A Brief Introduction of George Gurdjieff
draruns...@gmail.com
by Premananda
G. I. Gurdjieff is one of the most mysterious and enigmatic figures in
spiritual history. He was sometimes called "The Unknowable Mr.
Gurdjieff." The system of teachings which he brought from a mysterious
source in the East was called "The Fourth Way." The three ways existing
up until that time were regarded as the Way of the Fakir (body), the
Way of the Monk (heart) and the Way of the Yogi (mind). The Fourth way
was said to combine these other three paths in an integrated system to
develop the full man, a path of voluntary evolution. It involved
simultaneous work on the body, the emotional center, and the mind or
intellect.
To follow the Fourth Way was said to be involved in "The Work." It
required a teacher who knew. The purpose of it was to awake. Mankind
was said to be asleep, or hypnotized. To evolve to a higher level it
was necessary for a man to die, and before this could rightly happen he
had to awake. Before he could awake he had to see that he was asleep
and operating much like an automaton under the control of certain laws.
If he could evolve then he would awaken to a higher state which was
subject to fewer laws and thus he would enjoy greater freedom.
The system included a psychology and the student was expected to do
exercises to change his psychology. For example, instead of simply
having his attention and consciousness flow outward he was instructed
to set up an additional stream of focus which was directed inward. This
developed a greater sense of self-awareness, a kind of continuous
self-watching. One of the things that was to be watched was called
"internal considering." This was the endless stream of self-talk
concerned with the "me" and the "mine." Instead he was to develop
"external considering," concern for understanding and caring about
others.
The system also included an elaborate cosmology which was part western
science, part eastern mysticism. The cosmos was called "the ray of
creation" which stretched through from the Absolute as Nothing and the
Absolute as All. A galaxy was called a "world." At the highest level of
"all worlds" things were subject to only three laws. Beyond that was
only the Will of the Absolute which was called the Law of Three. The
ray of creation proceded down through the phenomena of matter-energy
and space-time with each branch of the tree being subject to increasing
numbers of laws. The earth is subject to 48 laws and the next level,
the moon, is subject to 96. Beyond the moon is the negative pole of the
Absolute, nothingness. It stands in union with the positive pole which
is the world of all worlds, in other words, All and Everything. The Ray
of Creation is the appearance of all phenomena reaching between the
paradoxical union of Nothingness and Everythingness. The way in which
this "ray" operated was according to the Law of Seven.
It is stated that mankind, as a part of organic life on earth had a
role to play in the transmutation of substances which he long ago
ceased fulfilling. From this tragedy have followed all the wars of
earth, all the negative emotions and general dysfuntionality of the
species. One of the aims of "The Work" was to restore this lost
functionality. Man was said to be a critical factor in the flow and
transmutation of substances from the sun to the earth. But mankind fell
asleep and the earth became a kind of hell, a terrible place. One part
of waking was said to be to become aware of "The Terror of the
Situation."
Thus the Fourth Way (or "The Work) had as its purpose the awakening of
mankind to his forgotten duty or place in the universe and the
evolution of human consciousness.
Dr.K.Savitha.R. Shenoy
i've an assignment to work on..
then howz life....
keep in touch
regards savi..