Essential teachings from Maurice Nicoll, whose wartime talks in England became the Wisdom classic, Psychological Commentaries of Gurdjieff.
Logion 8, the parable of the net full of small fishes, and hidden among these is one large, exceptional fish. A ‘B influence’ is the large, exceptional fish. “A influences are created by life. They arise within the life of mechanical humanity from the interests of...
Spiritual intuition results from the intimate and profound alliance of intelligence and spontaneous wisdom. “Time, all our times, are contained in something bigger—a space. The fullness of time becomes space, a vast, gentle wideness in which all possible outcomes, all...
"Whenever we remember ourselves in the mechanical sense by remembering our miseries and suffering, we are like Lot's wife." Maurice Nicoll ”No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the Kingdom of God." (Luke IX, 62.) “The tendency in the...
Practice inner separation from life in order to see higher truths “As regards this isolation from life that I spoke about, Mr. Ospensky used to say that there are four things that help above all others to isolate us from the influences of life which tend to drag us...
The term Deputy-Steward in Maurice Nicoll’s writings describes a crucial stage in the development of states of consciousness. “You can be the same person every day if you like, or you can wish to be different. You can go on submitting to negative emotions,...
The whole matter of waking up from spiritual slumber begins with meditation. “How many times is this said in the Gospels: ‘Awake, watch, sleep not!’ But people do not understand it or they think it is a metaphor whereas it is literally true. If people awakened from...
The essential meaning of the parable of the Unjust Steward is that if a person fails in their highest purpose, they must return to what they can know and understand. “The Parable of the Unjust Steward is about a man who fails but who acts in a way that is commended....
The Gurdjieff Law of Three in the Trisagion Hymn. Agios O Theos (O Holy God), Agios ischyros (Holy, Strong), Agios athanatos, eleison imas (Holy, Immortal, have mercy on us) “What if Holy God is first force, Holy the Firm is Holy denying Second Force, and Holy the...
The Beatitudes: Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. “The key to this fourth beatitude lies in understanding what the word righteousness means. To our post-Puritan, post-Victorian ears, righteousness is a synonym for...
Maurice Nicoll comments on the meaning of resist not evil and turn the other cheek, in the context of Will and Willing. “Instead of referring everything to the idea of fairness and justice it is far better to will what you have to do in everything and try to awaken...
The peacemakers scripture from the Beatitudes: Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. The Foundation: Purity of Heart as Precursor "When your heart becomes pure, and one of the ways that your heart becomes pure is by working to domesticate...
Conscious evolution only takes place by conscious effort. The Source Beyond Life's Demands "Conscious effort means effort that is not necessary in life and is not occasioned by life. That is, life is not the cause of it; the source of its origin does not lie in life....