March 23 - Gurdjieff Quotes

MARCH 23 — GEORGE GURDJIEFF QUOTES

'I WISH THE RESULT OF THIS SUFFERING TO BE MY OWN FOR BEING'

Katie said [to Gurdjieff] she had found out things about herself in the exercise that she had not known before and she thought it was because he had deprived her of cigarettes.

He said, "Then you already know that a million dollars not buy what you find out from not having just one cigarette. You must now put the wish for cigarettes into your wish for being. And this is useful for all of you. Say four times daily, 'I wish the result of this suffering to be my own for being'."

~ "Gurdjieff and the Women of the Rope"

...

HE HASN'T YET DRUNK ANY ALCOHOL. ALCOHOL OPENS, IT SHOWS MANY ASPECTS OF YOUR INTERIOR; IT IS VERY IMPORTANT FOR KNOWING SOMEONE

[While the man is writing his question, Mr. Gurdjieff asks someone to take the seat of a second person who is in the kitchen. That person comes back from the kitchen, and sits behind Mr. Gurdjieff who asks a third person to change places with him.]

Gurdjieff: You understand, I do not know him yet. If he asks a question and he is not facing me, I do not see his face and I cannot make an answer that will be subjectively good for him. It is a rule that has not yet been formulated. Here it is: new people should sit here [in front]. For example, he hasn't yet drunk any alcohol. Alcohol opens, it shows [me] many aspects of your interior; it is very important for knowing someone.

~ George Gurdjieff "Paris/Wartime Meetings"

...

MORALITY IS A STICK WITH TWO ENDS

Question: What is the attitude of your teaching to morality?

Answer: Morality can be subjective or objective. Objective morality is the same throughout the earth; subjective morality is different everywhere and everybody defines it differently: what is good for one is bad for another, and vice versa. Morality is a stick with two ends—it can be turned this way and that way.

~ George Gurdjieff "Views from the Real World"

...

Sunday, May 30

Dinner. Olgivanna and Frank Lloyd Wright, their child, Miss Gordon, and Kanari.

WRIGHT: Very interesting, these idiots of yours. I’ve invented some also.

[Gurdjieff did not reply,]

WRIGHT: Mr. Gurdjieff, you’re certainly a good cook: You could earn a lot of money cooking somewhere.

GURDJIEFF: Not so much as I can earn shearing.

[After dinner he brought out a chapter of the Second Series and asked who would read,]

WRIGHT: I read very well,

[Gurdjieff left the room.]

Damn. I’m sleepy. I can't take it. Still, 1 don’t want to hurt the old man's feelings.

[He began to read and Gurdjieff returned and sat down. Wright stopped reading.]

You know, Mr. Gurdjieff, this is interesting and it's a pity it’s not well written. You know you talk English very well, too bad you can’t dictate. Now if I had time, you could dictate to me and I could write this for you in good English.

[He read a few pages and stopped again.]

Now I must go and take my little daughter home. She’s sleepy and so is her father.

GURDJIEFF: Yes, for her sake stop. She is young. You, of course, are old man now and life finish. But she only begin.

WRIGHT: [turning red] My life not finished. I could right now make six more like her...

[Olgivanna with tears in her eyes led the child to the door.]

~ "Gurdjieff and the Women of the Rope"