The Reality of Being
…Seeing is the most important thing— the act of seeing… – 96. Seeing is an act
Views From the Real World
Our mind has no critical faculty in itself, no consciousness, nothing. And all the other centers are the same…
In the majority of cases each center lives its own life. It believes everything it hears, without criticism, and records everything as it has heard it… – New York, February 24, 1924 – Man is subject to many influences
Memory, attention, observation is nothing more than observation of one center by another, or one center listening to another. – Prieuré, January 30, 1923 – Energy—sleep
Objectively you cannot see yourselves for a single minute, because it is a different function, the function of the master… – New York, March 13, 1924
The Reality of Being
In order for me to receive and transmit energy of a higher level, there must be an inner organism, like another body living its own life, in which each element works toward maintaining the whole…
…(W)hat is most important for me is to see… whatever the fact— ambition, jealousy, refusal— the act of seeing it reveals an enormous power… (T)there is understanding not only of the fact, but of the action that seeing produces— the change in my consciousness. The very act of seeing brings this change…– 127. I see reality
Gurdjieff’s Emissary In New York: Talks and Lectures with A.R. Orage 1924-1931
Man may be seen in terms of (a) triangle, each center being a side. But no one side or combination of sides can see and comprehend the entire figure. For this, it is necessary that a fourth center existing outside of the triangle act. This center is the “I.” -January 1925
The fourth center is the Master Center. Without some development of this beyond what we already know, nothing in the way of real development can be attained… Exercises in self-observation are food for the fourth center. Be aware of yourself in as many different ways as possible at the same time, at all times. Be especially aware during times of emotional and intellectual activity, always observing the physical changes. – 5 January
“I”… (is o)nly a possibility at present, inside us, and not an external thing…”I” can observe the body and all its actions. The body can see the external world, while “I” cannot. Only through the body can “I” see the external world. The reports it sees of external world depends on character of body… (It m)ay see it distorted. “I” observes the reactions of the external world on the body to which it is attached.
Self-consciousness is the ability of “I” to be aware of what is happening in the body. It is the state of “I” when aware of this body… in contact with world…
“I” grows as any germ does — it must receive appropriate food.
…The food of “I” does not come from our external world. It comes from impressions taken of the organism… Thus develops consciousness, individuality, and will…
…”I” grows by observing the organism in contact with the world. You will know as much of reality as you know of yourself. It is the effect of the world on the thing you know, by self-observation, non-identification, and experiment. We learn of others through observation of their behavior. By the same method you will, and must, learn to know your own existence and character. Take yourself as a stranger and be introduced…
Only conscious impressions are deposited in “I.” At present the master of the organism is in the external world…Body must become the slave of “I” and not of the world. – Lecture 9
“The cosmic man… differs from the world man in that he has developed his three higher centers… (E)very man has three higher centers — higher instinctive, higher emotional and higher intellectual… Also there is food for the growth of the higher centers available, but it is rarely or never absorbed.” – Tuesday, 1 January 1924
(These s)econd three centers (are) only filled by man’s conscious effort. It is only possible to develop these higher centers by a special method… This effort to develop the “I” by formulation, self-observation, and non-identification leads to the awakening of these three higher centers. These three centers become the emotional, intellectual and instinctive centers of the “I.” … – January 1925
The Reality of Being
To live a more objective life would require an objective thought, a look from Above that is free, that can see…
…My thought has the power to be free. But for this… It must cut the threads that bind it to the world of images, of forms. It must free itself from the constant attraction of the feeling. It must feel its power to resist this attraction, to see it while gradually rising above it. In this movement, the thought becomes active…
…So my struggle is… to let go of the illusion of my ordinary “I.” …Then I may understand that it is in my essence that I rejoin the one who sees.– 136. A look from Above