Beelzebub
” ‘…for a long time now none of the ordinary men-beings here has ever had any sensation of the sacred being-impulse of genuine Love. And without this “taste” they cannot have the faintest idea of that sacred being-impulse, the most beatific in the presence of every three-centered being of the Universe… —Beelzebub’s Tales to His Grandson, Chapter 26, The Terror of the Situation
C.S. Nott
Chief Feature in each one of us is a key to our actions and manifestations…and is found in the emotional part of essence… It arises from one or more of the seven deadly sins, but chiefly from self-love and vanity. —Journey Through This World: The Second Journal of a Pupil, C.S. Nott, Talks Continued
Gurdjieff
(W)e have many…enemies, but the chief, and most active, are vanity and self-love. One teaching even calls them representatives and messengers of the devil himself.
These representatives of the devil stand unceasingly at the threshold which separates us from the outside…
For a man who wishes to…liberate himself…
Personally I would advise you to try freeing yourselves…without unnecessary theorizing, by simple…active reasoning, with yourselves…
Take, for instance, self-love, which occupies almost half of our time and our life. If someone, or something, has wounded our self-love from outside, then not only at that moment, but for a long time afterwards, its momentum closes all the doors, and therefore shuts out life.
When I am connected with outside, I live. If I live only inside myself, it is not life; but everybody lives thus…
(N)ow I sit here… M. is here and also K. M. called me a fool—I am offended. I consider, I am hurt and shall not calm down and come to myself for a long time.
Why should I be offended? Such things do not hurt me, so I don’t take offense—not because I have no self-love; maybe I have more self-love than anyone here. Maybe it is this very self-love that does not let me be offended.
I think, I reason in a way exactly the reverse of the usual way. He called me a fool. Must he necessarily be wise? He himself may be a fool or a lunatic. One cannot demand wisdom from a child. I cannot expect wisdom from him. His reasoning was foolish. Either someone has said something to him about me, or he has formed his own foolish opinion that I am a fool—so much the worse for him. I know that I am not a fool, so it does not offend me. If a fool has called me a fool, I am not affected inside.
But if in a given instance I was a fool, and am called a fool, I am not hurt, because my task is not to be a fool; I assume this to be everyone’s aim. So he reminds me, helps me to realize that I am a fool and acted foolishly. I shall think about it, and perhaps not act foolishly next time.
So, in either case I am not hurt.
K. gave me a scornful look. It does not offend me. On the contrary, I feel sorry for him because…a dirty look must have a reason behind it. Can he have such a reason?…
Possibly someone had told him something that made him form a bad opinion of me. I am sorry for him, because he is so much a slave that he looks at me through other people’s eyes. This proves that he is not. He is a slave, and so he cannot hurt me.
I say all this as an example of reasoning.
Actually, the secret and the cause of all such things lies in the fact that we do not possess ourselves, nor do we possess genuine self-love. Self-love is a great thing. If we consider self-love, as we generally understand it, as reprehensible, then it follows that true self-love—which, unfortunately we do not possess—is desirable and necessary.
Self-love is a sign of a high opinion of oneself. If a man has this self-love it proves what he is.
As we have said earlier, self-love is a representative of the devil; it is our chief enemy, the main brake to our aspirations and our achievements. Self-love is the principal weapon of the representative of hell.
But self-love is an attribute of the soul. By self-love one can discern the spirit. Self-love indicates and proves that a given man is a particle of heaven. Self-love is I — I is God. Therefore it is desirable to have self-love.
Self-love is hell, and self-love is heaven. These two, bearing the same name, are outwardly alike, but totally different and opposite to one another in essence. But if we look superficially, we can go on looking throughout our whole life without ever distinguishing the one from the other.
There exists a saying: “He who has self-love is halfway to freedom.” Yet, among those sitting here, everyone is full to overflowing with self-love. And in spite of the fact that we are full to the brim with self-love, we have not yet attained one tiny bit of freedom. Our aim must be to have self-love. If we have self-love, by this very fact we shall become free of many enemies in us. We can even become free of these principal ones—Mr. Self-Love and Mrs. Vanity.
How to distinguish between one kind of self-love and another? We have said that on the surface it is very difficult. This is so even when we look at others; when we look at ourselves it is still more difficult.
Thank God we, who are sitting here, are safe from confusing the one with the other. We are lucky! Genuine self-love is totally absent, so there is nothing to confuse.
In the beginning of the lecture I used the words “active reasoning.”
Active reasoning is learned by practice; it should be practiced long, and in many varied ways. —Views From the Real World —Prieuré, February 13, 1923, Liberation leads to liberation…