#am i right that you could theoretically have...........21 summons?

[danielnelsen]

ok so at this point maybe im deliberately taking the piss with my party size

[torontohypnotherapist]

MAY 16 — GEORGE GURDJIEFF QUOTES

WITHOUT INSTRUCTION OR INVITATION, SOLITA, LOUISE AND I REPORTED TO THE CAFÉ DE LA PAIX IN MIDMORNING, SAT AT A TABLE NEAR TO GURDJIEFF'S AND WAITED FOR HIM TO SUMMON US OR TO IGNORE US

"The next morning, without instruction or invitation, Solita, Louise and I reported to the Café de la Paix in midmorning, sat at a table near to Gurdjieff's and waited for him to summon us or to ignore us. Subsequent events suggested that we were already tied together in his mind as a small group with which he could work; but that thought was as far from our imagination as a space probe was then. We were simply waiting for another crumb from his "idea table," if such might be forthcoming. An invitation for another cray­fish dinner that night was the reward. for our enterprise. And after dinner, said Gurdjieff, we would all go back to my hotel room and read his book.

"This was our group's inception — on on a Monday night, October 21, 1935, in a Left Bank hotel room one flight up from the noisy street, with extra chairs brought down from the higher and better rooms (to which Gurdjieff did not wish to climb) and Perrier water and ashtray set out for him beside the sagging sofa that he occupied completely, like a Buddha on a pedestal, listening to us read aloud in turn the opening chapters of his First Series entitled 'An Objectively Impartial Criticism of the Life of Man' or, 'Beelzebub's Tales to His Grandson'."

~ Kathryn Hulme "Undiscovered Country" ...

REMORSE IS THAT WHICH REMOVES THE SALT

Questioner: When I try to work on remorse, there is always some part of me that refuses, that tells me that it is useless, that it will not lead anywhere or to anything. I wish to understand better the use of remorse, its necessity, to enable me to convince myself and struggle against this refusal.

Gurdjieff: It is very simple. Look at this. [He takes a section of a tangerine from his plate.] This is destined to become jam, it has to become jam, it was made for that. But it is full of salt. What should be done? It must be washed, soaked, cleaned to remove the salt. Afterward it can become jam. With the salt it is impossible. Remorse is that which removes the salt. This is what purifies. You understand?

~ George Gurdjieff “Paris/Wartime Meetings” ...

WE MUST ACCUSTOM OURSELVES TO UNDERSTAND WHAT OBJECTIVE MEANS

“The objective feeling of morality is connected with certain general, orderly and immutable moral laws, established over the centuries, in accordance both chemically and physically with human circumstances and nature, established objectively for all and connected with nature (or, as is said, with God). The subjective feeling of morality is when a man, on the basis of his own experience and his own personal qualities, his personal observations, a sense of justice entirely his own, and so on, forms a personal conception of morality, on the basis of which he lives.

“Both the first and the second feeling of 'morality are not only absent in people but people even have no idea of them. What we say about morality relates to everything. We have in our minds a more or less theoretical idea of morality. We have heard and we have read. But we cannot apply it to life. We live as our mechanism allows us. Theoretically we know that we should love N., but in actual fact he may be antipathetic to us—we may not like his nose. I understand with my mind that emotionally also I should have a right attitude to him, but I am unable to. Somewhere far away from N., I can in the course of a year decide to have a good attitude toward him. But if certain mechanical associations have established themselves, it will be just the same as before when I see him again. With us the feeling of morality is automatic. I may have established a rule for myself to think in this way, but "it" does not live like that.

“If we wish to work on ourselves we must not be only subjective; we must accustom ourselves to understand what objective means. Subjective feeling cannot be the same in everyone, since all people are different. One is English, another a Jew; one likes plover, and so on. We are all different, but our differences should be united by objective laws. In certain circumstances small subjective laws are sufficient. But in communal life justice can be attained only through the objective. Objective laws are very limited. If all people had this small number of laws in them, our inner and outer life would be a great deal happier. There would be no loneliness, nor would there be unhappy states.

“From the most ancient times through experience of life and wise statesmanship, life itself gradually evolved fifteen commandments and established them for the good of individuals as well as for all peoples. If these fifteen commandments were actually in us all, we would be able to understand, to love, to hate. We would have levers for the basis of right judgment. All religions, all teachings come from God and speak in the name of God. This does not mean that God actually gave them, but they are connected with one whole and with what we call God.

“For example: God said: Love thy parents and thou wilt love me. And indeed, whoever does not love his parents cannot love God.

“Before we go any further, let us pause and ask ourselves: Did we love our parents, did we love them as they deserved, or was it simply a case of "it loves," and how should we have loved?”

~ George Gurdjieff “Views From the Real World” ...

CONSCIOUSNESS CANNOT EVOLVE UNCONSCIOUSLY

The evolution in which man should be interested before anything else, is his own inner evolution. “The evolution of man”, says Gurdjieff, “can be taken as the development in him of those powers and possibilities which never develop by themselves, that is mechanically.” And on another occasion: “In speaking of evolution it is necessary to understand from the outset that no mechanical evolution is possible. The evolution of man is the evolution of his consciousness. And ‘consciousness’cannot evolve unconsciously. The evolution of man is the evolution of his will, and ‘will’ cannot evolve involuntarily. The evolution of man is the evolution of his power of doing, and ‘doing’ cannot be the result of things which ‘happen’.”

~ Martin Ekker "Gurdjieff: The Man and His Work"