Gurdjieff Studies
@gurdjieffstudies.bsky.social
Quotes and studies of #Gurdjieff's writings and talks, and those of his immediate pupils. Focussing especially on medicine, hypnotism and consciousness.
https://journalgurdjieffstudies.substack.com
https://journalgurdjieffstudies.substack.com
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Journal of Gurdjieff Studies | Till Spiegel | Substack
Exploring Gurdjieff's writings and talks, and those of his immediate pupils. Click to read Journal of Gurdjieff Studies, by Till Spiegel, a Substack publication.
journalgurdjieffstudies.substack.com
The journal newsletter "Gurdjieff Studies" is especially occupied with two major strands:
1. Everything related to what could be called "Gurdjieff's Medicine."
2. Hypnosis, magnetism, & consciousness.
journalgurdjieffstudies.substack.com
1. Everything related to what could be called "Gurdjieff's Medicine."
2. Hypnosis, magnetism, & consciousness.
journalgurdjieffstudies.substack.com
"A very important moment in the work on oneself is when a man begins to distinguish between his personality and his essence. A man's real I, his individuality, can grow only from his essence. It can be said that a man's individuality is his essence, grown up, mature…"
November 27, 2025 at 1:54 PM
"A very important moment in the work on oneself is when a man begins to distinguish between his personality and his essence. A man's real I, his individuality, can grow only from his essence. It can be said that a man's individuality is his essence, grown up, mature…"
"A man usually has many unnecessary, imaginary fears. Lies and fears—this is the atmosphere in which an ordinary man lives. Just as the conquest of lying is individual, so also is the conquest of fear. Every man has fears of his own which are peculiar to him alone…"
November 26, 2025 at 2:01 PM
"A man usually has many unnecessary, imaginary fears. Lies and fears—this is the atmosphere in which an ordinary man lives. Just as the conquest of lying is individual, so also is the conquest of fear. Every man has fears of his own which are peculiar to him alone…"
"Every psychological event, whether it be a sensation, or a feeling or a thought, consumes a certain amount of energy if it is identified with, whereas if you are in a state of Self-Remembering energy will be created & conserved for further use."
(Maurice Nicoll - Commentaries)
(Maurice Nicoll - Commentaries)
November 25, 2025 at 2:15 PM
"Every psychological event, whether it be a sensation, or a feeling or a thought, consumes a certain amount of energy if it is identified with, whereas if you are in a state of Self-Remembering energy will be created & conserved for further use."
(Maurice Nicoll - Commentaries)
(Maurice Nicoll - Commentaries)
"For me to become conscious, my body has to accept and understand its role, not because it is forced but through real interest. In order for unity to appear, my body has to participate consciously, voluntarily…"
November 24, 2025 at 7:53 AM
"For me to become conscious, my body has to accept and understand its role, not because it is forced but through real interest. In order for unity to appear, my body has to participate consciously, voluntarily…"
"You need a higher attention. But your higher attention is taken when you are negative. Begin to be interested that there are different qualities of attention… We need to have a scale."
(John Pentland - "Exchanges Within")
(John Pentland - "Exchanges Within")
November 23, 2025 at 3:08 PM
"You need a higher attention. But your higher attention is taken when you are negative. Begin to be interested that there are different qualities of attention… We need to have a scale."
(John Pentland - "Exchanges Within")
(John Pentland - "Exchanges Within")
“The state of wakefulness depends on sleep… Try to understand what work of harmonious concentration is: you have to concentrate with all your centres…"
November 23, 2025 at 8:05 AM
“The state of wakefulness depends on sleep… Try to understand what work of harmonious concentration is: you have to concentrate with all your centres…"
"...we receive lower or higher influences according to our level of Being. We are told in this Work to try to listen to ourselves..."
November 21, 2025 at 10:07 AM
"...we receive lower or higher influences according to our level of Being. We are told in this Work to try to listen to ourselves..."
"Electricity: in our usual opinion there are two forms of it, positive and negative; but there is also a third form…the field within which the positive and negative forms are related to each other…"
November 20, 2025 at 10:31 PM
"Electricity: in our usual opinion there are two forms of it, positive and negative; but there is also a third form…the field within which the positive and negative forms are related to each other…"
"An immense destructive power is at work and it can be combated only upon the invisible planes of understanding and love."
(J.G. Bennett)
(J.G. Bennett)
November 19, 2025 at 3:48 PM
"An immense destructive power is at work and it can be combated only upon the invisible planes of understanding and love."
(J.G. Bennett)
(J.G. Bennett)
"There must be a sacrifice to sustain the feeling of Presence I have at the moment of an effort. I have to accept voluntarily to give up my ordinary will, to make it serve. Everything depends on my active participation."
