Source Text
speaks not of sin, but of being asleep, just as the Gospels do not really speak of sin, but only of missing the mark—the Greek word means that.
It depicts a man lying fast asleep flat on the earth, and a ladder stretching to heaven, and angels on it blowing trumpets almost in the man’s ear. Yet he hears nothing.
This work is beautiful when you see why it exists and what it means. It is about liberation. It is as beautiful as if, locked for years in prison, you see a stranger entering who offers you a key. But you may refuse it because you have acquired prison-habits and have forgotten your origin, which is from the stars.
the first sign is usually that a person suddenly begins to realize the Work is talking about something real and shews some sign of thinking about the ideas. The first change is in the mind—i.e. to think differently. This is metanoia—in the Gospels wrongly translated as “repentance”.
This happens when a man no longer merely thinks about self-remembering, but actually does it—when he no longer tries to escape from negative states by thinking himself out of them, but stops all his thoughts and lifts himself up into self-remembering.
“And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it.”
Work-aim has to do with the vertical line. Life-aim has to do with the horizontal line. A man can reach his life-aim. (When he does so he usually is at a loss and does not know what to do.)
Life does not contain inexhaustible meaning, but the vertical line represents inexhaustible meaning—hence “vertical aim” can never be fulfilled as “life-aim” may be.
Nothing in Time remains the same—even the mountains are changing. But this change, that belongs to Time, is not transformation.
The inner arrangement of a man must change—i.e. the lower centres in a man must be prepared by work before the transforming influences from higher centres can begin to reach him. The forces of transformation act from the vertical line. They act upon “substances” lying in the horizontal line in Time.
AI Summary
Psychological Commentaries on the Teaching of Gurdjieff and Ouspensky 1 by Maurice Nicoll presents key insights from the Gurdjieff tradition. The 10 passages above capture the essential teachings.
Core Themes:
- [To be expanded]
Key Passages: Highlights 1, 3, and 10 are particularly representative.
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