Objective Architecture

The keys to all the ancient arts are lost, were lost many centuries ago. And therefore there is no longer a sacred art embodying laws of the Great Knowledge, and so serving to influence the instincts of the multitude.

Views from the Real World p.35

For instance, take architecture. I saw some examples of architecture in Persia and Turkey - for instance, one building of two rooms. Everyone who entered these rooms, whether old or young, whether English or Persian, wept. This happened with people of different backgrounds and education. We continued this experiment for two or three weeks and observed everyone's reactions. The result was always the same. We specially chose cheerful people. With these architectural combinations, the mathematically calculated vibrations contained in the building could not produce any other effect. We are under certain laws and cannot withstand external influences. Because the architect of this building had a different understanding and built mathematically, the result was always the same.

You come to a monastery. You are not a religious man, but what is played and sung there evokes in you a desire to pray. Later you will be surprised by this. And so it is with everyone. This objective art is based on laws, whereas modern music is entirely subjective. It is possible to prove where everything in this subjective art comes from. 

Views from the Real World p.184

Man, a different order of Nature

Someone asked if it was true that man evolved from animals.

Gurdjieff said no, man was from a different order of Nature, a different formula.

C.S. Nott - Further Teachings of Gurdjieff p.81

how to influence the future of Mankind

Among the purposes of all leaders, messiahs, messengers from the gods, and so forth, there was one fundamental and very important purpose: to find some means by which the two sides of man, and, therefore, the two sides of the earth, could live together in peace and harmony. He said that time was very short - it was necessary to achieve this harmony as soon as possible to avoid complete disaster. Philosophies, religions and other such movements had all failed to accomplish this aim, and the only possible way to accomplish it was through the individual development of man. As an individual developed his own, unknown potentialities, he would become strong and would, in turn, influence many more people. If enough individuals could develop themselves - even partially - into genuine, natural men, able to use the real potentialities that were proper to mankind, each such individual would then be able to convince and win over as many as a hundred other men, who would, each in his turn, upon achieving development, be able to influence another hundred, and so on. 

He added, grimly, that he was in no sense joking when he had said that time was short. Further, he said that history had already proven to us that such tools as politics, religion, and any other organized movements which treated man "in the mass" and not as individual beings, were failures. That they would always be failures and that the separate, distinct growth of each individual in the world was the only possible solution. 

Whether one believed him whole-heartedly or not, he made a convincing and passionate case for the importance of individual development and growth.

Fritz Peters - Remembering Gurdjieff p.159

(on this topic read also Beelzebub Chapter 27 - The order of existence created for men by the Very Saintly Ashiata Shiemash)

an ordinary Man cannot be a Genius

Talent can be made in twenty-four hours. Genius exists, but an ordinary man cannot be a genius. It is only a word. It is the same in all the arts. Real art cannot be the work of an ordinary man. He cannot act, he cannot be "I." An actor cannot have what another man has—he cannot feel as another man feels. If he plays the part of a priest, he ought to have the understanding and feelings of a priest. But he can have these only if he has all the priest's material, all that a priest knows and understands. And it is so with every profession; special knowledge is required. The artist without knowledge only imagines.

Views from the Real World p.177

meat is necessary

“Gyorgi Ivanovitch,” she said, “it really isn’t necessary to kill animals to feed ourselves, is it? Can’t we live perfectly well on grains, milk, fruit, and vegetables?” “Yes,” Mr. Gurdjieff replied, “it is quite possible, because everything required for the physical and spiritual life of man can be found in the vegetable kingdom.” Mme N. was radiant. “You see,” she said to the others, “I was right!” “Yes,” Mr. Gurdjieff added. “You would be right if our human existence was limited only to the spiritual, but it isn’t. Meat is necessary when there is hard physical work to be done, or in a very cold climate, or when edible plants cannot be found. Besides, our canine teeth as well as other biological characteristics show that our digestive system has been adapted by nature to assimilate meat. Animal flesh provides all the substances we need, both for the intensive working of our organism and for maintaining a normal temperature in cold climates. So, you are right, and at the same time, you are not right.”

