G.I. Gurdjieff:
(Buffers) are created…by man himself, although involuntarily. The cause of their appearance is the existence in man of many contradictions… of opinions, feelings, sympathies, words, and actions. If a man…were to feel all the contradictions that are within him he could not live and act as calmly as he lives and acts now… (H)e would feel what he really is. He would feel that he is mad… (T)his deprives a man of self-confidence, weakens his energy, deprives him of ‘self-respect.’… A man cannot destroy contradictions. But if ‘buffers’ are created in him he can cease to feel them…
“ ‘Buffers’ make a man’s life more easy… But they keep man from the possibility of inner development because ‘buffers’ are made to lessen shocks, and it is only shocks that can lead a man out of the state in which he lives, that is, waken him. ‘Buffers’…give him the agreeable and peaceful sensation that all will be well, that no contradictions exist, and that he can sleep in peace. ‘Buffers’ are appliances by means of which a man can always be in the right. ‘Buffers’ help a man not to feel his conscience.
“Conscience is a state in which a man feels all at once everything that he in general feels, or can feel. And as everyone has within him thousands of contradictory feelings…to feel all this together would not only be painful, but literally unbearable…
“But fortunately for…his peace and for his sleep, this state of conscience is very rare. From early childhood ‘buffers’ begin to grow and strengthen in him, taking from him the possibility of seeing his inner contradictions and therefore, for him, there is no danger whatever of a sudden awakening. —In Search of the Miraculous – Chapter 8
Jean Vaysse:
To observe himself…would make (man) see that something is false in his way of life, and that his values are upside down. But a whole system of…excuses and buffers…prevent him from seeing this. (E)xcuses are different from buffers in the sense that they are…always changing…depending on what is expedient at the moment. They may serve to express buffers, but they have no deep roots themselves, other than the urgent need…always to be right… Buffers, on the contrary, are always deeply imbedded inner devices…that…damp down…camouflage or avoid the contradictions…between his different personages…and essence… Buffers are permanent…within the…personality… They have made its development possible, and thus it is they who maintain its predominance. —Toward Awakening – Essence and Personality
P.D. Ouspensky:
‘Buffers’, concluded Ouspensky, ‘are appliances by means of which we can always be right.’
‘Are they justifications?’ someone asked him.
‘They may be, but a man with really strong buffers does not see any need to justify himself, for he is quite unaware of any inconsistencies within him, and accepts himself as entirely satisfactory as he is. Such a man has complete confidence in himself and all that he stands for.
‘What is the best way of seeing buffers?’ another person asked.
‘The time always comes,’ replied Ouspensky, ‘when our work on ourselves begins to reveal some of our inconsistencies. We know that a buffer is placed between these, and with practice in self-observation we slowly become aware of what lies on both sides of the buffer. So be on the look-out for inner contradictions, and these will lead you to the discovery of buffers. Pay particular attention to any subject on which you are touchy. You have perhaps attributed to yourself some good quality, and that is an idea which lies on one side of the buffer, but you have not as yet seen clearly the contradiction which lies on the other side of it. Nevertheless you are a little bit uncomfortable about this good quality, and that may mean that you are in the neighborhood of a buffer… —A Study of Gurdjieff’s Teaching, by Kenneth Walker, Chapter 6, Essence and Personality
Maurice Nicoll:
(O)ne is always touchy about something that is not real in oneself—some pretence—that is, some picture. A picture is a form of imagination… that does not correspond with the reality of oneself… (Ouspensky) said…Gurdjieff taught that as long as we live by means of buffers that prevent us from seeing contradictions, Real Conscience can never open to us.
…(V)ery disturbing it is, to be touched by Real Conscience. It is…merciful that we have plenty of buffers and pictures to stifle it—especially as it has little or nothing to do with our ideas of what it is to be good, kind, patient, right, calm, tolerant, and all the rest of the things that the False Personality prides itself on possessing… —Psychological Commentaries, Vol.3 – Great Amwell House, August 7, 1948 – Buffers, Pictures And Work-Shock
Jerry Brewster:
Buffers are difficult because they’re so innocuous… (B)uffers could be in any center. And they can continue to grow. To effectively eliminate buffers, you need the arising of conscience…but what stops it from arising are…subtle little things called buffers. (S)eeing them may first start as a suspicion, so I need to stay present longer, the contradictions don’t appear right away. The manifestation of a buffer could be…very innocent…but it’s personality’s way…to prevent me from feeling the arising of conscience, which it’s afraid of. —Spiritual Physics – September 3, 2006 – Breakfast
Buffers…justify my behavior and the behavior of others.
All centers have buffers and they are very simple; a buffer could manifest as the raising of an eyebrow; it could be the phrase, “so that’s life;” it could be a shrug of the shoulders or a mental phrase. If you can take in an impression of this repetitive phrase, or your face as you raise the eyebrow, as the buffer comes in and connects itself to something lower, let’s say self-pity, you can feel the contradictions. In feeling the contradictions, Gurdjieff says, “It will cause in you the rising of conscience.” —Spiritual Chemistry – Work Ideas – What are buffers?