Like the movement of a pendulum...

Mr. Gurdjieff said that there are many

momentums insides us that are working

all the time. Our energies constantly go

positive then negative.

Like the movement of a pendulum...

Dirty dogs...

Sometimes, one can be quite

down about oneself.

Mr. Gurdjieff said that 

"There are many dirty dogs inside us,

that wish to destroy us".

The way you escape...

The way you escape...is through this life.

There comes a time....

There comes a time...

To put your books aside....

And start to "do"...

A masterpiece...

Mastery, comes from balance,

lightness, insight.

Compassion, objectivity.

Love

Practice, struggle, overcoming

inertia, working with one's energy.

Putting the world aside to "play".

Acceptance and knowing the

"rules of the game"....

The discipline of a teacher...

Mr. Gurdjieff trained himself to be

ruthless and objective towards the 

weaknesses of his students.

The trouble is, you can support,

or "rub" or "press" someone's weakness.

We tend towards comfort, and 

become angry when our weaknesses

are evoked.

One has to go beyond this, 

beyond being merely "liked".

It takes courage to confront mechanicality.

The discipline required of a teacher...

Cutting down Mr. Gurdjieff's tree...

We heard.....

That Mr.Gurdjieff did visit London

in the earlier part of the last century.

He planted a tree at a house in Hampstead

where a group he founded resided.

Many years later, a young member of the

group cut the tree down, perhaps

for no real reason. 

This upset the group, it was possibly 

a last physical tie to the great teacher.

Perhaps in some way, he had caused

this to occur. He trained himself to be

ruthless and objective towards the 

weaknesses of his students.

Insane asylum...

Mr. Gurdjieff said that he spent

four years in the largest insane

asylum in the east.

This could be a "tall story",

this could be "real".

Certainly he had to be exposed

to powerful and demanding 

circumstances, to become

powerful and demanding.

Cafe society...

Mr. Gurdjieff learned how to 

live in a city.

He met his pupils in busy café's in 

Moscow, Paris, New York.

It seems he went out of his way

to "live in" the world, deal with

material things, rather than avoid 

this part of life.

Misery and Grief...

Mr. Gurdjieff had a saying.

"Happy is he who has a soul.

and happy is he who has none.

But to he who has a soul 

in gestation, misery and grief".

Stage two...

Meher Baba said that there are 

three stages in the journey of evolution.

The first stage...

The joy of finding one's teacher.

Beginning of work...

The third stage....

Being awake...

The hard part, is the second stage...

Evolution.

He said: This is the most difficult part

He said, "Do not desert me during the second stage".

The esoteric economy...

The esoteric economy.

The teacher puts his energy 

out there.

The student's job is to stay 

in that energy...

...no matter what.

Possible to work...

Mr. Ouspensky said to Mr. Gurdjieff

that he felt that one could not work well

during the upheaval they were experiencing

during the Russian Revolution.

Mr. Gurdjieff advised him, that not only was

that wrong, but that it was especially possible

to work during times like this.

When the attention of humanity was focused

and distracted in other directions.

A bit of a riddle...

Being is for you,

it is not possible to,

and cannot 

be given to others.

You earned it yourself.

But you can give energy

and allow others sometimes

to step into that space with you,

...if you wish.

They cannot stay in that space

until they have earned their place.

This tweet, is a bit of a riddle, 

this is difficult for us to explain.

Something experienced.

The occupation of Paris...

As the Germans invaded France

and  approached Paris,

one writer said that Mr.Gurdjieff's pupils

persuaded him to leave the city in the 

opposite direction.

Within 24 hours, he realized perhaps that

he was leaving an enormous opportunity 

to grow, he turned around and returned to 

live out the war-time occupation in his

apartment. 

Trading with the German soldiers

for food and supplies, holding meetings,

and connecting with his French pupils in a way

that had perhaps been overshadowed for most

of the preiod he had been teaching, by his

Russian, American and English students.

Difficult times...

Difficult times bring a great possibility of real growth.

You can be now...

You can be now...

There is no strain in masterpieces...

Someone knowledgeable once 

pointed out, that:

"Everything great, is done lightly".

There is no strain in masterpieces.

Strain only looks good in movies.

Or, it is to be noted, that sometimes

a great work, is the result of 

transforming suffering.

It is the intelligence behind

the brush or the pen that truly

creates.

Theory of Eternal life...

When Mr. Ouspensky, perhaps

Mr. Gurdjieff's chief pupil died,
Rodney Collin his chauffeur and
follower, went into the bedroom
where Mr. Ouspensky had completed
his journey, and locked the door.

He stayed in there for a number of days
without food or water.
The other followers of Mr. Ouspensky
were furious that he did this, and banged
on the door, to get him to unlock it so that
they could also experience the energy
in the room, but Rodney Collin would
not come out or respond.

Finally after several days, they put a
ladder up to the window,  and found
Rodney Collin sitting on Mr. Ouspensky's
bed in only his underpants, in a child-like state.

There had been a communion between
his great teacher who had just passed to
another level, and the student who was
his closest and most devoted follower.

Out of that came this book:

Theory of Eternal Life

It was apparently written over three days,
and Rodney Collin always stated that he
did not write it, but indicated that he was
merely the channel through which this
great knowledge was transmitted.

