Essential teachings from Maurice Nicoll, whose wartime talks in England became the Wisdom classic, Psychological Commentaries of Gurdjieff.
Inner sincerity and spiritual integrity in conscious efforts. “It is not enough to wish to be sincere. There is no effort I can make to arrive at sincerity directly. Real sincerity needs no vehemence or emphasis. It is not concerned with convincing others. It often...
In the transformation of the self, what we experience in Time is the result of our level of Being. It’s not quite a mantra, but the phrase “your Being attracts your life” appears six or seven times in Maurice Nicoll's Psychological Commentaries. Like the condensed...
Commentary on the Parable of the Talents, by Cynthia Bourgeault and Maurice Nicoll. The Mirror Principle: Quality Over Quantity "As you remember the plot of that [parable], the landlord was gone away on a trip so he called his servants and entrusted one with five...
Conscious life seen as a little death. “If you practice dying to things in yourself, gradually you will become more and more alive.” Maurice Nicoll, Commentaries p665 “There will be a death and a resurrection, as there always follows a resurrection from what we die...
Teachings on Reciprocal Feeding from Maurice Nicoll and the Gospel of Thomas The Black Locust (Robinia pseudoacacia) has a unique strategy for transforming energy that can be viewed through the lens of our spiritual teachings. Rhizobium bacteria infect the root...
Spiritual aim through self-observation. “The psychological meaning of the Pharisees refers, not to certain people who lived long ago, but to oneself now—to the Pharisee in oneself, to the insincere person in oneself, who, of course, cannot receive any real and genuine...
The Gurdjieff teachings of levels of consciousness and awakening from sleep. “Self-criticism is a dead end, it is a particularly negative identification, and 100% mechanical. It leads away from and not towards self-change.” Annie Lou Staveley, The Plan Is Good, p107...
The self transforming relationships of these four ideas. Maurice Nicoll states that the center of gravity of Will is in the Emotional Center—the part that is the object of the Work to awaken. Instead of Will being stern resolve, there is a new emotion entering this...
Thoughts on the transformation of self through living between opposites. In The Plan Is Good, a collection of her writings, Annie Lou Staveley writes about “pulls,” which seems to be her term for what Maurice Nicoll calls “opposites.” She says, “Now I’m...
Maurice Nicoll, Yeshua, and T.S. Eliot speak of consciousness levels. Maurice begins his talk with the statement, “The feeling of Eternity enters into Self-Remembering, and does not enter into Self-Observation.” Commentaries, p943. I love Maurice’s talks about...
Purifying the Emotional Center of Negativity is one path to self transformation. “It is in my thoughts and my feelings in which begins a possibility of ascent and descent. I must work to connect the idea of purification with this.” Annie Lou Staveley, The Plan is...
Conscious labor in the Teachings makes conscious levels of relationship possible. Maurice Nicoll offers a short talk on relationship. “Relationship depends on Attitude: attitude towards oneself, towards life, including other people, and attitude towards the universe.”...