A Seeker

Hermes Trismegistus, St. Augustine, G.I. Gurdjieff

As above, so below.
- Hermes Trismegistus

People travel to wonder at the heights of mountains, at the huge waves of the sea, at the long courses of rivers, at the vast compass of the ocean, at the circular motion of the stars, and they pass by themselves without wondering.
- Saint Augustine

In studying the world and its laws a man studies himself, and in studying himself he studies the world.
- G.I. Gurdjieff

Photo Source: Dreaming www.cocodrillo.devianart.com

Another View on Sight from Gurdjieff

This is a different aspect of vision than was discussed in Appelbaum's The Stop. It explains why we so often get discouraged and give up on our efforts towards an aim. It comes from Mr. Gurdjieff:

"Bear in mind that your sight has the property of presenting distant objects as though they were near. Beguiled by the nearness of the aim toward which you strive, blinded by its beauty and ignorant of the measure of your own strength, you will not notice the obstacles on the way; you will not see the numerous ditches across the path.... It is very easy to stumble and fall if your eyes are not concentrated on the step you are taking."

Gurdjieff - Comments on our culture

Today I came across something in Gurdjieff's All and Everything, Beelzebub's Tales to His Grandson that I think is such a perfect description of our present celebrity and talk radio culture that I wanted to share it:

"Here it does no harm to notice that owing to the existing abnormal conditions of ordinary existence there among your favorites, the three-brained beings of that strange planet Earth, especially during recent centuries, only those beings who manifest themselves, not as the majority of them do, but somehow or other, more absurdly, become noticed and consequently honored by the rest; and the more absurd their manifestations and the more stupid, mean, and insolent the 'tricks' they play, the more noticed and famous they become, and the greater is the number of the beings on the given continent and even on other continents who know them personally or at least by name.

"On the other hand, no honest being who does not manifest himself absurdly will ever become famous among other beings or even be simply noticed, however good-natured and sensible he may be in himself."

"The forms of thought and feeling may be called postures of thought and feeling. Every man has a definite number of intellectual and emotional postures, just as he has a definite number of moving postures; and his moving, intellectual and emotional postures are all interconnected. Thus, a man can never get away from his own repertory of intellectual and emotional postures unless his moving postures are changed." Gurdjieff, Views from the Real World, p156

"Your nervous and restless movements make everyone know, consciously or unconsciouly, that you have no authority and are a booby." Gurdjieff, Views from the Real World p90

"The only real satisfaction in life is to work not from compulsion but consciously; that is what distinguishes man from a Karabakh ass."

Gurdjieff, Meetings with Remarkable Men, p107

"The power of changing oneself lies not in the mind, but in the body and the feelings. Unfortunately, however, our body and our feelings are so constituted that they don't care a jot about anything so long as they are happy. They live for the moment and their memory is short. The mind alone lives for tomorrow. Each has its own merits. The merit of the mind is that it looks ahead. But it is only the other two that can 'do.'" Gurdjieff, View from the Real World, p222

"Do not be overcurious nor waste time on things that attract your attention but are not worth it." Gurdjieff, Views from the Real World p59

Gurdjieff-"The results of work are in proportion to the consciousness of the work." In Search of the Miraculous p49

"A man cannot awaken by himself." Gurdjieff, In Search of the Miraculous p143

"How would you separate your own from what is not your own?" Gurdjieff, In Search of the Miraculous, p248

"A man may be a man while working with machines. There is another kind of mechanization which is much more dangerous: being a machine oneself." Gurdjieff, In Search of the Miraculous p.18

For a thorough exploration of the challenge of our technological age see William Patrick Patterson's Spiritual Survival in a Radically Changing World-Time.

"I am my burden - that is what I am meant to carry." The Notes of Jane Heap p12, a student of Gurdjieff
For a review of The Notes of Jane Heap see   The Gurdjieff Journal

"Knowledge begins with the teaching of the cosmoses." Gurdjieff, In Search of the Miraculous p 205