He gives a clue in the book when he offers
some thoughts about the final months
of Mr. Ouspensky.

The absurd behaviour of grown up people...

C.S. Nott wrote two excellent

books on his experiences as a
pupil of Mr. Gurdieff and the
Fourth Way.

"Teachings of Gurdjieff: a pupil's journal...

"Even when quite a young child in the Hertfordshire village
where I was brought up, there often seemed to me to be
something strange and even absurd in the behaviour of
grow-up people; Their attitude to one another in public,
and what they said about each other in private, did
not agree...

To be...

Being is to "be".

In the end...

Eventually one will be given a
"flash", of one's higher self.

Almost like one is setting out on a
thousand mile journey. But,
at the beginning, one is given the
privilege of viewing the
destination for just a few brief moments.

This is so that one can
travel with confidence in one's teacher,
that all the pain and difficulties one
experiences on the journey,
are all worthwhile in the end.

Unconscious acting...

Mr. Gurdjieff taught that we are
all enacting our parts in life
unconsciously. We have learned and
imitated roles, perhaps mostly
to defend our sensitive inner selves
(The part of us that is our essence)
against the shocks and psychological
impacts that life brings us.

In order to die he must first awake...

A man may be born,
but in order to be born he must first die,
and in order to die he must first awake.

George Gurdjieff

Bombshells...

One of the reasons that we need a
group, as advised by Mr. Gurdjieff;
is that a man cannot keep watch on all
parts of himself.

The members of a group build emotional trust
between each other. This takes time.

Then, when the time is right, you start getting
"bombshells", that slowly start to dismantle
the old self, so that a new man can begin
to emerge.

Answering back...

Mr. Gurdjieff said also, that sometimes
one needs to answer someone back in
such a way that he "forgets his grandmother".

One can get caught in "fake humility".
One may likely go through the stage of
being a "stupid saint".

One of the esoteric interpretations...

Jesus said, "Turn the other cheek".

Aramaic Bible in Plain English (©2010)
"But I am saying to you, you shall not rise up
against an evil person, but whoever strikes you
on your right cheek, turn to him also the other."

The evil person, is not necessarily "evil",
but is your old self, the being you have to grow
out of. When a true friend points out the truth
about you and how you behave, your "sleep",
you have a choice.

Rather than responding with "evil" and arguing
back, and pointing out why you are "right",
best to accept with humility, that he may actually
be telling the truth about you, information that you
need to hear if you wish to evolve as a person.

Do not protect yourself...

Why did Mr. Gurdjieff accumulate and attain
the level of being that he did?
Because he suffered more and faster.
He said: "Do not protect yourself".

Rapid change...

He also expressed wonder, that growing up
in what has been described as "near biblical"
circumstances. That in his life there was such
a rapid change, that a young boy could now read
a newspaper, and could be aware almost
immediately of what was happening around the world.

The harder the conditions...

The harder the conditions of life,
the more can be gained for one's work.

During Mr. Gurdjieff's lifetime, world events
included: The Russian revolution, the first
world war, the great depression, prohibition,
the second world war, the Armenian massacre.

The art world experienced post impressionism,
cubism, Dada, surrealism, expressionism.

The Titanic sank, radio came into use,
Henry Ford developed mass production,
television was invented, and the first recorders
became available, which is how, as his pupils
demonstrate to him,  we have recordings of his voice.
(He starts to speak about 44 seconds in)

The Soviet Union launched Sputnik into a low
Earth orbit on 4 October 1957 just eight years
after his life had been completed, twenty years
after his death, man was standing on the moon.

Dissipation...

Mr. Gurdjieff said that his work
would disappear after the
fourth generation.

It feels that he was indicating that
the energy he was infusing into his
students, eventually would dissipate.

This too is a law.

However, there are many "children" of
his work, there is no need to despair.

One has to teach...

It feels that enlightened men
are not so much "in" their bodies,
but more "out" of their bodies, and
just see it as a tool to navigate their
path through the earth and to teach.
It is a law that their understanding
must be passed on.

Mr. Ouspensky stated that it is
a necessary principle that to learn
more, one has to teach.

By what you are not...

It is not how strong you are.
How active you are.
How smart you are.
How beautiful you are.
How wealthy you are.

It is not how you are.

You live sometimes best,
and most deeply and truly,

by what you are not...
trying to falsely be.

But by being what "you" are...

The eternal now...

It is hard to believe that,
in this day and age.

All the noise, all the activity,
movement, digital information.

Quietly, looking at your computer,
glancing out the window, listening
to the sounds around, of your family
and friends, perhaps.

Brings you
closer to yourself.
The eternal now.

How do we define "being"...

How does one define being?

We have all met people who
are "different". People who,
if you are sensitive, or
searching, "draw"
your attention in some way.

They have a quality of presence
without trying to impress,
are quieter, more self contained.

You know they have within
them, some level of truth.

Focus, intelligence, an ability
to view events from a higher
perspective.

You know in your gut instinct,
that this person has integrity,
will keep their word, and
can be trusted.

This possibility to have this
in oneself, comes as a result
of work.