Gurdjieff a Master in Life p.36

transformation into a carpet seller

When Mr Gurdjieff came into the dining-room, I was still so shocked that I couldn’t face him directly.

‘What’s the matter with you?’ he asked.
I cannot even look at you,’ I said.
‘Why not?’
I didn’t recognize you when I looked through the door.’
 ‘What do you wish?’ he asked. ‘That I speak philosophy with him as I do with the doctor? Would he then buy a carpet? And if I would speak with Dr Stjernvall as I spoke with this man, he would never follow me. So you must understand that I am with each one such as they need from me. Right now I wish to sell carpets, so I have to be a carpet seller and not a philosopher.’

Our life with Mr.Gurdjieff p.145 (reported by Olga de Hartmann)

3 meanings and 7 aspects

We must always keep in mind what Gurdjieff says about Beelzebub’s Tales: there are three “versions” of the book—an outer, an inner, and an inmost: also, every complete statement in the book has seven aspects.

A.R. Orage´s Commentaries on "Beelzebubs Tales to His Grandson"

one thing is incompatible with WORK

There is only one thing incompatible with work and that is "professional occultism": in other words, professional charlatanism. All these spiritualists, healers, clairvoyants, and so on, or even people closely connected with them, are none of them any good to us. And you must always remember this and take care not to tell them much because everything they learn from you they might use for their own purposes, that is, to make fools of other people.

In Search of the Miraculous p.243

something powerful and uncanny

I was surprised at the number of people there who had attended his classes or seen his dances. Often when I mentioned his name, someone would come forward and give me some dramatic account, illustrated by a personal experience. Though these accounts varied, though some of the speakers swore by Gurdjieff and others almost cursed him, though some considered that he possessed greater and deeper knowledge than anybody alive and others called him a charlatan and a madman, they all agreed that there was something powerful and uncanny about him. Stories were reported to me of people who had given Gurdjieff their whole fortunes in order to help him with his work, and of pupils who were unable to tear themselves away from him, and felt happy in his presence even if they had to suffer from his abuse. I have never heard the word ‘possessed’ used so often in connection with any other teacher.

Rom Landau - God is my Adventure p.198

past joys are useless

He said to a pupil: ‘Past joys are useless to a man in the present; they are as last year’s snows, which leave no trace by which they can be remembered. Only the imprints of conscious labour and voluntary suffering are real, and can be used in the future for obtaining good.’

C.S. Nott - Teachings of Gurdjieff p.109

Bennett like Judas; Pentland like Paul

Once he pointed to me and to an old friend (Lord Pentland) of mine sitting next to me, saying: "Mr. Bennett is like Judas; he is responsible that my work is not destroyed. You are like Paul; you must spread my ideas." In the sequel the second part at least of this prophecy was fulfilled, for the friend in question took the lead in securing the publication of All and Everything.

J.G. Bennett - Witness p.263

Commander of the Knights of the Holy Sepulchre

...and went on to say that he is one of the four Commanders of the Knights of the Holy Sepulchre, and have special order. Page said, "I bet you wear it the wrong way round," and he laughed and said, yes, he never forget his grandmother.

He said how the head of this Order came and spent several weeks at the Prieure, and used to go to the highest part of the Russian bath there. "He very big valise (stomach) have: this very comic thing - erverybody wish laugh, but only interieurement - he not tail of donkey." And how later this man died in his sleep - "In evening, lie on bed, sleep. In morning, not wake up - die." And, "Truth, he deserve such die, without suffering - he very good man."

Idiots in Paris 1949 p.28

the real Santa Claus

 "What my nickname among you children?" "Must tell me if you wish bonbon." I tell him my younger son had called him "the real Santa Claus." This is to Mr. Gurdjieffs satisfaction.

Friday, December 24: Christmas Eve.

In preparation for the holiday, Gurdjieff asks me to buy flags from all the nations of the world. Then he has me construct an Enneagram to hang as "our flag" amidst all the national banners.

