Return to Now, Henriette Lannes
Further Exchanges with a young group
Question: I no longer see a way forward, a direction.
Mme Lannes: Mr. Gurdjieff said that the most difficult thing is to know what one wants. I only begin really to work when I know what I want. It would seem that at the moment you are looking for a new crutch, or an exercise that would provide some support. No, the only thing I need is to be sustained by the wish for deeper self-knowledge.
Attention, Wish, Will, Free Will A Talk by Mr. de Hartmann,
From the Diary Notes of Thomas C. Daly
In June, 1954, the de Hartmanns made a special visit to their newly constituted Toronto Group, to give a clear direction to our Work.
…During the first hour, … Madame de Hartmann questioned each and all of us together, especially deeply: “Why are you here?—What is your aim?—And what do you wish?”
Typical answers: “To be free from ups and downs” … “To get rid of negative emotions” … “To become something real” …
To each answer she countered with: “Yes, but why? Why do you want that?—One can want all such things just to be approved of by others, just to get on better in life—but why do you want that?”
In Search of the Miraculous
Chapter 6
…”Freedom, liberation, this must be the aim of man. To become free, to be liberated from slavery: this is what a man ought to strive for when he becomes even a little conscious of his position. There is nothing else for him, and nothing else is possible so long as he remains a slave both inwardly and outwardly. But he cannot cease to be a slave outwardly while he remains a slave inwardly. Therefore in order to become free, man must gain inner freedom.
“The first reason for man’s inner slavery is his ignorance, and above all, his ignorance of himself. Without self-knowledge, without understanding the working and functions of his machine, man cannot be free, he cannot govern himself and he will always remain a slave, and the plaything of the forces acting upon him.
“This is why in all ancient teachings the first demand at the beginning of the way to liberation was: ‘Know thyself.’
Views From The Real World
New York, December 9, 1930
Answer: There is no attention in people. You must aim to acquire this. Self-observation is only possible after acquiring attention. Start on small things.
Try to accomplish very small things first. If at first you aim at big things you will never be anything. And your manifestations will act like cacophonous melodies and cause people to hate you.
Take a small thing which you now are not able to do, and make this your aim, your God. Let nothing interfere. Only aim at this. Then, if you succeed in doing this, I will be able to give you a greater task. Now you have an appetite to do things too big for you. This is an abnormal appetite. You can never do these things, and this appetite keeps you from doing the small things you might do. Destroy this appetite, forget big things. Make the breaking of a small habit your aim.
The Reality of Being
50. Why together?
The basis of this Work …lies, above all, in opening to another order in oneself and in others. Life is relation and working together, cooperation, seeing things together, feeling together, living together. This relation requires the same intensity at the same level and at the same time, or it is not “together.”
Each of us is alone and in our self must be alone—alone in front of our understanding, in front of the call of the divine and the fact of our human person. I become linked with others when I begin to recognize my original nature and see that we all have the same difficulty realizing it with the whole of ourselves. This brings a special energy, which allows the action of a finer, more subtle nature. The energy has the power to call and to irresistibly attract. This represents the true help that we can bring to each other. It is the only help, the only true relation. Every other relation disappoints. But this relation has to be accepted and maintained. It requires sincerity and rigor at every moment. Everyone is dependent on one another, responsible for one another. What one brings of his work the others receive as help, and what another brings of his inertia or opposition pulls in another direction. I may understand the effort less than others, and some may be groping more than others, but it does not matter. The common direction in which we go is recognized.
A Record of Meetings with Ouspensky
Miss M: It seems that when one is doing things like washing-up, dusting, lighting fires or even walking, which are purely automatic, one should find opportunities for observation. I find, however, that I tend to day-dream even more than usual. Could you give us some advice as to how to do this kind of work for self-observation?
Mr. O: Effort is necessary, doing things in an inconvenient way—that will remind you.