(G.) Man has no energy to fulfill voluntary aims because all his strength, acquired at night during his passive state, is used up in negative manifestations. These are his automatic manifestations, the opposite of his positive, willed manifestations. —Views From the Real World – New York, December 9, 1930
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(G.) We are slaves of this mechanism…
This mechanicalness, this unnecessary slavery… has several causes. One of the causes is the chronic state of tension… which is one of the many causes of the leakage of our reserve energy…
It is necessary to learn at all costs not to be tense when tension is not needed. When you sit doing nothing, let the body sleep. When you sleep, sleep in such a way that the whole of you sleeps. —Views From the Real World – Prieuré, January 30, 1923 – Energy—sleep
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(Jean Vaysse) …The function of the moving center is… movement or rest, action or inaction, and a deeper or more superficial degree of relaxation. We perceive our form and the degree of its activity through sensation. The physical sensation of himself allows a man at any moment to know what his attitude is and what his activity is, and eventually to have control over them; hence its fundamental importance in the search for self-knowledge.
The characteristic of the moving center is its passivity. It has no initiative of its own, and by nature it remains inert, but it obeys at once whatever is there to call upon it to serve… Like the other centers… it has its own thinking… its own instinct, its own emotionality, and the possibility of an activity of its own which, because of its extreme passivity, is only realized in exceptional circumstances…
…Left in peace, the moving center would in fact be available that is… in a state of availability, where the higher part of the center, which is eager to serve, would remain highly receptive and ready to respond.
But in his ordinary state a man does not have such a degree of availability…
The… moving center(‘s)… genuine… letting go or relaxation… does not come about by itself, but requires an active and voluntary giving up of any demand upon the moving center by the other centers…
It is by sensation that we are informed about… states of our moving center… (T)he sensation of ourselves is there or not there, depending on whether we are turned toward ourselves or attracted outside, and this is why it can be considered one of the best tests for verifying the reality of efforts toward self-awareness.
Without knowing it, we lead our ordinary life with a constant sensing which informs us all the time about our postures, gestures and movements, but only rises to the conscious level when something unexpected and disturbing happens. Constantly forgetting ourselves, we also lose at the same time the sensation of ourselves. Reconstituting this sensing has to be part of any endeavor to awake to oneself. —Toward Awakening, Jean Vaysse – Centers and Functions
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(G.) …one must try to keep constantly the organic sensation of the body. Sense one’s body again, continually without interrupting one’s ordinary occupations—to keep a little energy… Our aim is to have constantly a sensation of oneself, of one’s individuality, this sensation cannot be expressed intellectually, because it is organic. It is something which makes you independent when you are with other people. —Transcripts of Gurdjieff’s Meetings 1941-1946 – Meeting 1
(G.) …It is only when you relax consciously, and when your head retains its role of policeman, that the relaxation has value. If you relax generally, it is weakness.
…You must not relax unconsciously. Yet when you are in your state of awakening, you must relax consciously. When you sleep, everything relaxes without you; that has no value. It is your bondage. —Transcripts of Gurdjieff’s Meetings 1941-1946 – Meeting 32
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(Mr. Segal) Maintenance of a conscious attention is not easy. The movement, the obligations of day-to-day existence constantly distract. With no base of operations, no home in one’s organism, the attention serves random thoughts, feelings and appetites which conflict and tyrannize each other.
Sensation of parts or the whole of the body can anchor the attention, provide it with a kind of habitat. The structure, becoming more sensitive, helps to unify attention, so it is less liable to veer into mental channels that consume its power. In turn, perceptions and sensations are quickened, insights are multiplied.
…Through sensation of the body, I perceive that I am. Yet, I do not know who or what I am. I am witness to my existence. —Opening, Wm. Segal – Attention Awakens Dormant Energies
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(Mme. de Salzmann) …The movement of energy in us is continuous. It never stops. Rather it passes through phases of intense projection which we call tension, and phases of returning to oneself which we call letting go, relaxing. There cannot be continuous tension and there cannot be continuous relaxation. These two aspects are the very life of the movement of energy, the expression of our life. From its source in us, energy is projected outward through the channel of our functions toward an aim. In this movement the functions create a kind of center that we call “I,” and we believe that this projecting outward is the affirmation of our self. This “I,” around which our thoughts and emotions revolve, cannot let go. It lives in tension, is nourished by tensions… —The Reality of Being – 119. The affirmation of my self
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(Lillian Firestone) …I see that my wish and my resistance are both here in this moment, but the resistance takes a hidden form. It takes the form of tension. So, my wish is to be. My resistance is to be someone who is admired or respected, and this creates a tension which is felt in all my parts, in my mind and in feelings, and most especially in my body, because my body obeys the tensions generated in the feelings and the mind…
…This tension stands in the way of my wish to be and to serve. We could be a vehicle for something very fine. So, I need to relax in order to serve. —Spiritual Chemistry – August 19, 2008
(Jerry Brewster) The mind is usually either in the future or the past, the emotions are usually in a state of reaction from the past or anticipating the future. The energy of the body is in the present… the sensation of my body in the beginning doesn’t have the same aims, or identifications as the emotions and the mind, so it brings a light… How do I know my feelings if not by sensation? I need to know the sensation of the real energy of all my centers… —Spiritual Chemistry – At a group meeting in 2006…