"A modern man lives in sleep, in sleep he is born and in sleep he dies.....He cannot stop the flow of his thoughts, he cannot control his imagination, his emotions, his attention. He lives in a subjective world of 'I love', 'I do not love', I like', 'I do not like', 'I want', 'I do not want', that is, of what he thinks he likes, of what he thinks he does not like, of what he thinks he wants, of what he thinks he does not want. He does not see the real world. The world is hidden from him by the wall of imagination. He lives in sleep. He is asleep......Only awakening and what leads to awakening has a value in reality.
How can one awaken? How can one escape this sleep? These questions are the most important, the most vital that can ever confront a man. But before this it is necessary to be convinced of the very fact of sleep. But it is possible to be convinced of this only by trying to awaken.
Man's possibilities are very great. You cannot conceive even a shadow of what man is capable of attaining. But nothing can be attained in sleep. In the consciousness of a sleeping man his illusions, his 'dreams' are mixed with reality. He lives in a subjective world and he can never escape from it. And this is the reason why he can never make use of all the powers he possesses and why he lives in only a small part of himself.
Man as we know him is a machine......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.
It has been said before that self-study and self-observation, if rightly conducted, can bring man to the realization of the fact that something is wrong with his machine and with his functions in their ordinary state..... Self-observation brings man to the realization of the necessity for self-change. And in observing himself a man notices that self-obsevation itself brings about certain changes in his inner processes.
What may be called the 'astral body' is obtained by means of fusion, that is, by means of terribly hard inner work and struggle. Man is not born with it.
The evolution of man can be taken as the development in him of those powers and possibilities which never develop by themselves, that is, mechanically. Only this kind of development, only this kind of growth, marks the real evolution of man. There is, and there can be, no other kind of evolution whatever.
Evolution is the result of conscious struggle.
Only extraordinary efforts count.
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.'
We must srive for freedom if we strive for self-knowledge. The task of self-knowledge and further self-development is of such importance and seriousness, it demands such intensity of effort, that to attempt it in any old way and amongst other things is impossible. The person who undertakes this task must put it first in his life, which is not so long that he can waste it on trifles."
- Gurdjieff - from Ouspenky's, In Search of the Miraculous -
Ah, but we can't be too serious, now can we?
Just to save us from the curse of old Grey Face, here's a humorous take on the above thoughts from Monty Python's, The Meaning of Life.
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"Item 6 on the agenda, the meaning of life. Now Harry, you've had some thoughts on this."
"Uh, yeah, that's right, I've had a team working on this over the past few weeks and what we've been able to come up with can be reduced to two fundamental concepts:
1) People are not wearing enough hats.
2) Matter is energy. In the universe there are many energy fields which we cannot normally perceive. Some energies have a spiritual source and act upon a person's soul. However, this soul does not exist ab initio as orthodox Christianity teaches, but has to be brought into existence by a process of guided self-observation. However, this is rarely achieved owing to Man's unique ability to be distracted from spiritual matters by everyday trivia."
"...........What was that part about hats, again?"
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