George Gurdjieff Quotes

Maybe you are searching among the branches, for what only appears in the roots.

As he was rummaging about, a book called ‘The Gospels’ fell into his hands. ” ‘The Gospels’ is the name given there to a book written once upon a time by a certain Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John about Jesus Christ, a Messenger from our Endlessness to that planet. “This book is widely circulated among the three-centered beings there who nominally exist according to the indications of this Messenger. “And when this ‘writer’ happened to come across that book, the notion suddenly popped into his head: ‘Why shouldn’t I also write a gospel?’ “According to certain investigations that I had to make for quite different needs of mine, he must then have deliberated as follows: ‘Am I any worse than those ancient barbarians, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and Johnnie? ‘At least I am more cultured than they were, and I can certainly write a much better gospel for my contemporaries. ‘What is more, a gospel is the very thing that is needed just now, because the “English” and “Americans” have a great weakness for this book, and the rate of exchange of their pounds and dollars is “not half bad” just now.

The cause of every anomaly can be found in woman.

For instance, the development of the power of my thoughts had been brought to such a level that by only a few hours of self-preparation I could from a distance of tens of miles kill a yak; or, in twenty-four hours, could accumulate life forces of such compactness that I could in five minutes put to sleep an elephant.

There are two kinds of suffering - conscious and unconscious. Only a fool suffers unconsciously.

"During the period of my year of special observations on all of their manifestations and perceptions, I made it categorically clear to myself that although the factors for engendering in their presences the sacred being-impulses of Faith, Hope, and Love are already quite degenerated in the beings of this planet, nevertheless, the factor which ought to engender that being-impulse on which the whole psyche of beings of a three-brained system is in general based, and which impulse exists under the name of Objective-Conscience, is not yet atrophied in them, but remains in their presences almost in its primordial state.
Thanks to the abnormally established conditions of external ordinary being-existence existing here, this factor has gradually penetrated and become embedded in that consciousness which is here called "subconsciousness," in consequence of which it takes no part whatever in the functioning of their ordinary consciousness.
Well, then, it was just then that I indubitably understood with all the separate ruminating parts representing the whole of my "I," that if the functioning of that being-factor still surviving in their common presences were to participate in the general functioning of that consciousness of theirs in which they pass their daily, as they say here, "waking-existence," only then would it still be possible to save the contemporary three-brained beings here from the consequences of the properties of that organ which was intentionally implanted into their first ancestors."

And it was just in these unaccustomed impulses, evoked in the beings by their instrumental and vocal melodies, that the learned members of that group indicated what they wished to transmit.

Personally I liked best of all the three-centered beings dwelling on the planet ‘Saturn ‘ Their outer form is quite unlike ours, resembling that of the bird-being, ‘raven. ‘“It is interesting to remark, by the way, that for some reason or other these raven-beings are found not only on *

I wish to speak about the overall unity of all that exists - about unity in multiplicity. I wish to show you two or three facets of a precious crystal, and to draw your attention to the pale images faintly reflected in them.

Q. In considering likes and dislikes, how can one separate what is real and what is false personality?

A. Start by realizing that it is all false personality, and then try to find out
what is not. You cannot do the second before the first. First you must understand that all is false personality, and when you become convinced
of that, you may find what is 'yourself'. Go on observing. Work begins
from the moment one realizes that one is not. When it enters into every-
thing, when it becomes a realization, then it is productive work. But when one thinks of oneself as 'I' (the whole), then it is not productive work.
You must understand that false personality is a very elusive thing. It is one, it does not consist of different personalities; but at the same time it contains contradictory and incompatible features, features that cannot manifest themselves at the same time. So it does not mean that you can see the whole of your false personality at one moment. Sometimes you can see more of it, at other times certain features of it manifest themselves separately. Also it must be remembered that false personality is often rather attractive or amusing, particularly for other people who live in their false personalities. So when you begin to lose your false personality, when you begin to struggle with it, people will not like you. They will tell you that you have become dull.

The first is the result of ordinary nourishment and eliminates itself naturally, and this must be each day, otherwise there follow all sorts of illnesses. (The physician knows this well.) For the same reason that you go to the bathroom for this maintenance, you must go to the bathroom for the second excrement which is rejected from you by the sexual function. It is necessary for health and the equilibrium of the body; and certainly it is necessary in some to do it each day, in others each week, in others again every month or every six months. It is subjective. For this you must choose a proper bathroom. One that is good for you. A third excrement is formed in the head; it is rubbish of the food impressions, and the wastes accumulate in the brain. (The physician ignores it, just as he ignores the important role of the appendix in digestion, and rejects it as wastes.)

Love of consciousness evokes the same in response. Love of feeling evokes the opposite.‍ Love of body depends only on type and polarity. And there is also this about hope: Hope of consciousness is strength. Hope of feeling is slavery. Hope of the body is disease. And about faith: Faith of consciousness is freedom. Faith of feeling is weakness. Faith of the body is stupidity.