MARCH 5 — GEORGE GURDJIEFF QUOTES
TIME FLOWS IN A MANNER PROPORTIONATE TO YOUR STATE
“Time flows in a way proportionate to your associations. Time flows in a manner proportionate to your state, to the quantity of associations flowing. If you remember yourself time passes slowly. Whilst “I am” three hours have already passed and they seemed like five minutes. At other times it's just the opposite. I have been waiting four minutes for blonde and I think it is three hours. I have made a rendezvous at the cafe — without looking at anything I believe three hours go by in five minutes. When I am with “I am”, the new time, objective time goes quickly. Yesterday you had a quantity of subjective time. Today it is also subjective but of another quality, something that you must deserve and win. If you don't do it you will be the same as yesterday.”
~ George Gurdjieff "Paris/Wartime Meetings"
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IF A FOOL CALLED ME A FOOL I AM NOT AFFECTED INSIDE
M. called me a fool. Why should I be offended? Such things do not hurt me, so I don't take offense — not because I have no self-love; maybe I have more self-love than anyone here. Maybe it is this very self-love that does not let me be offended. I think, I reason in a way exactly the reverse of the usual way. He called me a fool. Must he necessarily be wise? He himself may be a fool or a lunatic. One cannot demand wisdom from a child. I cannot expect wisdom from him. His reasoning was foolish. Either someone has said something to him about me, or he has formed his own foolish opinion that I am a fool — so much the worse for him. I know that I am not a fool, so it does not offend me. If a fool has called me a fool, I am not affected inside.
But if in a given instance I was a fool and am called a fool, I am not hurt, because my task is not to be a fool; I assume this to be everyone's aim. So he reminds me, helps me to realize that I am a fool and acted foolishly. I shall think about it and perhaps not act foolishly next time.
So, in either case I am not hurt.
K. gave me a scornful look. It does not offend me. On the contrary, I feel sorry for him because of the dirty look he gave me. For a dirty look must have a reason behind it. Can he have such a reason?
I know myself. I can judge from my knowledge of myself. He gave me a dirty look. Possibly someone had told him something that made him form a bad opinion of me. I am sorry for him because he is so much a slave that he looks at me through other people's eyes. This proves that he is not. He is a slave and so he cannot hurt me.
I say all this as an example of reasoning.
~ George Gurdjieff "Views from the Real World"
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YOU OFTEN MISTAKE SENSING FOR FEELING
[Gurdjieff]:‘About sensing, you do not know what “sensing” is. You often mistake sensing for feeling and feeling for sensing. You must learn to know when you are thinking, when you are feeling, and when you are sensing. Three processes necessary, and much work is necessary for understanding.’
~ CS Nott “The Teachings of Gurdjieff - A Pupil's Journey”
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AS LONG AS IS NECESSARY TO FULFILL HIS MISSION
“Gurdjieff asserts that longevity is the most important of all human problems. A man must be able to live as long as is necessary to fulfill his mission on this earth—to complete his higher being body and attain ‘the requisite gradation of objective reason’.”
~ JG Bennett "Witness"