Sincerity is the key which will open the door through which you will see your separate parts, and you will see something quite new. You must go on trying to be sincere. Each day you put on a mask, and you must take it off little by little.
G. I. GurdjieffListen, you have now found the conditions in which the desire of your heart can become the reality of your being. Stay here, until you acquire a force in you that nothing can destroy. Then you'll need to go back into life, and there you will measure yourself constantly with forces which will show you your place.
G. I. GurdjieffThe first reason for people's slavery is our ignorance, and above all, our ignorance of ourselves.
G. I. GurdjieffWould a CONSCIOUS human being destroy himself through war, and crime, and quarrels? No, a man simply knows not what he does to himself.
G. I. GurdjieffKnowledge can be acquired by a suitable and complete study, no matter what the starting point is. Only one must know how to "learn." What is nearest to us is man; and you are the nearest of all men to yourself. Begin with the study of yourself; remember the saying "Know thyself."
G. I. GurdjieffLet us take some event in the life of humanity. For instance, war. There is a war going on at the present moment. What does it signify? It signifies that several millions of sleeping people are trying to destroy several millions of other sleeping people. They would not do this, of course, if they were to wake up. Everything that takes place is owing to this sleep.
G. I. GurdjieffTo know means to know all. Not to know all means not to know. In order to know all, it is only necessary to know a little. But, in order to know this little, it is first necessary to know pretty much.
G. I. GurdjieffOne of the strongest motives for wishing to work on yourself is the realization that you may die at any moment - only you must first realize this.
G. I. GurdjieffIf a man could understand all the horror of the lives of ordinary people who are turning around in a circle of insignificant interests and insignificant aims, if he could understand what they are losing, he would understand that there can only be one thing that is serious for him - to escape from the general law, to be free. What can be serious for a man in prison who is condemned to death? Only one thing: How to save himself, how to escape: nothing else is serious.
G. I. GurdjieffThe evolution of man is the evolution of his consciousness, and 'consciousness' cannot evolve unconsciously. The evolution of man is the evolution of his will, and 'will' cannot evolve involuntarily.
G. I. GurdjieffIf a sufficient number of people who wanted to stop war really did gather together, they would first of all begin by making war upon those who disagreed with them. And it is still more certain that they would make war on people who also want to stop wars but in another way.
G. I. GurdjieffThe degree of consciousness corresponds to the degree of density or the speed of vibrations. The denser the matter, the less conscious it is.
G. I. GurdjieffMan has the possibility of existence after death. But possibility is one thing and the realization of the possibility is quite a different thing.
G. I. GurdjieffThe first fundamental law of the universe is the law of three forces, of three principles, or , as it is often called, the law of three. According to this law every action, every phenomenon in all worlds without exception, is the result of a simultaneous action of three forces- the positive, the negative, and the neutralizing.
G. I. GurdjieffTry to understand what I am saying: everything is dependent on everything else, everything is connected, nothing is separate. Therefore everything is going in the only way it can go. If people were different everything would be different. They are what they are, so everything is as it is.
G. I. GurdjieffThere is a cosmic law which says that every satisfaction must be paid for with a dissatisfaction.
G. I. GurdjieffFrom my point of view, he can be called a remarkable man who stands out from those around him by the resourcefulness of his mind, and who knows how to be restrained in the manifestations which proceed from his nature, at the same time conducting himself justly and tolerantly towards the weaknesses of others.
G. I. GurdjieffThe only type of sexual relations possible are those with someone who is as advanced and capable as oneself.
G. I. GurdjieffReal love is a cosmic force which goes through us. If we crystallize it, it becomes the greatest power in the world.
G. I. GurdjieffFrom looking at your neighbor and realizing his true significance, and that he will die, pity and compassion will arise in you for him and finally you will love him.
G. I. GurdjieffConsciousness is a state in which a man knows all at once everything that he in general knows and in which he can see how little he does know and how many contradictions there are in what he knows.
G. I. GurdjieffThe first thing, the very very first thing, "Find out what your greatest characteristic is, your greatest undoing, your central characteristic of unconsciousness." Each one's is different. Somebody is sex-obsessed. In a country like India, where for centuries sex has been repressed, that has become almost a universal characteristic; everybody is obsessed with sex. Somebody is obsessed with anger, and somebody else is obsessed with greed. You have to watch which is your basic obsession.
G. I. GurdjieffMan has no individual 'I'. But there are, instead, hundreds and thousands of separate small 'I's, very often entirely unknown to one another, never coming into contact, or, on the contrary, hostile to each other, mutually exclusive and incompatible. Each minute, each moment, man is saying or thinking, 'I'. And each time his 'I' is different. Just now it was a thought, now it is a desire, now a sensation, now another thought, and so on, endlessly. Man is a plurality. Man's name is legion.
G. I. GurdjieffTo know all, it is necessary to know very little; but to know that very little, one must first know pretty much.
G. I. GurdjieffConscious faith is freedom. Emotional faith is slavery. Mechanical faith is foolishness.
G. I. GurdjieffAncient art has a specific inner content. At one time, art possessed the same purpose that books do in our day, namely: to preserve and transmit knowledge. In olden days, people did not write books, they incorporated their knowledge into works of art. We would find a great many ideas in the works of ancient art passed down to us, if only we knew how to read them.
G. I. GurdjieffYou can never awaken using the same system that put you to sleep in the first place.
G. I. Gurdjieff