GURDJIEFF (self-remembering)

Gurdjieff: Notetaker, would
you like to write something?

E: Sir, I write everything,
everything I am able to
understand.

Gurdjieff: So, if you want
to write something, ask a
question and write it
down as an exercise.

E: Sir, I don't have
a question today.

Gurdjieff: Ask a question
anyway, for the practice,
to exercise yourself.

E: Sir, the problem I am
in front of now concerns
my work during the day. I
am never able both to work
and to accomplish the task
I have chosen. When I am
alone I am able to work,
but you have said that
even a cow can do this.

Gurdjieff: I didn't say
a cow, I said a donkey. A
cow is a parasite; it only
makes milk. A donkey really
works. So?

E: I have chosen tasks for
myself that involve remembering
myself when I am with other people.
When I am with people close to me, I
can remember myself. I fail again and
again, but in the end I am able to
remember. However, with the person
I have chosen in my office, I am
not able to remember that it is
important for me to change my
relationship with him, that it
is thanks to him I am able to
work. I punish myself, of course,
but not severely enough. And I
never manage to realize how
important this is for me.
Recently, something
happened; I understood
something new, but I
haven't been able to
put it into practice
yet.

Gurdjieff: You will not
get what you want in this
way. I advise you to make
a connection between what
you are trying and some habit.
For example, smoking. Begin to
convince yourself. Tomorrow morning,
if you remember yourself, you deserve
to smoke. If you don't remember yourself,
you don't smoke. You may smoke only if
you earn it, only if you remember
yourself. Up to this point you
have never made a plan. Do this
sincerely, make this your task,
accomplish this with honor. If
you remember, you smoke;
otherwise you don't.
Can you do this?"

E: Certainly.

Gurdjieff: Don't smoke until the
next meeting. If you forget again
don't smoke until the following
meeting, and so on. In the
meantime you should
consider that your
future depends on
this; if you
remember
yourself
by yourself,
you will be able
to change your future.
This is a big thing; this
is a big decision in relation
to your aim. You smoke, so this
is a big sacrifice for you. If it's
not, take something else. It must
be a real sacrifice. You can
smoke before meeting him.
When do you start your
day? At ten o'clock?

E: About seven o'clock,
seven-thiry.

Gurdjieff: When do
you see him?

E: About nine-thirty.

Gurdjieff: Then you can
smoke until nine-thirty,
until your meeting. Once
you've seen him, if you
forget yourself, you
will stop smoking
for the rest of
the day. The same
thing for the following
day. I can't find anything
else for you. It's simple.
All the same, I realize
this is very difficult
to do.

I see you are taking this
seriously. And I am answering
you seriously. Once, twice, you
will forget. It doesn't matter.
But in this way you will
understand many things.
You will be forced to
realize it is your body
that wants to smoke. Everything
comes from that; everything starts
there. You are entirely in your body.
You do not have a real "I." Your
center of gravity is in your
body. When you are here you
think you're somebody. When
you are sitting, when you have
eaten well, you say that you exist,
but when you leave here everything
changes and you are like an animal.

This exercise will begin to show
you why it is necessary to live
with a real "I," a real
individuality. You don't
know what real "I" is. You
don't even have the taste of
it. You talk about it, you
philosophize, but you don't
know what it is. Here, you talk
about it and you believe everything
that is said about it, but as soon
as you return to life everything
disappears. Your center of
gravity is in your body. You
fall back into your habitual
center of gravity. Use this
task to understand what
real work is.

What I am proposing for him
is also necessary for others.
One can take something other
than smoking. A real
sacrifice is
necessary.
--Gurdjieff
--Questions and Responses

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Gurdjieff

[Shiemash51]

There is a false conception that people have about me, and this false conception has not

anything to do with what may or may not be "real" and "deep knowledge" because

I think we can all agree that most of what I write HAS ALL THE APPEARANCE OF PSYCHOPATHY

since it happens to be true that the fourth way internet method has been a process for

me of self-healing, NOT TO BE "TEACHER"

OR "GURU", and I don't think anyone sees me in

that way, nor do I wish it.

[Shiemash51]

I have no doubt that the police officials who

read my work see me as a total psychotic, AND I ADMIT THAT I HAVE BEEN, SINCE MUCH OF WHAT I

HAVE WRITTEN IS TOTAL SHIT OF WHICH I READILY

AND PAINFULLY ADMIT, but, and I will say it again, the difference is that YES I AGREE, AND ALSO THE DIFFERENCE IS HONESTY WITH ONESELF . . . there is not any violence or

threats of any kind directed to anyone nor to myself, nor am I gravely disabled.

[Shiemash51]

I have said it many times in previous posts

that I only role play the "sex offendor" and I have done this for the reason that it is true that there is what is called "sex-offendor- hysteria" which started during the years when Bill Clinton became Sex-Offendor-

In-Chief of the United States.

I am speaking of hysteria

which has manifested as a

psychological illness in

America having nothing

whatever to do with

actual sex offenses

which occur.

[Shiemash51]

I have discovered role play of the "sex offendor" to be an indispensible part

of my work because it is true that I sit in

various coffee shops and restaurants around

town for hours at a time observing people

and then writing of my impressions

in connection with the ideas of Gurdjieff.

It is because of this "observation" activity

of mine that I appear like a predator, which

I am not.

[Shiemash51]

It is a fact that there exists a property,

which is inherent in every ordinary man, to whichever class he may belong and

whatever his age, that, whenever he thinks about something concrete outside himself, then his muscles instantly strain, that is

to say vibrate, in the direction taken by his

thoughts, and I have discovered from

experience that such muscular

"magnetic tension" is real. I will then

harmlessly and silently sit until that tension

passes unto liberation.

[Shiemash51]

In reality, what we are speaking of are the "involuntary manifestations" of neurosis and, as Gurdjieff said, it is involuntary manifestations that are the true cause of so-called "evil" in the world. Negative involuntary manifestations for most people are those associated with anger, resentment and hostility.

[ellivnargsenoj]

WELL DONE SIR!!!!................it's not easy.

[Shiemash51]

All violence has its roots in not understanding one another. When a man acts

through violence, he acts without understanding. A man is not his size, his money, position, birth, strength, or his prestige, reputation, or distinctions,

or his religion. A man is his understanding.

A saying which is known throughout Persia:

"LET GOD KILL HIM WHO HIMSELF DOES NOT KNOW

AND YET PRESUMES TO SHOW OTHERS THE WAY

TO THE DOORS OF HIS KINGDOM"

--2nd Series, Ekim Bey