Conscious living
GI Gurdjieff
Day 4 - Someone from history whose life has left a positive impact on you. Today you can share someone from history has left a positive impact on you.
Many people have left a positive impact on me but the greatest impact on my life was GI Gurdjieff. By his own account he was a smoker, cheated when he had to and apparently not a very good driver. For some he is the ultimate Guru and for others he was a dangerous man who created a cult. Gurdjieff is one of those people who do not leave much ground in the middle, you either like him or you hate him.
I came across Gurdjieff when my own spiritual life was at the height of uncertainty. I could not associate myself with any religion or faith.
#Gurdjieff offered a teaching that was stripped of any religion and without defining any particular prescription of God. Some claim that his teachings were compatibly with esoteric Christianity. He offered a practical approach of expanding
#conscious self awareness. Gurdjieff had strange teachings but the more I looked into some of the teachings, the better I understood where he came from and what he tried to convey. I am not a devotee of Gurdjieff today but his teaching gave me the basic tools to start on a new spiritual journey of inner discovery. Gurdjieff's departure point was that man is mechanical and act mostly as response to external stimulus. For him the path of awakening was to become aware of yourself, observe yourself and remember yourself. Through this process man can develop the consciousness needed to act consciously rather from mechanical impulse. Man can not follow a religion, teaching of philosophy until that man can remember to remember himself. Observation starts by being aware of your own thinking, feeling and senses. Then Gurdjieff challenges you to question who is observing all that is happening and in the process he introduces you to the observer within...that is not your thoughts, feelings or sensations... Through this process I started on a new process of awakening. No matter what one's religion or belief is, this basic principle introduced by Gurdjieff is for me a basic universal principle. It does not matter how devoted or convinced one is, nor what religion...but to be truly awake one has to live with conscious choice, aware of all the opportunities and possibilities. You do not react as a learned response but you act from within a conscious awareness of who you are. This principle became the foundation for my own spiritual growth and discovery.
To truly live life fully, one has to awaken. When you life with a conscious mindfulness, in touch with the inner core of the observer within, then one can begin to live positively.
Comments (16)
Thank you for sharing a summary of his teachings!
Its a difficult philosophy for me to digest.
Jesus taught that one must essentially have a mind of a child to see the kingdom of God. That idea reminds me of the Judeo-Christian "fall of humanity". "Eating" from and enduring the consequence of the knowledge of good and evil. I interpret this as self-awareness. Aware of the distinction between the left-hemisphere and the right-hemisphere self and from there all other dichotomies that exist in the universe.
So the philosophy of self-awareness turns me off because I interpret it as saying yes to me and no (know) to God, therefore elevating self to the status of god.
Would love to hear your response, because I rarely get the chance to articulate this thought/feeling.
there is a universality in truth
sometimes we need reminding from people like Gurdjieff... I guess what makes him effective is the fact that he used to be of the world, and is now beyond the world... 
I've actually never heard of him. But before I heard of all those other guys I'd never heard of them either
There's always a beginning...
I like that idea of remembering yourself. In fact, higher mystics through certain exercises claim a name, a universal name if you will, by which, they claim to be remember till eternity. Some mystics say that before your transition, if you know this universal name of yours, you must do certain steps which will in some way implant itself in your subconscious and that way come to floatt in your next life
There are so many teachers who can offer you tools to find your own way, a small piece of a puzzle you may spend a lifetime trying to put together. I enjoy seeing the various aspects of the life journey you are on. You have a wonderful openness to everything around you.
Remember yourself after you define and focus on yourself and thoughts. But the thing is with this concept, you have to often keep revisiting yourself. (notice I practice this theory thru my writing daily as I usually focus on myself and not others-sometimes can be misconstrued as selfishness because of how this philosophy works and once I thought it was selfishness too but later I discovered it isnt). Today you taught me who was behind this theory. Never knew there was a spiritual leader behind because I picked it up on my own growing up. Thank you for sharing Zeal! By the way I have to share this with my Facebook readers it is a good explanation of my own philosophy and I want them to learn it too and use it to their benefit. Hope you dont mind my xanga plagiarism! Lol
My hero, Osho, liked your guy. He talked about him.
@fleurdelisart - Thank you for your comment and for providing your perspective.I would encourage you to explore your own believes and treasure them for that is what you need now in your life.If it works for you then fully engage with your faith. There is not much contradiction between the basic teaching of Gurdjieff and that of Jesus. The purpose behind self-awareness in Gurdjieff's terms was that you can differentiate between essence and personality. Personality is everything we acquired through our life experience through our cultural background, education and influence of people. Essence is knowing who you truly are and who you are meant to be. To be like a child for me is exactly the same...to become a child we need to strip away all the external influences and connect with who we were created to be. A child acts from a more authentic self awareness than a person who has layers of influence that determines their actions. In terms of self awareness, Jesus taught that we must love our neighbors like ourselves...which implies that self love becomes before love for others. You cannot develop a healthy self love if you are not aware of yourself. Again there is not much conflict for me in the teachings. I can not associate myself with any philosophy or thinking that request from me not to be thinking, or not to be questioning. The path that opened up for me is one of certainty not speculation. If you truly know yourself you will learn something of God, the Bible teaches that God created man in their image.
@boilingicicle - This entry was only scratching the surface but it does highlight one of the most important aspects of Gurdjieff's teachings...or at least my interpretation of his teachings.
@tribong_upos - You hit the nail on its head....irrespective the teacher we are obligated to search for the truth.
@LadyofWaters - It took some time to really get behind Gurdjieff's teachings...the more universal lesson is not to get too fixated with any particular teaching but to understand which parts of truth are highlighted by them.
@The_Eyes_Of_A_Painter - There are many teachings that speak about a lost word....the word that started the act of creation. The greater value probably lies in looking for that word rather than the word itself.
@songoftheheart - Thank you. You see the full picture. I highlighted just one person in this entry...there is so many others whom I could have mentioned as well. We must stand on the shoulders of the giants
@PatentMagician - Nothing in this entry is purely my own thinking. I just relayed what Gurdjieff taught and its impact it had on me personally. I would like to link you into my FB account.
Thanks
@DivaJyoti - Osho is the one person I do not know enough about...I am sitting with a book of Osho...which I have not read...maybe it is time.
@RestlessButterfly -
@Zeal4living - Which book do you have? Oh, it doesn't matter, but I was just wondering. His bio? or one of his teachings?
@DivaJyoti - Tantra - way of acceptance
You would be my first facebook-xanga "interface" person. I would be honored to have you as my facebook friend, Zeal.
@Zeal4living - true... our own journey is what would really matter in our lives... otherwise the teaching of the wise would not stick in our rock-hard heads
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