Musician Robert Fripp fascinates me. As well as his work with King Crimson, Brian Eno, and guest appearances with the likes of David Bowie, he is involved in Guitar Craft, an approach not just to playing guitar but life more broadly, influenced by his own schooling in Fourth Way traditions. His own input came at a personal level from J.G. Bennett, who was in turn a pupil of Gurdjieff.

Disgusted by his experiences of the music industry, Fripp started his own ethical record label, Discipline Global Mobile. He writes a diary at the DGM website, and this entry comes from December 16:

"On waking: a sense of formulating & articulating the essential characteristics of mastery. One characteristic, for example, is harmonised action: where there is a commonality in what we aim to do, our wish to do it, and our efficient functioning / operating in honouring the aim; ie there is no cognitive dissonance when serving the aim, in distinction to much of the professional life. There is no professional lying, such as doing what we know to be wrong because our job / employer / manager tells us to, or acting to favour our personal interest; eg by selling mortgages to people who have no possibility of repaying them. All this while part of our attention remains within the body; part in looking over our shoulder, impartially observing what goes on; and part in holding to our aim."

Clearly, there are parallels with issues that NLP addresses. But get beyond trying to fit what Fripp is saying into an NLP frame and discover what else his paradigm has to offer.

What thinkers, writers, creators inspire you in the way they engage with the world? Who is a role model for you in their throughline between belief and action?

Hey, I'm a big fan of Fripp, too. Here's a little something:


I did get to meet him once. He was funny and impish, which took me completely by surprise as I expected a serious guitar master. He did, however, decline my request for an interview. (Over the years, tho, I interviewed Belew and also my neighbor here in Kingston, Tony Levin.)

Anyway, Gurdjieff has always interested me, much more so than his buddies Ouspensky and Bennett. As a much more personal influence, I'd have to say Robert Anton Wilson. Other important influences on my way of thinking would include Bandler, Tom Robbins, Aleister Crowley, Lon Milo Duquette, Neal Stephenson, Philip K. Dick, among others.