac from liqueur glasses to drinking from what kind of glass?

Short Essay Questions

1. Who was Gurdjieff's first tutor and what position did he hold?

2. What important discovery did Gurdjieff and Pogossian make in the rubble of the underground passages of the ancient churches near Alexandropol?

3. What happened two years later when Pogossian returned to Kars where was was to be ordained?

4. Describe an ashokh.

5. What was the story of Gilgamesh?

6. When and where did Gurdjieff meet Pogossian?

7. How did Gurdjieff happen to see the famous ashokhs of those days?

8. Why do Gurdjieff and Pogossian travel to Alexandropol?

9. What is a gornakh?

10. What are Gurdjiefff's thoughts on the grammars of different languages, who composes them and alters them?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

1) How does Gurdjieff make money in Rome? What does he build to embellish his small business?

2) What does Vitvitskaia find she has an interest in and a talent for when she is living with prince Lubovedsky's sister? What experiments does she try?

3) How does Gurdjieff change his opinion of Vitivitskaia? Do you think the prince has more compassion and intuition than Gurdjieff because of immediate compassion and non-judgment of Vitvitskaia?

4) Choose one of the three topics and write about it.

Essay Topic 2

1) Gurdjieff's father was an ashokh. Describe what an ashokh did and in what language?

2) What did Gurdjieff's father do on evenings before Sundays and holidays? Why was what he did a big influence on Gurdjieff in his later life?

3) What legend Dean Korsh and Gurdjieff's father discuss which could be compared to the story of Noah and the ark? Tell something about it.

4) Choose one of the above topics and write about it.

Essay Topic 3

1) Describe the anecdote Gurdjieff tells entitled "The Conversation of the Two Sparrows". What is the lesson contained in the anecdote?

2) What did Gurdjieff think were the shortcomings of the contemporary literature of his day?

3) Recount the story of the family who died from eating poison sausages. Who caused that tragedy and how?

4) Choose one of the above questions and answer it in as much detail as possible.

(see the answer keys)

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