Efforts of will build magnetism

Mr. Gurdjieff said that efforts of will build magnetism, the ability to "do".

Being by doing something small.

Sit slightly differently in your chair, say hi to someone at work that you would

normally avoid. Adjust your environment slightly.

Thomas de Hartman said in his wonderful book, that in the early days as they were

escaping the revolution they stayed at a house. Mr. Gurdjieff would have his students

re-arrrange the furniture every few days, so that the house never quite became too

comfortable.

Now

Mr. Gurdjieff said, "One must rid oneself of the disease of tomorrow".

Ever hear yourself whine?

Losers whine.

Actually, let us examine this, when things go wrong, we avoid, we excuse ourselves,

the effort must be made now. The work is about building being in the moment.

There is nowhere else.

Epictetus said: "The present is the only thing of which man can truly be deprived".

An effort of will, is available to you, somehow simply, now.

Friendship

The soul grows through smiles, friendship, presence.

His students said that Mr. Gurdjieff was a great friend.

And never petty.

Soul

It is good to keep a sense of humour about oneself.

It is all too easy to keep on one's "meeting face", and look serious.

Nothing at this level is real. Example; when a father realizes that he missed

something really important, like watching his children growing up, while he works ninety

hours a week. The real stuff should be joyful. Soul food.

Being present, is builiding a soul.

Most important.

The next step after beginning to develop some attention in the body,

is to start becoming aware of the emotional self. Your negative thinking,

imagination, anger, lack of acceptance of others. The newspapers are full of

negative events and energy. It is the level of being of man on this planet.

Mr. Gurdjieff said that "everything happens".

Try to step out through your front door with the left foot instead of the right foot.

Try to hold your coffee with your left hand and not your right.

Try to break a pattern. No one is doing anything, it all happens.

To understand this, is a very big thing indeed.

 

Obama, Cameron, Clinton, Kennedy, Trump, Sugar, Murdoch, Gates, Ballmer, Jobs,

Blatter, Gaddaffi, Hussein, Napoleon, Hitler, Churchill, Picasson, Matisse, Nixon.

 

Think of them trying to make a small change in their day.

They all have had influence over big events, but the small events are the real way out.

 

It is estimated that in total, Mr. Gurdjieff worked with only about one thousand people

during his whole teaching. Yet, it might be argued, he was the most important person

of the last century. Because the most important thing of all, is what is left when your

life is over.

Hugs to our friends in the work.

Small effort

The Fourth Way begins with sensing the body, building awareness of

one's sensory self. Mr. Gurdjieff gave Mr. Ouspensky an exercise to start by

sensing the nose, then the ear, then the foot, then the hand, and so on, rotating

through various parts of the body. Look at the people around you on the bus, or

in traffic. Are any of them doing this?

It is a small but profound effort.

Leverage

When bad things, or unpleasant things happen to you.

Try for a moment, to see them as help.

A struggle, something overcome, is growth.

An unpleasant person endured, builds being.