In Search of the Miraculous
“…A man’s real I, his individuality, can grow only from his essence. It can be said that a man’s individuality is his essence, grown up, mature… —Chapter 8
Toward Awakening, Jean Vaysse
Essence and personality have as their support a third constituent of man: his organic body. This is the instrument through which all the exchanges which make life possible take place. These are the three basic elements given to man. Each of them has its center of gravity in one of the principal centers of man. The center of gravity of the body is the moving center; the center of gravity of essence is the emotional center; and the center of gravity of the personality is the intellectual center.
In the natural order of man’s life, these three parts… are only occasionally connected together… The establishment of real connections can only come as the result of a specially directed work of man on himself, and carrying out such work is the first step toward achieving unity and individuality
His threefold constitution makes this individuality possible for man, with the quality of presence that goes with it… but since his three parts are independent of each other by nature, individuality is not given to man at birth. It can only be attained as a result of a long work on himself…
The development of individuality and the appearance of a permanent “I,” which is the first stage of the normal development of man, results in the growth of essence and the harmonious development of being and personality… —Essence and Personality
Teachings of Gurdjieff: A Pupils Journal, C.S. Nott
‘Will, consciousness, and individuality: We must not flatter ourselves that we have the slightest idea what these mean. The nearest analogy for us at present is wish (or want or desire), thought, and personality… The difference between an ordinary wish (or desire) and will is the difference between a passive state in which an active force operates, and an active state in which oneself operates.
‘I myself do not originate the wish—it happens to me. Will is self-initiated…
Individuality is the ability to act— not react; it is presumed that there is a being who is capable of using the body…
‘Beings,’ said Orage, ‘only become individuals… indivisible, three in one and one in three—three centres having been developed—when active, passive and neutralizing are in their normal order: a repetition of the original state of creation. Every wish of which we are conscious derives from one of our three centres, and for the other two centres it is an… interruption. When all three centres have the same wish, this is what we call Will. Then a man can say “I wish” with his whole being. It is “I am-ness”. —Orage’s Commentaries on Beelzebub
Life Is Real Only Then When I Am, G.I Gurdjieff
“Such is the ordinary average man—an unconscious slave of the whole service to all-universal purposes, which are alien to his own personal individuality…
“And although this is the lot of every life, yet at the same time Great Nature gave… to man corresponding possibilities to be not merely a blind tool of… the all-universal aim, but at the same time serving Nature and actualizing consciously what is predetermined for him, to produce what is required in excess, and to utilize this excess for his ‘egoism,’ that is to say, for the definition and manifestation of his own individuality.
“This possibility is given also for serving the common aim, as for the equilibrium of these objective laws such relatively liberated, self-constructed, independent lives, and in particular of human origin, are also necessary. —Third Talk – delivered by me to a pretty rarefied assemblage
Psychological Commentaries on the Teaching of Gurdjieff and Ouspensky, Vol. 1, Maurice Nicoll
If man were a unity instead of being a multiplicity, he would have true individuality. He would be one, and so would have one will. The illusion, therefore, that a man has about himself that he is one refers to a possibility. Man can attain unity of being. He can reach his true individuality. —Commentary II, Birdlip, June 6, 1941, On Additional Means of Self-Observation
In a fully-developed man—that is, a man possessing individuality, consciousness and will—it is not life and changing outer circumstances that mechanically drive him. Such a man has something organized in him which can resist life, something from which he can act. Such a man in short, can do. And this is because he possesses more bodies than the one he received at birth. —Commentary II, Birdlip, January 2, 1943 – The Four Bodies of Man – Paper I
Heart Without Measure: Gurdjieff Work with Madame de Salzman, Ravi Ravindra
…Madame de Salzmann… said, “When real individuality is there, the ego finds its proper place. For some people, Mr. Gurdjieff used to advise them to develop their ego because they were too weak. Then later, when it is not needed to be the master, he would ask them to soak it in cold water.” —Heart Without Measure
…It cannot be said that Jesus Christ was ruled by his ego, but even he needed to become embodied in order to undertake his Father’s work. Freedom from the ego is not loss of individuality…
One needs to be really clear about the difference between the personal and the individual… Neither the big Self (the real I) alone nor the little self (the ego) alone will do… The need is neither for the one nor for the other, but for a right relationship between the two. This is true for all levels. As Madame de Salzmann said, “Even angels have egos, of finer substance. And they have the same difficulty in keeping the ego in check as human beings do.” —Even Angels Have Egos – Paris, April-May 1952.
Gurdjieff’s Emissary in New York: Talks and Lectures with A.R. Orage 1924-1931
Individuality is the consciousness of will. Personality is the awareness of a wish. To be conscious of will is to have individuality; to be aware of wish is to have personality. —Tuesday, 10 September 1929
The attainment of individuality, consciousness and will are the essential aims of man…
What is true of the megalocosmos is true of every particle. Every being must of necessity have a particle of God’s purpose — consciousness — individuality — will. The scale of having it depends on the scale of ‘being.’ —Consciousness, Individuality and Will – (notes Annette Herter)