the first Sign of the Awakening

The realization of the fact that he has no aim and that he is not going anywhere is the first sign of the approaching awakening of a man or of awakening becoming really possible for him. Awakening begins when a man realizes that he is going nowhere and does not know where to go.

In Search Of The Miraculous Chapter 8

how to be One of the Elite

“Everyone,” he said, “knows something. Each of us has learned to do something mechanically.” He insisted on this word. “Two people have the same worth when each stays within his own speciality. However, if one can also do what the other does, then he is superior. He who aspires to be one of the elite must be capable not only of doing what he does habitually, but also of doing anything that those he regards inferior can do, even if not with the competence of a professional.”

Gurdjieff, a Master in Life p.92

we both are His

grave of Ivan Gurdjieff

I AM THOU, 

THOU ART I,
HE IS OURS, 

WE BOTH ARE HIS.
SO MAY ALL BE FOR OUR NEIGHBOUR.

seeing faults in other people

It is a common characteristic of human nature that a man sees the faults of others more easily than he sees his own. At the same time on the path of self-study he learns that he himself possesses all the faults that he finds in others. But there are many things that he does not see in himself, whereas in other people he begins to see them. But, as I have just said, in this case he knows that these features are his own. Thus other members of the group serve him as mirrors in which he sees himself. But, of course. in order to see himself in other people's faults and not merely to see the faults of others, a man must be very much on his guard against and be very sincere with himself.

In Search Of The Miraculous Chapter 11

"Man" will believe anything

Our thinking machine possesses the capacity to be convinced of anything you like, provided it is repeatedly and persistently influenced in the required direction. A thing that may appear absurd to start with will in the end become rationalized, provided it is repeated sufficiently often and with sufficient conviction.

Gurdjieff, Essentuki 1918

he was something on a much bigger scale

Dr. Kenneth Walker

Many reactions were possible, but it was impossible to be indifferent to him or to forget that he was there. One could be disturbed by him, dislike him, be scandalized by what he did and said, deem him a charlatan or a wise man, be frightened of him or grow fond of him, and one could do all these things in turn; but it was impossible to neglect him. Whatever he was, he was something on a much bigger scale than one had ever seen before, or is ever likely to see again.

 source: http://gurdjieff.org/walker1.htm

the Teaching is Gurdjieffs

Major Frank S. Pinder

All that Ouspensky had of value, he got from Gurdjieff, and that only with his mind. He had a perfunctory fling at the movements; and even confessed to being lazy.

I've looked over Ouspensky's Tertium Organum and New Model, but have seen none of Nicoll's books. Both men were professional writers and philosophers, plagiarists of 'mystical' writings. Ouspensky, all his great brain, was, for what was real, unintelligent; and it was inevitable that Ouspensky should cut himself and his pupils off from Gurdjieff. It is strange that there can be talk of "Ouspensky's Teaching", and "Gurdjieff-Ouspensky System": the Teaching is Gurdjieff's.

C.S. Nott - Further teachings of Gurdjieff (Chapter "F.S.Pinder")

(Frank Pinder was a mining engineer and a major in British Intelligence who served in the army under Holman for Denikin in the Caucasus. He met Gurdjieff in Tiflis and later joined the Institute in Fontainebleau)

Hidden Brotherhoods of Central Asia

Prince Sabahaddin

The proposed guest was a man whom he had not seen since 1912, but whom he regarded as unusually interesting. He mentioned the name, which I could not catch over the telephone, and said that he had recently come to Turkey from the Caspian region.

I learned that the name of the guest was Gurdjieff, and that the Prince had first met him by chance when he was returning from Europe to Turkey after the Young Turk revolution of 1908. He had met Gurdjieff only three or four times, but knew that he belonged to a group of occultists and explorers with whom he had travelled far and wide. The Prince regarded him as one of the very few men who had been able to penetrate into the hidden brotherhoods of Central Asia, and had always profited by the talks they had had together. He could not, or would not, tell me any more.

