"This work not cheap." Mr. Gurdjieff

Suggested Readings:

New Students:

"In Search of the Miraculous" by P.D. Ouspensky

The Necessity of “The Group” 

From the initial perspective of the individual, the main purpose of engaging in “the work” is to begin a search for “self-understanding.”

At the beginning of this journey, we don’t really know what “self-understanding” means.

What we do know, is that we have questions.

What we do know, is there is a part of us which is seeking “something.”

What we do know, is that up to the moment at which we were presented with the possibility of joining “the group,” nothing we had encountered had produced a “real” result which could give us a “real” hope.

If we have been fortunate, then we have each of us had experiences.

These experiences are the evidence.

They are evidence that with the help of “the group,” something can touch us.

We don’t need to understand what it is or how it works.

We only need to know that there is something beyond ourselves, which can and does want to help us.

We only need to know, that before we came into “the group,” this had not been available to us.

Therefore, we now have evidence of the necessity of the first two lines of “work.”

-          Simply stated, we need to work for ourselves (First Line of Work)

• We need to make efforts. But efforts alone are not sufficient. We need the help of something which does not depend on us. We need the “grace” of something “higher.”
• The reality is that in order to sustain any real continuity with “something higher,” we need the help of “the group.”
• Without participation in “the group,” our experiences quickly become faded memories.
• We become dispersed.
• We become mechanical.

-          Therefore, we need to support the health and vitality of “the group.” (Second Line of Work)

• How do we support “the group?”
  • We go to sittings.
  • We go to group meetings.
  • We contribute financially to the extent that we are able.
  • We perform services to the extent that we are able.
  • We extend ourselves to support the other members of the group.
  • We do all of the above, because it both supports our own personal work, and because it supports “the group,” which is just as necessary.
  • We do all of the above as much as is possible, given our individual circumstances.
  • And, we try do all of the above even when the part of us which does not care about “the work,” is trying to undermine our commitment.