All Blogs
All the blog pages that appear on this site were written by senior members of the Seekers Café, sometimes without attribution.
The Five Obligolnian Strivings
“All the beings of this planet then began to work in order to have in their consciousness this Divine function of genuine conscience, and for this purpose, as everywhere in the Universe, they transubstantiated in themselves what are called the ‘being-obligolnian-strivings’ which consist of the following five, namely: “The first striving: to have in their ordinary being existence everything satisfying and really necessary for their planetary...
Belcultassi
Read this slowly, several times, for full impact… “First of all he decided to attain without delay such a ‘potency’ as would give him the strength and possibility to be quite sincere with himself, that is to say, to be able to conquer those impulses which had become habitual in the functioning of his common presence from the many heterogeneous associations arising and proceeding in him and which were started in him by all sorts of accidental...
More Quotes
A collection of quotes from a variety of sources.Don't wait for the Last Judgment, my friend. It happens every day. ~ Albert Camus Everything you add to the truth subtracts from the truth. ~Alexander Solzehnitsyn Once you see your nature, sex is basically immaterial. ~Bodhidharma To give up yourself without regret is the greatest charity. ~Bodhidharma The foot feels the foot when it feels the ground. ~Buddha Things don't change, only the...
Quotes
Including a collection of anonymous quotes, plus quotes from Confucius, Friedrich Nietzsche, Lao Tzu and Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Rūmī.If you want small changes, change your behavior. If you want big change, change your attitude. Know yourself, and your neighbor will not mistake you. Knowledge talks, wisdom listens Listen, or your tongue will make you deaf. One finger cannot lift a pebble. The moon is not shamed by the barking of dogs. The one who...
Proverbs
Proverbs from Africa, China, Japan, Kurdistan and PortugalIt is not work that kills, but worry. Much silence makes a mighty noise. Smooth seas do not make skillful sailors. The problem of the thief is not how to steal the chief's bugle, but where to blow it. When an elephant steps on a trap; no more trap. When an old man dies, a library burns down.A bird does not sing because it has an answer... it sings because it has a song. All the seeds of...
Pupils of Gurdjieff
These sayings come from Gurdjieff's pupils, Alfred Orage, Peter Ouspensky, Maurice Nicoll, Jane Heap and Jeanne de Salzmann.Be a pianist, not a piano. Beings differ in the potentiality of their awareness. Consider the 'sly' man; he tries to be aware always. Controlled imagination becomes mental work. Every time we repress the working of a center, we become a two- or one-brained being. Honest doubt is suspended judgment. 'I' is the Messiah, for...
Sayings
Sayings from Gurdjieff's writings: Mullah Nassr Eddin (from the Tales), Gurdjieff's Father (from Meetings With Remarkable Men), Gurdjieff (from Life is Real Only Then When "I am." and of Gurdjieff, from other sources.'Struth! What might not happen in this world! A flea might swallow an elephant. As soon as anything is needed, it seems that it is filthy and eaten by mice....
The Moon, Kundabuffer
He who knows what his moon is and does can understand the cosmos. ~ Gurdjieff Gurdjieff told the Eastern parable of The Magician. It is this: There was a very rich magician who kept many sheep, so that he could shear them for wool and kill them for mutton. The magician was frugal. He did not want to hire shepherds, nor did he want to erect a wall or fence about the pasture where his sheep were grazing. Consequently, the sheep often wandered...
We Are Mechanical
“The highest limit of human achievement is to be able to do.” ~ Gurdjieff In the Work it is asserted that man is mechanical, that he is a machine rather than the master of himself. In fact, it is stated that “mechanicality” is the general state of humanity. Consequently, it is our state most of the time. We "know" this only intellectually, in the sense that we may think of ourselves as mechanical to some degree. Or worse, this idea was...
Insignificance
The following text comes from the notes taken at a lecture by Gurdjieff given in New York on 6th February 1931. There are two parts to air, evolving and involving. Involving part only, gives vivifyingness to “I.” Only enough of this part is taken now for the Trogoautoegocrat. Not until you have a conscious wish can you assimilate more of this good part of air. This involving part comes from the Prime Source. The secret of being able to...