J.G. Bennett - Witness p.55

Sensation of Oneself

Wet a handkerchief, wring it out, put it on your skin. The contact will remind you. When it is dry, begin again. The key to everything—Remain apart. Our aim is to have constantly a sensation of oneself, of one's individuality. This sensation cannot be expressed intellectually, because it is organic. It is something which makes you independent, when you are with other people.

Paris Meeting, December 7th 1941

the only teacher of the Fourth Way

But there is a Fourth Way. This is also called Yogism, but it is different because this kind of yogi has a secret by "heredity" - initiate secrets. By this way, with a teacher, a man with the possibility can do the work in six months and then be his own teacher.
I am the representative of the Fourth Way. And I have no concurrent (rival). For instance, ordinary yogis who do not know these secrets lie for three hours a day to learn how to use air. With my secret short-cuts they could do this in five minutes - in fact, like magic, drink the elements they need from air out of a glass.

Gurdjieff and the Women of the Rope p.21

what he really is

Georgette Leblanc

The light that came from the little salon illuminated him fully. Instead of avoiding it, he stepped back and leaned against the wall. Then, for the first time, he let me see what he really is... as if he had torn off the masks behind which he is obliged to hide himself. His face was stamped with a charity that embraced the whole world. Transfixed, standing before him, I saw him with all my strength and I experienced a gratitude so deep, so sad, that he felt a need to calm me. With an unforgettable look he said, "God helps me." 

Georgette Leblanc Journal, November 2nd 1936

Gurdjieff was an enigma

Gorham Munson

To me Gurdjieff was an enigma whom I associate with the stranger figures of the Renaissance rather than with religious leaders. He never claimed originality for his ideas but asserted they came from ancient science transmitted in esoteric schools. His humor was Rabelaisian, his roles were dramatic, his impact on people was upsetting. Sentimentalists came, expecting to find in him a resemblance to the pale Christ-figure literature has concocted, and went away swearing that Gurdjieff was a dealer in black magic. Scoffers came, and some remained to wonder if Gurdjieff knew more about relativity than Einstein.

quoted from "Black Sheep Philosophers" by Gorham Munson

the Highest Caste of Humanity

...(Gurdjieff) said to me: “A man who wishes to change must have the necessary energy. Say he needs one hundred units, but with all his efforts he can only collect ten. He is helpless. Suppose he meets a man who has much more energy than he needs for himself. That man can lend him ninety. Then he will do what he wants. Afterwards he must repay. Now you cannot do anything by yourself, so I must help you. There is a special substance - let us call it “higher emotional energy” that you need. You do not know where to get this substance, but I know. Later you will know too and then you will understand this work. Those who can give this substance to others who need it belong to a special section of the highest caste of humanity.” I said to him: “How can I get the help I need?” He replied – we were talking in Turkish – “When you say Amar (Mercy!) with all your being. Only then can you be helped.”

J.G. Bennett - Transformation (Chapter Help)

sayings of Gurdjieff

saluting America 1924

A man, who was not a pupil, asked Gurdjieff what he was trying to do. “I try to make human beings,” Gurdjieff replied.

Every thinking man - and by man I also mean woman - must be occupied only by this interest - to develop a soul.

He stated clearly that philology was a better route to Truth than philosophy.

In life one must play part, but remember you are playiag part. Only with those with common aim can you be sincere about your inner world. To be sincere with everyone is pathological.

...he said that if people have a common aim, a real aim - not an ordinary life aim - a feeling of brotherly love will arise in them. If they live and work together they will always feel this, whether they love or hate each other. Not even family love can equal this feeling.

the Teaching of the Sufis

The majority of religions live, act, believe in accordance with holy scriptures, precepts and commandments. At the same time there has existed a teaching of learned followers who have tried to put into practice all religions, all sayings, all teachings without infatuation, without faith. They did not worship blindly. Before accepting something they practiced it. What could be put into practice was accepted, what could not be was rejected. In this way a new religion was formed, although the material for it was taken from other religions.
The teaching about which I speak now is the teaching of the Sufis.

