Inner Octaves, Michel Conge
First of all, the whole universe is a machine. The Creator created a machine. He Himself is Consciousness; He is Being; by definition, HE IS. He has allowed, He has willed that an organization, an organism, be created. Everything, absolutely everything, from that moment on, is a machine…
(M)an is a machine, too. ‘Machine’ means, organization willed by the Creator, fulfilling certain purposes, endowed with a certain potential, capable of certain movements.
Man is a transformer… (J)ust as in physics, a transformer runs with two currents, in two directions, man also inherently has two directions…
The transformer plays its role as part of this larger machine that is the universe. It has its place in relation to the need for transformation of the substances that are required… And this transformer also has two currents, two directions; and many other things can happen beyond this simple role that has been allotted to us on Earth, a role we cannot escape, one we are really obliged to play because that is how we are made.
There is also this other direction… I am an ‘organization’ that enables the transformation of substances, such that the possibility of evolution is built into the machine itself. It is because I am a machine… for transforming substances, that I have this incredible good fortune: I can gradually find and know states of being that are totally different from those I experience today, and I can reach Consciousness, that is, enter into the communion with the Divine that all religions call for and all teachings propose.
If l were not a machine, that is… there would be no hope for me other than to exist on a given level forever…
Try to understand this point: consciousness and mechanicality are found on exactly the same line. They are not conflicting ideas; they go together. Consciousness cannot flourish if there is no organization to enable it to do so. —Talks and Exchanges: Consciousness and Mechanicality
The Reality of Being, Jeanne de Salzmann
…We take consciousness as an object of observation. But we cannot see consciousness. It is consciousness that sees and that knows… There is no observer, there is a knowing…
Consciousness is always consciousness of self. We can call the Self whatever we wish—the seat of consciousness, even God. The point is that it is…the very core of our being, without which there is nothing. —17. The awareness of “being here”
In Search of the Miraculous, P.D. Ouspensky
“…(Y)ou can know consciousness only in yourself… I say you can know, for you can know it only when you have it. And when you have not got it, you can know… not at that very moment, but afterwards… (A)nd you can find or remember the moment when it disappeared and when it reappeared. You can also define the moments when you are nearer to… and further away from consciousness…
“…In reality consciousness is a property which is continually changing. Now it is present, now it is not present. And there are different degrees and different levels of consciousness. Both consciousness and the different degrees of consciousness must be understood in oneself by sensation, by taste. —Chapter 7
Opening: Collected Writings of William Segal 1985-1997
The sole reality is consciousness, and consciousness only…
The paradox of our so-called search is that we are trying to find what is, always was, and always will exist. It is not a question of changing anything—of becoming good, better, or best. It is a question of awakening, of becoming conscious of our consciousness, or conscious of our unconsciousness. Either will do. —Thoughts
The Fourth Way, P.D. Ouspensky
(O.)…Consciousness is a force, and force can only be developed by overcoming obstacles. Two things can be developed in man—consciousness and will. Both are forces. If man overcomes unconsciousness, he will possess consciousness; if he overcomes mechanicalness he will possess will. If he understands the nature of the powers he can attain, it will be clear to him that they cannot be given; these powers must be developed by effort. If we were made more conscious, we would remain conscious machines. Mr. Gurdjieff told me that in some schools they could, by some special methods, make a sheep conscious. But it just remained a conscious sheep. I asked him what they did with it, and he said they ate it. —Chapter 5
For every thought, feeling or action, or for being conscious, we must have corresponding energy…
Consciousness is light; light is the result of a certain energy; if there is no energy there is no light…
…First, we have to stop waste of energy; second, collect it by self-remembering… We cannot begin in any other way. —Chapter 3
Teachings of Gurdjieff, A Pupil’s Journal, C.S. Nott
Self-remembering…is always the result of a conscious effort, very small to begin with, but it increases with doing. A moment of self-remembering is a moment of consciousness, that is, of self-consciousness… a consciousness of the real Self, which is “I,” together with an awareness of the organism—the body, the feelings and thoughts.’ —New York and Fontainebleau 1923-5
Gurdjieff’s Emissary in New York: Talks and Lectures with A.R. Orage 1924-1931
…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. This is the truly self-made individual, not the accidental… Heredity and environment have nothing to do with development of “I”… —Lecture 9
In Search of the Miraculous, P.D. Ouspensky
“…The evolution of man is the evolution of his consciousness. And ‘consciousness’ cannot evolve unconsciously. The evolution of man is the evolution of his will, and ‘will’ cannot evolve involuntarily. The evolution, of man is the evolution of his power of doing, and ‘doing’ cannot be the result of things which ‘happen.’ —Chapter 3