(Jeanne de Salzmann)
(Jeanne de Salzmann)
November 18, 2025 at 7:17 AM
"There must be a sacrifice to sustain the feeling of Presence I have at the moment of an effort. I have to accept voluntarily to give up my ordinary will, to make it serve. Everything depends on my active participation."
(Jeanne de Salzmann)
(Jeanne de Salzmann)
“[Humanity] still has a conscience. It is possible for us, we are told, to unbury this organ which is in touch with that which is higher..."
November 16, 2025 at 10:47 PM
“[Humanity] still has a conscience. It is possible for us, we are told, to unbury this organ which is in touch with that which is higher..."
Volume I of "Journal of Gurdjieff Studies" is now also available on Kindle.
journalgurdjieffstudies.substack.com/p/publicatio...
journalgurdjieffstudies.substack.com/p/publicatio...
Publication of Journal of Gurdjieff Studies, Vol.I
Available in Hardback & Kindle
journalgurdjieffstudies.substack.com
November 16, 2025 at 5:23 PM
Volume I of "Journal of Gurdjieff Studies" is now also available on Kindle.
journalgurdjieffstudies.substack.com/p/publicatio...
journalgurdjieffstudies.substack.com/p/publicatio...
Maurice Nicoll makes the memorable statement that one must will the work. He also describes this in terms of consciously willing what happens, what is inevitable, what you have to do out of necessity, what you are afraid of and so on...
November 16, 2025 at 8:23 AM
Maurice Nicoll makes the memorable statement that one must will the work. He also describes this in terms of consciously willing what happens, what is inevitable, what you have to do out of necessity, what you are afraid of and so on...
"…a man unites with truth only through his love, as it were, and in this way his being is changed. But if he is negative, then his love-life—that is, his emotional side—is in a wrong state… To do a thing willingly, from a delight in doing it, will effect a change in you..."
November 15, 2025 at 8:19 PM
"…a man unites with truth only through his love, as it were, and in this way his being is changed. But if he is negative, then his love-life—that is, his emotional side—is in a wrong state… To do a thing willingly, from a delight in doing it, will effect a change in you..."
QUESTION: "It is said in this Work that two giants called Pride and Vanity walk in front of us and arrange everything beforehand. ...Do you think that these two are the only giants that walk in front of us and arrange things? ..."
journalgurdjieffstudies.substack.com/p/88-maurice...
journalgurdjieffstudies.substack.com/p/88-maurice...
(88.) Maurice Nicoll 1 - Commentary on Vanity and Pride - p.357-60
"...you must study Pride and Vanity in yourselves and all their different gradations."
journalgurdjieffstudies.substack.com
November 14, 2025 at 1:04 PM
QUESTION: "It is said in this Work that two giants called Pride and Vanity walk in front of us and arrange everything beforehand. ...Do you think that these two are the only giants that walk in front of us and arrange things? ..."
journalgurdjieffstudies.substack.com/p/88-maurice...
journalgurdjieffstudies.substack.com/p/88-maurice...
"…in trying not to express negative emotions, we are not struggling against the emotions themselves or struggling to do away with their expression. It is a struggle with our identification, to allow the energy otherwise wasted to serve the work…"
November 14, 2025 at 8:43 AM
"…in trying not to express negative emotions, we are not struggling against the emotions themselves or struggling to do away with their expression. It is a struggle with our identification, to allow the energy otherwise wasted to serve the work…"
“Can one stop being a machine?” I asked.
“Ah! That is the question,” said G. “If you had asked such questions more often we might, perhaps, have got somewhere in our talks. It is possible to stop being a machine, but for that it is necessary first of all to know the machine..."
“Ah! That is the question,” said G. “If you had asked such questions more often we might, perhaps, have got somewhere in our talks. It is possible to stop being a machine, but for that it is necessary first of all to know the machine..."
November 13, 2025 at 11:45 PM
“Can one stop being a machine?” I asked.
“Ah! That is the question,” said G. “If you had asked such questions more often we might, perhaps, have got somewhere in our talks. It is possible to stop being a machine, but for that it is necessary first of all to know the machine..."
“Ah! That is the question,” said G. “If you had asked such questions more often we might, perhaps, have got somewhere in our talks. It is possible to stop being a machine, but for that it is necessary first of all to know the machine..."
"…a man's life and its conditions correspond to what he is."
(Gurdjieff in "In Search of the Miraculous" by P.D. Ouspensky)
journalgurdjieffstudies.substack.com/p/current-li...
(Gurdjieff in "In Search of the Miraculous" by P.D. Ouspensky)
journalgurdjieffstudies.substack.com/p/current-li...
