Frases de George Gurdjieff
George Gurdjieff
Fecha de nacimiento: 13. Enero 1866
Fecha de muerte: 29. Octubre 1949
George Ivánovich Gurdjíeff fue un maestro místico, escritor y compositor armenio, quien se autodenominaba como un simple Maestro de Danzas.
George Gurdjieff nació a finales del siglo XIX en la Armenia del entonces Imperio ruso, su principal obra fue dar a conocer y transmitir las enseñanzas del Cuarto Camino en el mundo occidental. Una personalidad misteriosa y carismática, con un agudo sentido crítico, y una elevada cultura tradicional, acaparó la atención de muchos, guiándolos hacia una posible evolución espiritual y humanitaria. Falleció el 29 de octubre de 1949 en Neuilly-sur-Seine, Francia.
Según los autores que han estudiado su obra, sus planteamientos constituyen un conjunto de ideas interrelacionadas muy innovadoras, que tienen el objetivo de producir la evolución consciente en el hombre.
«Gurdjíeff mostró que la evolución del hombre [...] es el resultado del crecimiento [y desarrollo] interior individual; que tal apertura interior es la meta de todas las religiones, de todos los caminos, [...] pero que requiere un conocimiento directo y preciso, [...] pero que sólo se puede adquirir con la ayuda de algún guía con experiencia y a través de un prolongado estudio de sí y del trabajo sobre sí mismo».
Frases George Gurdjieff
„Al hombre le es dado un número determinado de experiencias; al economizarlas, prolonga su vida.“
Fuente: Los Aforismos, #37 (del toldo en el "Study House", Prieuré).
„Durante el tiempo que pasé en el desierto para ejercitarme, afronté dos huracanes más. Uno de ellos, a decir verdad, no fue muy violento, pero hubiera sido imposible moverse y orientarse dentro de él con los recursos ordinarios; sin embargo, con mis zancos, andaba libremente sobre la arena en el curso de esos dos huracanes, en cualquier dirección, como si hubiese estado en mi cuarto. La única dificultad consistía en no tropezar, porque siempre hay en las dunas, por todas partes, huecos y montículos, sobre todo durante las tempestades.“
Fuente: Gurdjieff, G.I. Encuentros con hombres notables, Del Todo y de Todo (segunda serie). Colección Ganesha, Buenos Aires, 1980.
„La gente no tiene idea de hasta qué punto es arrastrada por el miedo. Este miedo no es fácilmente definible. […] Hay momentos en que este miedo se vuelve casi una obsesión.“
Fuente: Miedos. Identificación. Essentuki, 1917.
„Sólo puede ser justo quien es capaz de ponerse en el lugar de otros.“
Fuente: Los Aforismos, #26 (del toldo en el "Study House", Prieuré).
„A man may be born, but in order to be born he must first die, and in order to die he must first awake.“
In Search of the Miraculous (1949)
„Faith cannot be given to man.Faith arises in a man and increases“
All and Everything: Meetings with Remarkable Men (1963)
Contexto: Faith cannot be given to man. Faith arises in a man and increases in its action in him not as the result of automatic learning, that is, not from any automatic ascertainment of height, breadth, thickness, form and weight, or from the perception of anything by sight, hearing, touch, smell or taste, but from understanding.
Understanding is the essence obtained from information intentionally learned and from all kinds of experiences personally experienced.
„Man has no individual I. But there are, instead, hundreds and thousands of separate small "I"s, very often entirely unknown to one another, never coming into contact, or, on the contrary, hostile to each other, mutually exclusive and incompatible.“
In Search of the Miraculous (1949)
Contexto: Man has no individual I. But there are, instead, hundreds and thousands of separate small "I"s, very often entirely unknown to one another, never coming into contact, or, on the contrary, hostile to each other, mutually exclusive and incompatible. Each minute, each moment, man is saying or thinking, "I". And each time his I is different. Just now it was a thought, now it is a desire, now a sensation, now another thought, and so on, endlessly. Man is a plurality. Man's name is legion.
„Objective knowledge, the idea of unity included, belongs to objective consciousness. The forms which express this knowledge when perceived by subjective consciousness are inevitably distorted and, instead of truth, they create more and more delusions.“
In Search of the Miraculous (1949)
Contexto: Objective knowledge, the idea of unity included, belongs to objective consciousness. The forms which express this knowledge when perceived by subjective consciousness are inevitably distorted and, instead of truth, they create more and more delusions. With objective consciousness it is possible to see and feel the unity of everything. But for subjective consciousness the world is split up into millions of separate and unconnected phenomena. Attempts to connect these phenomena into some sort of system in a scientific or philosophical way lead to nothing because man cannot reconstruct the idea of the whole starting from separate facts and they cannot divine the principles of the division of the whole without knowing the laws upon which this division is based.
„Most prayers have nothing in common with petitions.“
In Search of the Miraculous (1949)
Contexto: When we speak of prayer or of the results of prayer we always imply only one kind of prayer — petition, or we think that petition can be united with all other kinds of prayers.… Most prayers have nothing in common with petitions. I speak of ancient prayers; many of them are much older than Christianity. These prayers are, so to speak, recapitulations; by repeating them aloud or to himself a man endeavors to experience what is in them, their whole content, with his mind and his feeling.
„Socrates’ words, “Know thyself” remain for all those who seek true knowledge and being.“
All and Everything: Views from the Real World (1973)
Contexto: There do exist enquiring minds, which long for the truth of the heart, seek it, strive to solve the problems set by life, try to penetrate to the essence of things and phenomena and to penetrate into themselves. If a man reasons and thinks soundly, no matter which path he follows in solving these problems, he must inevitably arrive back at himself, and begin with the solution of the problem of what he is himself and what his place is in the world around him. For without this knowledge, he will have no focal point in his search. Socrates’ words, “Know thyself” remain for all those who seek true knowledge and being.
„The evolution of man is the evolution of his consciousness.“
In Search of the Miraculous (1949)
Contexto: 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.
