Conversations with Madame Ouspensky, 1939-40
at Lyne, from Notes of Robert S. de Ropp
Only effort in one direction can produce a result, as a plant, by constant pushing, breaks through the hard soil. In this connection there is no sentimentality about work. Those who make efforts grow; those who don’t stay where they are. The System is not easy and not for weaklings. It needs no ordinary effort but super-effort. —Nov. 9, 1940
In Search of the Miraculous
“…a man is much too lazy, he will do a great deal without the proper intensity, or he will do nothing at all while thinking that he is doing something; he will work with intensity on something that does not need intensity and will let those moments pass by when intensity is imperative. Then he spares himself; he is afraid of doing anything unpleasant. He will never attain the necessary intensity by himself. If you have observed yourselves in a proper way you will agree with this. If a man sets himself a task of some sort he very quickly begins to be indulgent with himself. He tries to accomplish his task in the easiest way possible and so on. This is not work. In work only super-efforts are counted, that is, beyond the normal, beyond the necessary; ordinary efforts are not counted… —Chapter 17
1938 Meetings at Gurdjieff’s Apartment
6 rue des Colonels-Renard, Paris
(Gurdjieff:) You imagine, you believe that you shall go directly to Paradise. No, here there must be efforts above the ordinary. For example, for this person [he indicates a newcomer] it is good enough for her, but you, you shall not go far with this. You must begin to make a super effort, and now, if you do not do it, it is because you do not have an aim. How can you stay calm? With the effort you are making today, you will never succeed. A normal person could not be calm. —Meeting Eight
Toward Awakening
Jean Vaysse
Results are possible only with the help of the emotional center… It is through the emotional center that a man can succeed in mobilizing the energy needed for his further evolution and become able to take upon himself the necessary super-efforts, including those which clear the way for the development of the higher parts of his intellectual center, which cannot be done by the intellectual center alone. —Centers and Functions
The Reality of Being
…I must find in myself a wish and a power of attention, a will, that goes beyond my usual capacity. It is a “super-effort,” a conscious effort… The effort is to realize the relation between the functions and the higher parts of the centers, which brings me the first feeling of unity, of being a whole. It requires a voluntary attention… —62. The first feeling of unity
Heart Without Measure
Ravi Ravindra
Almost all effort comes from the ego, and therefore naturally has an element of manipulation, possessiveness and violence inherent in it… In the right order, the higher calls and the lower responds. It is necessary to make efforts, even super-efforts, for as Krishna says, ” Action is better than inaction.” But… (w)hat is important is to let the higher act on oneself. Doing cannot lead to being; action must follow from placing oneself in the right order. —Unless the Body Is Available
In a group meeting, Michel de Salzmann said…
…he…feels that an emphasis on effort, super-effort, and such can be misleading. Sacrifice of one’s ego-self allows an exchange with higher levels. This is the real issue of effort; it… needs to be practiced in response to a conscious demand. —When the I appears
Gurdjieff’s Emissary in New York
Talks and Lectures with A.R. Orage 1924-1931
(The) only effort that counts is that (which is) consciously initiated—by your own volition, willed by yourself, under vow to yourself, (with) no thought of approval or disapproval of others; (a) resolution made for, by, and kept by yourself. —Lecture 28
Orage suggests the importance that everyone in the group considers the making of a vow… It must not be undertaken lightly… For the effects of a vow is a pledge to oneself. It is of no consequence to the rest of the world if it is kept or broken. But to oneself it is of great consequence. For the failure to keep a vow is weakening, affecting seriously one’s own self-confidence. But the making and fulfilling of a vow is enormously strengthening in the growth and development of being. —Monday, 21 December 1925
The Oragean Version
C. Daly King
A vow is a promise to oneself that may not be broken… The beginning of Will is the ability to make gratuitous efforts… which produce no result of any benefit to him who makes them, and which are made solely for the sake…of making them. This is what Gurdjieff refers to, when he says: “Only super-efforts count.”
This means that the first vows must be very simple ones indeed.
Thus so simple a vow as not to wear any gloves tomorrow is a good one to start with. But the subject never does wear any gloves? All the better, for this will render it more unlikely that he will fail…
The matter of vows may be summed up thus. The purpose is to build a foundation for Will. The greatest care must be taken, in undertaking vows, to insure that they are easy enough… They should commence with things so simple that the subject can guarantee his ability to fulfill them; this will establish his familiarity with the feeling of certainty that, when he has made a vow, there can exist no possibility of his failing to fulfill it. They may then be increased in difficulty gradually. The goal of this self-discipline is the attainment of a certain kind of ability; the highest form of that ability is genuine Will. —III. The Boat