Fragments, Ch.2, pp.47-52 - Reading Club posting 9
"...the conditions of life in which a man is placed at the beginning of his work, in which, so to speak, the work finds him, are the best possible for him... These conditions are the man himself, beca...
journalgurdjieffstudies.substack.com
November 13, 2025 at 9:49 AM
"…a man's life and its conditions correspond to what he is."
(Gurdjieff in "In Search of the Miraculous" by P.D. Ouspensky)
journalgurdjieffstudies.substack.com/p/current-li...
(Gurdjieff in "In Search of the Miraculous" by P.D. Ouspensky)
journalgurdjieffstudies.substack.com/p/current-li...
"Mr Gurdjieff wished - perhaps it was his higher task - to bring to life in ordinary man ‘something’ of which man has hitherto been unaware."
(Thomas de Hartmann
(Thomas de Hartmann
November 13, 2025 at 8:21 AM
"Mr Gurdjieff wished - perhaps it was his higher task - to bring to life in ordinary man ‘something’ of which man has hitherto been unaware."
(Thomas de Hartmann
(Thomas de Hartmann
"Man is given a definite number of experiences—economizing them, he prolongs his life."
(Gurdjieff)
Why would economising experiences prolong life?
And what does economising experiences even mean?
...
Article in link.
journalgurdjieffstudies.substack.com/p/economisin...
(Gurdjieff)
Why would economising experiences prolong life?
And what does economising experiences even mean?
...
Article in link.
journalgurdjieffstudies.substack.com/p/economisin...
Economising Experiences
At the end of the previous article in this series, "The Prolongation of Life - Sacrificing Suffering," Thomas de Hartmann was quoted, where, among other things, he spoke of attention as something that...
journalgurdjieffstudies.substack.com
November 12, 2025 at 8:04 AM
"Man is given a definite number of experiences—economizing them, he prolongs his life."
(Gurdjieff)
Why would economising experiences prolong life?
And what does economising experiences even mean?
...
Article in link.
journalgurdjieffstudies.substack.com/p/economisin...
(Gurdjieff)
Why would economising experiences prolong life?
And what does economising experiences even mean?
...
Article in link.
journalgurdjieffstudies.substack.com/p/economisin...
"The realm of feeling comes first in our inner life; indeed all our misfortunes are due to disorganized feeling… at the same time we have no feeling… The whole realm of our feeling is filled with something alien and completely mechanical."
(Gurdjieff - "Views from the Real World")
(Gurdjieff - "Views from the Real World")
November 11, 2025 at 6:19 AM
"The realm of feeling comes first in our inner life; indeed all our misfortunes are due to disorganized feeling… at the same time we have no feeling… The whole realm of our feeling is filled with something alien and completely mechanical."
(Gurdjieff - "Views from the Real World")
(Gurdjieff - "Views from the Real World")
"The seven-tone scale is the formula of a cosmic law which was worked out by ancient schools and applied to music."
November 10, 2025 at 7:22 AM
"The seven-tone scale is the formula of a cosmic law which was worked out by ancient schools and applied to music."
"…the ideas of Mr Gurdjieff, when considered by people who do not actively work on themselves, are like the truth Christ expressed in the words ‘Faith without works is dead.’ I think that the word ‘faith’ here is to be understood as something rational, not as blind acceptance..."
November 9, 2025 at 5:20 PM
"…the ideas of Mr Gurdjieff, when considered by people who do not actively work on themselves, are like the truth Christ expressed in the words ‘Faith without works is dead.’ I think that the word ‘faith’ here is to be understood as something rational, not as blind acceptance..."
"What I need is the ability to hear what comes to me alongside myself, as it were, rather than what comes to me either from above or below. It is not so much that I need to follow or be obedient or even to be pushed…"
November 8, 2025 at 9:05 AM
"What I need is the ability to hear what comes to me alongside myself, as it were, rather than what comes to me either from above or below. It is not so much that I need to follow or be obedient or even to be pushed…"
"...higher centres are fully developed in us and are always transmitting meaning to us only we cannot hear them. We cannot hear their finer vibrations. We are tuned in to the life of the earth and of the five senses..."
journalgurdjieffstudies.substack.com/p/87-maurice...
journalgurdjieffstudies.substack.com/p/87-maurice...
(87.) Maurice Nicoll 1 - A Brief Talk about Dreams (I) - p.352-7
...it is quite clear that the language of dreams is not our ordinary language.
journalgurdjieffstudies.substack.com
November 7, 2025 at 2:41 PM
"...higher centres are fully developed in us and are always transmitting meaning to us only we cannot hear them. We cannot hear their finer vibrations. We are tuned in to the life of the earth and of the five senses..."
journalgurdjieffstudies.substack.com/p/87-maurice...
journalgurdjieffstudies.substack.com/p/87-maurice...