The Gurdjieff Years p.106

a method not taught in books

It is not enough to say ‘Know thyself’ and it is always a shock to be told about one’s dark side, for we do not wish to see it.

‘Gurdjieff’s system provides a technique,’ said Orage. ‘You can be told of your faults for years, but unless you make the right kind of effort yourself, you will remain the same. His system has a method not taught in books, by which you can learn little by little how to make this effort to know yourself, but you must be prepared to work for a long time—for years, perhaps—and there will be long periods when nothing seems to happen and nothing in oneself seems to change.’

C.S. Nott - Teachings of Gurdjieff p.33

3 stages of Inner Alchemy

The whole of alchemy is nothing but an allegorical description of the human factory and its work of transforming base metals (coarse substances) into precious ones (fine substances).

The study of the work of the human organism as a chemical factory shows us three stages in the evolution of the human machine.

The effort(second stage) which creates this 'shock' must consist in work on the emotions, in the transformation and transmutation of the emotions.

The third stage in the work of the human organism begins when man creates in himself a conscious second volitional 'shock' at the point mi 12, when the transformation or transmutation of these 'hydrogens' into higher 'hydrogens' begins in him. The second stage and the beginning of the third stage refer to the life and functions of man number four. A fairly considerable period of transmutation and crystallization is needed for the transition of man number four to the level of man number five.

In Search of the Miraculous / Chapter 9

a special bank

Then he announced that he could write a check with seven zeros. "Even your King cannot do that!" His bank would at once honor such a check. At first I thought he was joking, when suddenly I realized that he was speaking specially to me and no one else was realizing, I said to him that it must be a special bank. He said, "Yes, only allow people who can write check at least with six zeros." This made his meaning perfectly clear, but to confirm it to myself I said, "Such a bank can only have very few clients." He said, "Yes, but now they make big reclame." Two or three more sentences were added, including his saying, "For a long time now I can write check with seven zeros."

                                    Idiots in Paris 1949 p.46

G´s allegorical writing style

The text of this manuscript is expounded, as was done in antiquity, "podobolizovany," in the form of symbolizing, or, as it is called in esoteric science, "making alike," that is, allegorically - quite different from the form now established for mentation among contemporary people. As the difference between these forms is very well-known to me...

The Outer and Inner World of Man

But since, little by little, I had become more adroit in the art of concealing serious thoughts in an enticing, easily grasped outer form, and in making all those thoughts which I term 'discernible only with the lapse of time´...

Meetings with Remarkable Men (Introduction)

Shaykh Gurdjieff at a barber shop

When the barber had finished shaving, he took off the sheet and dropped it on a nearby chair. Mr. Gurdjieff got up and stood by the chair. As he did, the barber moved in front of Mr. Gurdjieff and with reverence leaned forward and kissed Mr. Gurdjieff’s left and then right shoulder. With that done, he stepped back a short distance, folded his arms on his breast and stood there motionless with his head bowed low.

Mr. Gurdjieff walked slowly out of the shop and I followed him, For myself I could not believe what I had seen. It seemed incredible. I had not the slightest idea of what Mr. Gurdjieff had said to the barber in the few times he had spoken. I was deeply moved to have seen this barber’s reverence there in that little shop on West 46th Street in New York City.

Edwin Wolfe - Episodes with Gurdjieff p.34

one of the most remarkable men in history

Charles Daly King

He is the only person ever met by the writer who gave the indubitable impression that all his responses, mental, emotional and practical, were mutually in balance and thus the further impression that everyone else was out of step, but not this man himself.

The writer has no hesitation in calling him (Gurdjieff) one of the hundred, perhaps fifty, most remarkable men known to us in our history. Although he did not claim personally to have discovered all of it, the mere range of his knowledge was so far beyond that of other as to make comparisons not merely invidious but impossible.

His methods of instructing his pupils were highly individual and highly unusual and one of his principles seems to be to guard against their acquirement of too much knowledge prematurely. A corresponding degree of understanding was to be demanded and, until it had been attained, additional knowledge was inadvisable.

The States of Human Consciousness