The Work in Life
Maurice Desselle and Henri Tracol, June 6, 1964 in Paris at a weekly meeting
Maurice Desselle: …although it may seem paradoxical… I know very well that my work is one thing and my life another…
My work can appear to me as a sort of refuge, as certain privileged moments when I have an undeniable contact with something higher in myself, but having no action, no resonance upon my life. Or again, I might try to change my life, to make it conform more to a work, whose aim I am not sure I understand…
Little by little I realize that I am the link; that the apparent contradiction isn’t between my life and what I call my work. It is in myself. At certain moments… I begin to understand… how… I, myself, could perhaps reconcile it… It is only in life, without changing it at all, accepting it as it is, and myself as I am, that I will find the ground that is indispensable for the understanding to which I aspire…
My work will not be in my life except at the moment or moments when I try to understand that I belong to two masters between whom I am never able to choose…
Henri Tracol: …in the Study House (at the Institute), Mr. Gurdjieff had written this aphorism, among others: “Always remember that here the work is a means, and not an end.” To encourage a false mystique of the work in myself and in others does injury to the very essence of our search… I think it’s a danger that lies in wait for us all. One of its chief characteristics is to turn us away from life, to invite us to treat life with contempt, to consider it the beast we must vanquish or the enemy we must overcome. As if the work could be in any way against life!…
…For it is by knowing it better, always from more angles and aspects, by understanding the forces that animate us, that the transformation of being to which we aspire will begin to take place…
Transcripts of Gurdjieff’s Meetings 1941-1946
Mme D: I do not understand how it is possible to remember oneself in life. Already… under the best conditions… I can say I never remember myself in life…
Gurdjieff: The worse the conditions the better the result… Do not consider the conditions; consider the moment of decision. …you absolutely must remember yourself. You enter into yourself; you feel that you exist with all your presence, and this—this is your task. Afterwards you break it all. One cannot always self-remember. What counts is to do it consciously…
Mme D: I do not understand, Monsieur, how you wish me to understand the word “consciously,” since never…
Mme de Salzmann: Because you have decided intentionally in advance—you feel that it is conscious…
Mme D: The sensation is not strong. I have done it like that.
Gurdjieff: Your decision is not strong… You must put yourself in a quiet state—relaxed—and in this state settle your task. You try it. Ten times, a hundred times, you fail. You continue… Little by little you train yourself and you achieve it. But not in one effort. This is a very little thing; and it is the most important. Remember yourself consciously. Consciously. That is to say, by your own decision. To remember oneself and at the same time, collect oneself together… these then are the conditions. If you cannot continue for a long time, try it for a short time…
Mme de Salzmann: …you must do it by your own decision, not by chance, not because it happened to come to your mind. But you have taken the decision to do it at a certain moment, and you do it… —Meeting 28
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Gurdjieff: …You must set aside a special time each day for the work… You cannot work interior all day. You must make a special time and increase it little by little…
…Don’t mix this work with ordinary work… And if you can’t do a half hour, even ten minutes is rich for him who can work ten minutes. You must give and sacrifice to this work a special time… You should, even before beginning, relax yourself, prepare yourself, collect yourself. Afterward, with all your being, you accomplish your task… Only this system will always give you a good beginning to prepare you for acquiring the state that is becoming to a real man. And if you work a long time, that proves that you do not work with all your being, you are working only with your mind… it is worth nothing. Work a short time, but work well… —Meeting Fifteen
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Gurdjieff: …You have already been here a long time you are bound to understand what is effort. Self-effort… a preparation is necessary. Struggle is necessary… and now, if you do not do it, it is because you do not have an aim…
…You are accustomed to performing as before in life… The effort must strain all your muscles, all your nerves, all your brain even… You should have been doing it for a long time. In the beginning, for a new person it is pardonable. For you, you have the taste for real work. You must realize it in your ordinary life. I am. Always: I am. Never forget. Little by little your “I” shall make a contact with your essence. It is necessary to repeat it many times. —Meeting Eight
Views from the Real World
Essence and Personality
…Sitting in your room you will not see anything: you should observe in life. In your room you cannot develop the master. A man may be strong in a monastery, but weak in life, and we want strength for life. …