Teachings of Gurdjieff: A Pupil’s Journal, C.S. Nott
Orage’s Commentary on ‘Beelzebub’
”God has a plan. In this plan human beings are involved, and part of the plan consists in giving to the elect the opportunity of working for themselves at the same time as for Him. It is a very high and great plan… Who are the elect? Everyone who is willing to pay the price of conscious labour and voluntary suffering…
Beelzebub’s Tales to His Grandson
Chapter 27
The order of existence created for men by the Very Saintly Ashiata Shiemash
“All the beings of that planet then began to work in order to have in their consciousness this divine function of genuine Conscience, and for this purpose, as everywhere in the Universe, they transubstantiated in themselves what are called the ‘being-obligolnian strivings’… [which include]:
“…the striving, from the beginning of one’s existence, to pay as quickly as possible for one’s arising and individuality, in order afterward to be free to lighten as much as possible the sorrow of our Common Father.
“And… the striving always to assist the most rapid perfecting of other beings, both those similar to oneself and those of other forms, up to the degree of the sacred ‘Mart-fotai,’ that is, up to the degree of self-individuality
In Search of the Miraculous
Chapter 11
“…(G)roups may be connected with some aim of which those who are beginning work in them have no idea whatever and which cannot even be explained to them until they understand the essence and the principles of the work and the ideas connected with it. But this aim towards which without knowing it they are going, and which they are serving, is the necessary balancing principle in their own work…”
Chapter 12
“The work of every man can proceed in three directions. He can be useful to the work. He can be useful to me. And he can be useful to himself. Of course it is desirable that a man’s work should produce results in all three directions… The work grows and changes. If a man himself does not grow or change he cannot keep up with the work. The work leaves him behind and then the very thing that was useful may begin to be harmful.”
The Psychology of Man’s Possible Evolution, P.D. Ouspensky
Third Lecture
One of the most important principles one learns in this way is that real school work must proceed by three lines simultaneously…
The first line is study of oneself…
The second line is work with other people in the school…
In the third line, one works for the school. In order to work for the school, one must first understand the work of the school, understand its aims and needs…
The Fourth Way, P.D. Ouspensky
Chapter 11
In the first line of work you take—knowledge, ideas, help. This line concerns only yourself, it is entirely egocentric. On the second line one must not only take but also give— communicate knowledge and ideas, serve as an example and many other things. It concerns people in the work, so on this line one works half for oneself and half for other people.
On the third line one must think… about what is useful, what is necessary for the school, what the school needs, so the third line concerns the whole idea of school and all the present and the future of the work. If a man does not think about this and does not understand it, then the first two lines will not produce their full effect…
In relation to the third line it is very important to understand the general idea of why this work exists and how to help it…
There are people who are prepared, who are capable of developing these ideas, but they do not know them. So it is necessary to find them, find the right kind of people and give them these ideas.
…Small groups, if they think that they can keep the ideas to themselves, will distort and spoil them. Distortion can be avoided only if work grows and if many people know about it. Small groups, limited and unchanging, will always add something personal to it…
The Reality of Being
2. A school of the Fourth Way
…A school requires both understanding of its principles of work and discipline based on them. We have to pay for what we receive…
A basic principle of this school is always to do more than what ordinarily we can do. Only this will lead to change… Another principle is that we intentionally do not rely on a precise form given in advance, so that an active and more conscious search can take place. Our aim is to free ourselves from everything that keeps us attached… When a form of work is brought, we first receive it as new but afterward repeat it as given. In this repetition we have less and less understanding of the principles that are behind the form. For a form to remain alive, we need always to return to the source, to the truth. Below the Absolute, at all levels, there is remembering and a thirst to turn toward the greater, toward what is. But, as we descend the ladder of involution, forgetting appears and becomes deeper and deeper.
Introduction
…On a cosmic scale, man plays an important role on the earth. Without him certain forces cannot act and cannot maintain an equilibrium. But we do not see this, we do not know it and consequently we do not produce the force that could create a relation with other cosmic energies in ourselves.
Orage with Gurdjieff in America, Louise Welch
Orage’s Farewell Address to NY Groups upon departing to England May 1930
“…it is necessary that this group should make a greater impression on the community. In six years the impression we have made is almost entirely bad, associated with cult-like beliefs. We are more like Californians than like Akhaldans.
“The kind of works that must be undertaken by a working group here are the establishment of a school like the Pythagorean, only not under a roof… Take some subject in which you are relatively expert and start a group — if you are developing, there will percolate into the group something of this magnetic influence. Not everybody can undertake such groups, but teaching must be done — teaching of the ideas — and it must be done in connection with the technique in which individuals are skilled. If such groups were formed, they could be independent, like planets in relation to a sun which is the source of inspiration.