Essential teachings from Maurice Nicoll, whose wartime talks in England became the Wisdom classic, Psychological Commentaries of Gurdjieff.
“In the Lords Prayer there are innumerable ideas. Each phrase has inner octaves." Maurice Nicoll Sacred Gestures of Exchange “Many people have observed that when you say the Lord’s Prayer you look at how exchange is so much a part of it. This becomes particularly...
What is Worry? “Every time you say ‘I am so worried,’ you give energy to it. You should not speak your worry.” Maurice Nicoll, Informal Work Talks and Teachings 1940-1950, p132. “QUESTION: What is worry? Does the Work say anything about worrying? How can it be...
Spiritual awakening: “Heaven is not a place that you die into, but a place that you awaken to, and you awake now, and you awake in the next moment, and the next moment, and the next moment.” Cynthia Bourgeault The Foundation of Spiritual Awakening “The obedient mind...
“This unity of opposites, this reconciling force, is a third thing, a Third Force, connecting both opposites and yet different from either.” Maurice Nicoll The Cross as Unity of Opposites “The Cross is the union of two pairs of opposites, and the practice of the Cross...
The parable of the wise and foolish virgins must be understood beyond its literal meaning - the lamp represents spiritual teaching while oil symbolizes the fruit of actual inner work. Knowledge alone creates lamps without oil; only through practical application of...
“Real miracles are brought about by attracting the laws of a higher world to act in a lower world." Maurice Nicoll Miracles as Divine-Human Collaboration "Miracles are fruits of the union of the whole, concentrated human being with cosmic truth, beauty and...
“The faith that moves mountains can neither be an intellectual opinion nor a personal feeling, no matter how intense.” Meditations on the Tarot Faith as an Operative Agent "Faith is not just an attitude of belief. It has agency. It acts. If we believe, then everything...
"When you begin to unknow what you were sure you knew, you are undergoing a change of mental outlook, you are undergoing a change of mind, you are undergoing metanoia." Maurice Nicoll Definition of Metanoia "Meta indicates transference, or transformation, or...
“[A man] may act from Good, from seeing the good of acting so. This develops the internal man.” Maurice Nicoll “Therefore speak I to them in parables; because seeing they see not, and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand." (Matthew XIII xi-xiii) The...
“The joy of good conscience is the accord between the moral rhythms of the lower self and the higher Self.” Meditations on the Tarot The Nature of Conscience "The word conscience ("con-science") contains the idea of balance, for it implies 'simultaneous knowing', i.e....
On chastity and being emotionally present: “The purifying of the emotional center corresponds directly with a monastic vow of chastity.” Cynthia Bourgeault Defining True Chastity "The vow of chastity means putting into practice the resolution to live according to...
The idea of justice on this Earth is illusion. All of sleeping humanity belongs to a tiny planet which is a kind of lunatic asylum. There is no justice, no spiritual justice. The Classical Understanding of Justice "Plato's four cardinal virtues: wisdom, courage,...