beyond being

Being’ is ‘an experience’ even though it is ‘the only experience’:- it is the ‘stuff’ of experience/experiencing itself. Being is the sense ‘I Am’ or ‘I exist’, and yet only ‘I’ ‘says’ or ‘knows’ ‘I Am’. Being only ‘knows’ Being, only ‘knows’ itself. Hence to ‘go beyond Being’ is also to go beyond ‘I Am’;- […]

intentional suffering

‘Intentional suffering’ is a tricky term to define, as it is different to ‘voluntary suffering’. In Gurdjieff’s own writings, the apparent examples of intentional suffering concern bearing the unpleasant manifestations that may arise towards oneself when one pursues a course of action that is perceived to be in accordance with a real need and value, […]

sacrifice suffering

A man has to pass through the ‘fevered dream’ of the suffering of his own egoism before he may liberate his own individual third force. Suffering is sacrificed only then when I am, when I know myself beyond my subjective ‘being’.

i am

I Am neither the knower, known, nor knowing

life

People often regard Nature, or animal life, as a realm of strife and suffering, but in reality it is an orgasm. All Life interpenetrates itself, and ‘eats itself to maintain itself’. Life already demonstrates the ‘Love feast’ and feeds daily on the ‘flesh and blood of Christ’. It is the general man who has become […]

resist not evil

” I find myself struggling with lustful thoughts and desires. How can I fight them?” The saying Resist not Evil comes to mind here. Any set ‘method’ to ‘fight’ lustful thoughts etc would be artificial and would miss the point. Seek to understand their nature and origin in yourself. Sexual desire is natural of course […]

the body of breath

The Body of Breath Breath ‘ought’ to be our link with the ‘eternal’ realm, the realm which does not undergo actualization and change in time, and yet it appears that breath has come to have the opposite result;- such that it produces tension and attachment to the manifest realm and its changes. It appears that […]

Man of spirit

The Man of Spirit: In the teaching of the Fourth Way, there is mention of the different Worlds and Cosmoses that compose reality. Man is such that he has the potential to exist simultaneously in multiple worlds. Man can undergo a transformation of his Being and consciousness, such that he can come to live and […]

consciousness

What is generally experienced and regarded as ‘consciousness’ is simply the form of consciousness of the lower thinking center;- which is regarded as the slowest of the lower centers. We need to see that ‘consciousness’, as used in the terms of the work, is different to functional awareness. I can be aware of my body […]

knowledge and ignorance

What is the difference between knowledge and ignorance? Can this difference be said to be ‘known’, to be a matter of ‘knowledge’? If knowledge and ignorance are different, then to ‘know’ their difference concerns ‘knowing’ what is beyond or distinct from knowledge. This ‘knowing’ could not then properly be termed knowledge in its general usage. […]