Sonntag, 31. März 2013

know thyself

Man who all 'good' or man who all 'bad' is not whole man, is one-sided. Third thing is conscience; possibility to acquire conscience is already in man when born; this possibility given - free - by Nature. But is only possibility. Real conscience can only be acquired by work, by learning to understand self first. Even your religion - western religion - have this phrase "Know thyself". This phrase most important in all religions. When begin know self already begin have possibility become genuine man. So first thing must learn is know self by this exercise, self-observation. If not do this, then will be like acorn that not become tree—fertilizer. Fertilizer which go back in ground and become possibility for future man.
Fritz Peters - Boyhood with Gurdjieff Chapter 9

Donnerstag, 28. März 2013

sayings on Jesus Christ

In any other man I should have been sceptical of most of his tales; but certainly Georgiy Ivanovich was out of the common theosophical ruck. If he really wanted to go anywhere, were it even to his mysterious monasteries in Tibet - in one of which, he said, echoing an Indian tradition, Jesus had studied! (Bechhofer Roberts - A Journey through Georgia)

Q: Was Christ a teacher with a school preparation, or was he an accidental genius? Gurdjieff: Without knowledge he could not have been what he was, nor could he have done what he did. It is known that where he was there was knowledge.
(Views from the Real World p.85)

But while for some people religion serves as guidance, for others it is only a policeman. Christ, too, was a magician, a man of Knowledge. He was not God, or rather He was God, but on a certain level. (Views from the Real World p.211)

Christ and all the others spoke of the death which can take place in life, the death of the tyrant from whom our slavery comes, that death which is a necessary condition of the first and principal liberation of man. (Views from the Real World p.238)

He said that Jesus knew his own nonentityness and should he return, he would be very angry that people thought he had said he was God. 
(Gurdjieff and the Women of the Rope p.179)

Let us suppose Jesus Christ to be man number eight. (ISOM Chapter 16)

The Last Supper was a magical ceremony similar to 'blood-brotherhood' for establishing a connection between 'astral bodies.' But who is there who knows about this in existing religions and who understands what it means? All this has been long forgotten and everything has been given quite a different meaning. The words have remained but their meaning has long been lost. (ISOM Chapter 5)

There is nothing new in the idea of sleep. People have been told almost since the creation of the world that they are asleep and that they must awaken. How many times is this said in the Gospels, for instance? 'Awake,' 'watch,' 'sleep not.' Christ's disciples even slept when he was praying in the Garden of Gethsemane for the last time. (ISOM Chapter 8)

see also the detailed description in Beelzebubs Tales (Chapter on Religion)

Samstag, 23. März 2013

my bible is quite another thing

What you learn from bible you wish believe, but your bible is one thing and my bible is quite another. Nobody now believe in Christian thing, not with inner world, especially young ones. Nobody but English old maid and your American Lesbians. In General, man over there not believe. Your bible is hodgepodge.

Gurdjieff and the Women of the Rope p.156

Montag, 18. März 2013

perhaps will understand better

Nott: What about people who have never met you, or will never meet you? How will they be able to understand Beelzebub's Tales?

Gurdjieff: Perhaps will understand better than many always around me. You, by the way, you see much of me and become identified with me. I not wish people identified with me, I wish them identified with my ideas. Many who never will meet me, simple people, will understand my book. Time come perhaps when they read Beelzebub's Tales in Churches.
C.S. Nott - Further Teachings of Gurdjieff p.77

Sonntag, 17. März 2013

discovery of Gurdjieffs true nature

Julia O. Ostrowska
It might seem surprising that this member of the Polish high aristocracy, who associated with those close to the Tsar, became the wife of a man so remote from the manners of the court. Mr. Gurdjieff had won the heart of this young woman, though she little suspected what she was to find out about him later.

One day she confided to us, with a certain smile, how moved she was to discover her husband’s true nature, and to realize that he was totally devoted to work of a spiritual order and dedicated to the good of his fellow man. In his quiet strength she had until then appreciated him above all as an affectionate companion, a benevolent protector, and the hoped-for father of their children.

She saw him in a new light when she realized that her husband was revered by those around him as an exceptional teacher and as an authentic master of wisdom, with the power to help his pupils discover their true spiritual potential. She then took a discreet place beside him, careful not to hinder in any way the work he had to accomplish.
Gurdjieff a Master in Life p.227

Mittwoch, 13. März 2013

Western Section in Tiflis 1919

Alexander de Salzmann´s cover design for the prospectus of the Institute for the Harmonious Developement of Man.

At the bottom in Russian language : Western Section!

This bottom part is removed in the later versions in english, french and german.

Montag, 11. März 2013

I wish for Immortality

Olgivanna Lazovic
She told me about their life in the Caucasus with Gurdjieff. In Tiflis he had asked her if she had a wish, a real wish. She said, ‘I wish for immortality’. He said, ‘What you do now?’ ‘I look after my house and servants,’ she replied. ‘You work yourself? Cook, look after baby?’ ‘No, my servants do that for me.’ ‘You do nothing, and you wish for immortality!’ he said. ‘But this does not come by wishing but by special kind of work. You must work, make effort, for immortality. Now, I will show you how to work. First, tell servants to go and begin by doing everything yourself’

‘He did show me,’ she added. ‘He showed me how to do ordinary housework, not as a servant would do it, but to work and at the same time use his method.’

Like all the women who really worked with Gurdjieff, she was remarkable and unusual; she possessed an inner something, she had individuality, and she could turn her hand to anything.
C.S. Nott - Teachings of Gurdjieff p.84

Donnerstag, 7. März 2013

a Guide to the eternal Mysteries of the Universe

He was still surrounded by this strange entourage of philosophers, doctors, poets, and dancers. He was not exploiting them; on the contrary, several of them were living on his diminishing means. And by them all he was esteemed, almost worshipped, as a guide to the eternal mysteries of the universe. His admirers were by no means fools; some of them were distinguished men, and these especially insisted that Georgiy Ivanovich, as they called him in Russian fashion, had taught them more about their particular art than they had ever learned before. He had peculiar notions about music; others about the ballet; more still about medicine and philosophy; all of which, he said, were based upon secret mathematical mysteries in which he had been instructed in the remote hills of Central Asia!
C. E. Bechhofer Roberts - A Journey Through Georgia

Montag, 4. März 2013

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

Sonntag, 3. März 2013

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

Samstag, 2. März 2013

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.

Mittwoch, 27. Februar 2013

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

Montag, 25. Februar 2013

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

Sonntag, 24. Februar 2013

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

Samstag, 23. Februar 2013

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

Donnerstag, 21. Februar 2013

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