This teaching says the following about the angel and the devil: every action of a man, every step, every moment, every movement emanates either from the one or from the other. Emanations from both (result) are equally deposited in the human organism in the form of certain crusts of real tangible matter which one can examine and distinguish whether the crust is of one kind or another. Each crust obeys certain laws, leads to certain consequences. And in the case of man things whispered by the devil have a greater effect.

Gurdjieff Talk "Two Spirits" February 9th 1923

the Transfiguration of G.

A very interesting event took place in connection with his departure. This happened at the railway station. We were all seeing him off at the Nikolaevsky Station. G. was standing talking to us on the platform by the carriage. He was the usual G. we had always known. After the second bell he went into the carriage - his compartment was next to the door and came to the window. He was different! In the window we saw another man, not the one who had gone into the train. He had changed during those few seconds. It is very difficult to describe what the difference was, but on the platform he had been an ordinary man like anyone else, and from the carriage a man of quite a different order was looking at us, with a quite exceptional importance and dignity in every look and movement, as though he had suddenly become a ruling prince or a statesman of some unknown kingdom to which he was traveling and to which we were seeing him off.

Some of our party could not at the time clearly realize what was happening but they felt and experienced in an emotional way something that was outside the ordinary run of phenomena. All this lasted only a few seconds. The third bell followed the second bell almost immediately, and the train moved out. I do not remember who was the first to speak of this "transfiguration" of G. when we were left alone, and then it appeared that we had all seen it, though we had not all equally realized what it was while it was taking place. But all, without exception, had felt something out of the ordinary.

In Search Of The Miraculous Chapter Sixteen

among the most interesting things of our times

Alfons Paquet

Paquet knew Gurdjieff primarily as a world traveler full of stories of his adventures and almost nothing about his writing. Even so it was astonishing how much he had gathered about the universality and significance of Gurdjieff s teaching.


Paquet's positive regard for Gurdjieff came with a warning:

Gurdjieff and what he teaches are among the most interesting things of our times. My personal experiences with him have been only good ones. But he is a man with a very strong will, maybe dangerous for (some) people. It’s all about taking a risk.

Louise March - The Gurdjieff Years p.30

overcoming obstacles

Teachers usually surround themselves with an atmosphere of great seriousness and importance to give newcomers a good impression. With Mr Gurdjieff it was just the opposite: everything that could repel, even frighten, a new man was always produced. A newcomer had the opportunity to meet Mr Gurdjieff and to talk with him, but at once there was put before him some obstacle to be surmounted. On the other hand, Mr Gurdjieff never let a newcomer go away empty-handed if he came with real questions and spoke about something that was of genuine importance to him.

Our Life with Mr. Gurdjieff p.74

Helping the Poor during WW2

I noticed almost immediately that there were a number of daily visits at his apartment by older people, most of whom did not appear to have much, if anything, to do with his "work". Not only were they old, but they all appeared to be poor. Gurdjieff's attitude towards these people bore little resemblance to his treatment of those persons who were, quite obviously, his students. He treated them with courtesy, kindness and, I gathered, generosity.
...
"Not only you not understand this about my work," he said, " you also not understand about what kind of person I am." After more coffee had been poured, and he had looked at me reflectively, he said: "I play many roles in life . . . this part of my destiny. You think of me as teacher, but in reality, I also your father . . . father in many ways you not understand. I also 'teacher of dancing", and have many businesses: you not know that I own company which make false eyelashes and also have very good business selling rugs. This way I make money for self and for family. Money I 'shear' from disciples is for work. But other money I make for my family. My family very big, as you see—because this kind old people who come every day to my house, are, also, family. They my family because have no other family.
...
You notice all such people who come here are already old. Without me not have possibility die properly. Except me, such people not have family, and for future can only look towards death. If I help such people die in right way, this can be very important and very good thing.

Remembering Gurdjieff, Chapter 14 (Paris 1945)