Glimpses of Truth: an account of conversations with Gurdjieff

These Talks are recollections of the conversations which took place almost every evening between Gurdjieff and a few dedicated followers.
door Tsenne Kikke - maandag 25 november 2024 17:59

'Views from the Real World' - Early Talks in Moscow, Essentuki, Tiflis, Berlin, London, Paris, New York and Chicago As Recollected by His Pupils.

Contents

I - Glimpses of Truth

II - When speaking on different subjects - For an exact study, an exact language is needed - Man is a plural being - One-sided development - What is the method of the Institute? - Self-observation is very difficult - How can we gain attention? - Everyone is in great need of one particular exercise - Every animal works according to its constitution - For one section of the people here, their stay has become completely useless.

III - Energy - sleep - Is there a way of prolonging life? - The education of children - Formatory apparatus - Body, essence and personality - Essence and personality - Separation of oneself from oneself - The stop exercise - The three powers: economy - Experiments with breathing - First talk in Berlin - All exercises can be divided into seven categories - "As it is with everything, so it is with movements - The actor - Creative art: associations - Questions and answers on art, etcetera.

IV - God the Word - Everywhere and always there is affirmation and negation - It is impossible to be impartial? - Everything in the world is material - Working on oneself is not so difficult as wishing to work.

V - To all my questions - Now I am sitting here - The two rivers - There are two kinds of love - Has free will a place in your teaching? - Fears: identification - Man is subject to many influences - Liberation leads to liberation.

VI - The aphorisms

'Glimpses of Truth' is an account, written by one of his Russian pupils, of a visit to Gurdjieff near Moscow before the revolution. It is the first - and probably the only one - of a series of essays on Gurdjieff's ideas which he accepted that members of his circle in Moscow in 1914 should write. The author is not known and, with the outbreak of the Russian revolution, Gurdjieff moved to the Caucasus and the project was abandoned. But this essay was occasionally read in Moscow as an introduction for people coming to Gurdjieff for the first time, as is related by P. D. Ouspensky in his 'In Search of the Miraculous'.

Unfortunately, this precious material is not a direct transcription of Gurdjieff's words. To help his pupils reach the state of free attention necessary for an exchange with him at the meetings, Gurdjieff did not permit them to take notes while his talks were going on. However, a few far-sighted listeners - with astonishing powers of memory and in most cases without Gurdjieff's knowledge - made notes afterwards, either alone or with some of the others, of whatever they had heard. The notes kept by different people were gradually collected and have been compared, translated where necessary, and tested by reading them aloud to some of those who heard the original talks. Incomplete as they are, even ragmentary in some cases, they are an authentic rendering of Gurdjieffs approach to work on oneself, as it was developed informally at the necessary moment.

Transcript

Strange events, incomprehensible from the ordinary point of view, have guided my life. I mean those events which influence a man's inner life, radically changing its direction and aim and creating new epochs in it. I call them incomprehensible because their connection was clear only to me. It was as though some invisible person, in pursuit of a definite aim, had placed in the path of my life circumstances which, at the very moment of my need, I found there as if by chance. Guided by such events, I became accustomed from my early years to look with great penetration into the circumstances surrounding me and to try to grasp the principle connecting them, and to find in their interrelations a broader, more complete explanation. I must say that in every exterior result it was the hidden cause evoking it that interested me most.

One day in the course of my life, in this same apparently strange way, I found myself face to face with occultism, and became interested in it as though in a deep and harmonious philosophical system. But at the very moment when I had reached something more than mere interest, I again lost, as suddenly as I had found it, the possibility of proceeding with it systematic study. In other words, I was thrown entirely on my own resources. This loss seemed a senseless failure, but I later recognized in it a necessary stage in the course of my life and one full of deep meaning. This recognition came only much later, however. I did not deviate but went forward on my own responsibility and at my own risk. Insuperable obstacles confronted me, forcing me to retreat. Vast horizons opened to my vision and as I hastened forward I often slipped or became entangled. Losing, as it seemed, what I had discovered, I remained wandering round on the same spot, as though fogbound. In searching I made many efforts and did apparently useless work, rewarded inadequately by results. Today, I see that no effort went unrewarded and that every mistake served to guide me toward the truth.

I plunged into the study of occult literature, and without exaggeration can say that I not only read but mastered patiently and perseveringly the greater part of the available material, trying to grasp the sense and to understand what was hidden between the lines. All this only served to convince me that I would never succeed in finding what I sought in books: though I glimpsed the outlines of a majestic structure, I could not see it clearly and distinctly.

I searched for those who might have interests in common with me. Some seemed to have found something, but on closer examination I saw that they, like myself, were groping in the dark. I still hoped in the end to find what I needed; I looked for a living man, able to give me more than could find in a book. Perseveringly and obstinately I sought and, after each failure, hope revived again and led me to a new search. With his in view I visited Egypt, India and other countries. Among those encountered were many which left no trace, but some were of great importance.

Etcetera....

"Vind mensen, die in zichzelf zowel de motivatie als de aangeboren drijfveer hebben om aan hun Innerlijke Zelf te werken, en we zullen hen gidsen."

- DIMschool vzw, de énige gespecialiseerd in Zelfkennis, zijnde: het kennen van het Zelf -
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

En, voel jij je geroepen om Spiritualia te sponsoren?
Klik dan op deze link. Alvast bedankt!

Overschrijven kan ook via: IBAN: BE22 7795 9845 2547 - BIC: GKCCBEBB

- Indien je zo'n (bak)steentje bijdraagt, ook eventueel via een aankoop of een Zoek&Vind abonnement, mogen we jouw naam hieronder publiceren? Laat het ons weten! -