"I told them that this was the center of gravity of the whole system and of all work on oneself; that now work on oneself was not only empty words but a real fact full of significance thanks to which psychology becomes an exact and at the same time a practical science…"

"…for a long time I have known that our interior world is the soil in which the seeds of art take root. Without this seed in which the magic part of life is hidden and from which a work of art can be born…there is no Art, there is no Music." (Thomas de Hartmann)

The word sensing is often paired in surprising ways with certain other words in the writings of Gurdjieff. E.g, sensing and perceiving. Each component of these pairs seems to represent one of two specific kinds of interlocked and reciprocally acting processes of experience.

"…the ideas of Mr Gurdjieff, when considered by people who do not actively work on themselves, are like the truth Christ expressed in the words ‘Faith without works is dead.’ I think that the word ‘faith’ here is to be understood as something rational, not as blind acceptance…"

"Now if you can see your life in a new way this is a shock. What is it a shock against? It is a shock against the way that you were taking life before. If you take your life in the same way always you become fixed. To loosen you a shock is necessary..."

"I do not know what you call 'cosmic consciousness,' " said G., "it is a vague and indefinite term; anyone can call anything he likes by it…"

"What I need is the ability to hear what comes to me alongside myself, as it were, rather than what comes to me either from above or below. It is not so much that I need to follow or be obedient or even to be pushed…"

"You are not responsible for your thoughts, unless you think them…"

"All the ideas of the Work can act as shocks. Ideas are very powerful—much more powerful than anything visible and material. Ideas can dominate whole nations. We cannot see an idea but we can feel its effect..."

"…[Gurdjieff] showed us how, as he expressed it, ‘to walk consciously’. He told us that in the mountains on very dark nights we could at any point stumble down a precipice or come upon some other danger..."

"Mr. Gurdjieff told us very seriously that attention is absolutely indispensable for any work we wished to do with him. If we did not understand that, nothing could bring us to the aim for which we came to him…"

In looking at various aspects of what hypnotism may mean, & its significance, in Gurdjieff's thought, as well as in the application of his teaching to practical life. It seems worth always bearing in mind the dual attributes and possibilities of hypnotism & the hypnotic state…

"You are responsible for what you have understood. As soon as you see it you have accepted the responsibility." (Jane Heap - A Monograph, Phene Press, 1987)

The instinctive centre seems to be closely related to, if not the same as, what is pictured as "the wolf" in Gurdjieff's second series - "the whole of the fundamental and reflex functioning of the human organism." We are told that...

"In this Work we have to move consciousness more and more internally." (Maurice Nicoll)

"We take ourselves for granted. We take the fact that we can speak or think or move or see or hear all for granted. We do not realize that we can explain nothing of all this, & that we simply do not know. To become aware of this gives a sense of wonder..." (Maurice Nicoll)

"The next lecture began precisely with the words: 'Know thyself.' " 'These words,' said G., 'which are generally ascribed to Socrates, actually lie at the basis of many systems and schools far more ancient than the Socratic.' "

"It is only through some kind of delight, some feeling of joy or pleasure or some genuine affection or desire, that a person can work and bring about any change of being in himself. Fear, for example, will not act in this way…"

Gurdjieff wrote about cancer as “this terrible human scourge” and later called it “the most terrible contemporary scourge.” Strikingly, he also mentions, almost in passing, in the Prologue of the third series, his interest in “the cure of cancer by the power of suggestion.” ...

“What is required to come to an inner sensation, an inner feeling of reality? We need to know the way, the process, accepting that as we are today we have no means to open to reality amid the activity of life…"

"…it is important that you should define your own aim. The teaching by itself cannot pursue any definite aim. It can only show the best way for men to attain whatever aims they may have…" journalgurdjieffstudies.substack.com/p/fragments-...

Fragments, Chapter 6, pp.99-104 - Reading Club posting 19

ONE of the next lectures began with a question asked by one of those present: What was the aim of his teaching?

journalgurdjieffstudies.substack.com

“[Humanity] still has a conscience. It is possible for us, we are told, to unbury this organ which is in touch with that which is higher…it is possible for me to have this, as it is called, “representative of the Creator” in me. In fact it is already there – waiting… waiting…"

"[Gurdjieff] talked to me of feeling a much higher element in our life through which we can work miracles. He talked to me of love for every living, breathing being; that all are made of the same substance, except in some there is more displacement and disorder than in others."

" You get teachings, traditions, prayers, rites, not at fifth but at twenty-fifth hand, and, of course, almost everything has been distorted beyond recognition and everything essential forgotten long ago." (Gurdjieff in "In Search of the Miraculous" by P.D. Ouspensky, p.96)

“Let us all realize that Understanding, the most powerful force we can create in ourselves, always lies in seeing more and more deeply what we thought we understood.” (Maurice Nicoll - "Commentaries on the Psychological Teachings of Gurdjieff and Ouspensky," Vol.III, p.1216)

"Man requests, and the Universe in all its full and total reality, outer and inner, responds according to the request. …many people are getting responses to requests which they do not understand they are making…"

"Man is, in the full sense of the term, a 'miniature universe'; in him are all the matters of which the universe consists; the same forces, the same laws that govern the life of the universe, operate in him…"

"Everything comes in its own time. All you have to do is practise." (Gurdjieff - Paris Meetings, 1943, Tues Jan 19)

"Now practically the Work is not to get something we have not but to get rid of something we have, so as to make room." (Maurice Nicoll - "Commentaries on the Psychological Teachings of Gurdjieff and Ouspensky," Vol.V, p.1654)

"The 'ray of creation' seems at the first glance to be a very elementary plan of the universe, but actually, as one studies it further, it becomes clear that with the help of this simple plan it is possible…"