George Gurdjieff's Spiritual Mastery
An imaginary interview with a 21st century Truth Student
George Gurdjieff
Let's begin with a VERNON HOWARD Excerpt about Gurdjieff
from: The Mystic Path to Cosmic Power
"Let's meet a modern mystic with some uniquely exciting ideas about escape from psychic prison: George Gurdjieff. Though his early life is veiled in mystery, Gurdjieff was probably born in Alexandropal, in Asia Minor, about 1872. This remarkable and often controversial man spent a dozen years roaming about the East in search of esoteric teachings. He returned with a tremendous wealth of wisdom for the Western world.
"Gurdjieff summarized the problem: Mankind is asleep but doesn't know it. So deep is his hypnotic slumber that he does his daily walking and talking, his legislating and marrying in a state of unconsciousness. Actually, the acts are the mechanical acts of hypnotized people. And THAT, Gurdjieff declares, is the simple reason why the world goes from one disaster to another: "Would," he asks, "a CONSCIOUS human being destroy himself through war, and crime, and quarrels? No, a man simply knows not what he does to himself."
"Hopeless? Not at all. Gurdjieff has supreme optimism. It is the only worthwhile kind of optimism - that based on a personal experience of liberation. "You can," he announces, "wake up. You can turn from a mechanical man into a true individualist who runs his own life. Yes, while here on earth you can be a perfectly conscious and happy person. Love, intelligence, peace will no longer be mere words or theories - they will be YOU. That is the New Birth proclaimed by esoteric Christianity." ******************** Q: What is one of the best ways to learn these very high principles? A: The time always comes when our work on ourselves (our self- observation) begins to reveal some of our inconsistencies. So be on the lookout for inner contradictions. Pay particular attention to any subject on which you are touchy. (P.D. Ouspensky)
Q: What may be the single most important thing we can do for our growth? A: Trying to remember yourself is always right. Whatever you are doing, just try to realize that you are doing that. Effort to remember yourself is the chief thing, because without it nothing else has any value; it must be the basis of everything. Only in this way can you pass from the mechanical to a more conscious state. (P.D. Ouspensky)
Q: Why is it so difficult to avoid being caught by a negative thought or mood? A: The best hope of learning how to avoid falling such an easy prey to negative emotions appeared to lie in becoming more and more sensitive to the early signs of their advent, and, having detected their close proximity to us, to step aside in time. If we waited too long before we did this we were completely in their power. (Kenneth Walker)
Q: Can participating in spiritual groups help? A: Every stick has two ends. With every good thing goes a bad thing. And in oneself, as well as groups and organizations in this work, one has constantly to be on the watch not to forget one's aim and the aim of the work, and become so identified with one's own attitude to the work and with the organization, that one loses sight of the real aim.
Always, according to the law of the octave in this work as well as in other teachings and in ordinary life, organizations little by little get further and further away from their first intention . . . (This) can be seen in the study of what little we know of the groups of early Christians; the same with the teachings of Buddha and Mohammed. Pupils soon become identified with their own attitude to the work. (C.S. Nott)
Q: What is a challenging Truth that can jolt us awaken? A: One of the worst illusions we have is that negative emotions are produced by circumstances, whereas all negative emotions are IN US, INSIDE US. This is a very important point. We always think negative emotions are produced by the fault of other people or by the fault of circumstances. We ALWAYS think that. Our negative emotions are in ourselves and are produced by ourselves. There is absolutely not a single unavoidable reason why somebody else's action or some circumstance should produce a negative emotion IN ME. It is only MY weakness. No negative emotion can be produced by external causes if we do not want it. We have negative emotions because we permit them, justify them, explain them by external causes, and in this way we do not struggle with them. (P.D. Ouspensky) Q: How can we make the most of our life and our time? Gurdjieff replies: A: When I was young I learned to prepare fragrances. I learned to extract from life it's essence, it's most subtle qualities. Search in everything the most valuable, learn to separate the fine from the coarse. One who has learned how to extract the essence, the most important from each moment of life, has reached a sense on quality . . . To spend your precious time in nothing means to deprive yourself the opportunity to extract from life the most valuable.
Q: Is there an exercise we can practice that will help this come alive for us? Gurjieff replies: A: Look back at the hour that has passed, as if it was the last hour for you on the earth and that you have just acknowledged that you have died. Ask yourself, were you satisfied at that hour?
And now reanimate yourself again and set up the aim for yourself. In the next hour (if you are lucky to live one more) try to extract from life a little more than you did in the last hour. Define, where and when you should have been more aware, and where you should have put more inner fire.
And now open your eyes wider, and by this I mean - open more possibilities for yourself, be a little more brave, than you were in the previous hour . . . If we look at each hour like at a separate life unit, you can try to do as much as you can to use every unit totally. Force yourself and find the way to make the next hour much more than the one before, but also be aware that you have taken care of the debts you collected till now. Increase the self-sensing and self-knowledge of yourself, and also increase the ability to master yourself, this will change the work of your machine . . .
To live the rest of your life rehearsing your death hour by hour - is not at all pathological. . . . Each moment, taken alone, represents the particle of the eternal Creation . . . Therefore each moment we can extract the most subtle substances, that we can call "the essence of life". . . Real life is not a change of activity, but a change of the quality of the activity.
I remind you once again, learn to live each of your hours with a bigger benefit . . . Look at life like at business. Time is your money for life. (Gurdjieff)
Q: How can we enrich our relationships? A: Without self-love a man can do nothing. There are two qualities of self-love. One is a dirty thing. The other, an impulse, love of the real "I". Without this it is impossible to move. An ancient Hindu saying - "Happy is he who loves himself, for he can love me." (Gurjieff) You may want to check out: In Search of the Miraculous
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