March 2nd, 2006

PSYCHOLOGICAL ILLUSIONS

Explorations of the Gurdjieff Fourth Way Teaching

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“... every man should strive to have his own “I” ... .”
G. I. Gurdjieff, Beelzebub’s Tales to His Grandson (1950, p.1201)

“Both states of consciousness, sleep and the waking state,
are equally subjective. Only by beginning to remember
himself does a man really awaken. And then all
surrounding life acquires for him a different aspect
and a different meaning. He sees that it is the life of
sleeping people, a life in sleep. All that men say, all that
they do, they say and do in sleep. All this can have no
value whatsoever. Only awakening and what leads
to awakening has a value in reality.”
(G. quoted by Ouspensky, 1949, p. 143)

“Ordinary psychology is very far from reality. ...
We ascribe to ourselves many qualities
we do not possess.” (Ouspensky, 1957, p. 27)

“(One) illusion is that we are awake. When we realize that we are asleep we will
see that all history is made by people who are asleep. Sleeping people fight, make laws;
sleeping people obey or disobey them.The worst of our illusions are the wrong ideas
among which we live and which govern our lives. If we could change our attitude towards
these wrong ideas and understand what they are, this in itself would be a great change
and would immediately change other things.” (1957, p.29)

“... until we begin to understand our illusions, we can never see truth.”
(1957, p. 18)

From the fourth way perspective, modern science is quite mistaken and deluded about the nature of humans and the universe. We have mistaken ideas about the most basic questions in psychology and about ourselves as individuals. According to Gurdjieff, the possibilities for expanded and heightened states of self realization and spiritual and cosmic consciousness are latent within human beings. However, until an individual awakens, there are different veils or covers which limit one’s realization of life. Humans, as they are, live in a state of “waking sleep” or “automated consciousness” and fail to “instinctually sense reality,” as it is.
The Gurdjieff teaching exposes the general sleepwalking state of humankind, the hypnosis and conditioning by which people are imprisoned. It can then help to liberate us from these illusions, and to awaken and realize our deeper cosmic nature as beings. Gurdjieff’s teaching concerns the dissolution of the false consciousness system and the deeper realization that “I AM.” To attain self knowledge, the individual has to awaken and overcome the illusions limiting their understanding. As it is, people generally think that they already know themselves and it is not apparent how there might be any mysterious secret self-knowledge available to us.

According to Beelzebub, the central character in Gurdjieff's Tales, the three-brained beings on planet Earth are microcosmoses or "similitudes of the Whole." As such, they have the possibility of not only serving local cosmic purposes, feeding the earth and moon as part of organic life on earth, but also of experiencing sacred being-impulses, attaining varied levels of objective reason and individuality, and even of "blending again with the infinite." (1950) As a microcosm of the macrocosm, a human being can potentially coat higher being bodies for the life of the soul, instinctually sense cosmic truths and phenomena, and maintain existence within the subtle realms of being after death achieving different levels of immortality. Unfortunately, humankind came to exist only in waking sleep states of automated consciousness, perceiving reality topsy-turvy, conditioned by pleasure and self love, and wasteful of their sacred substances. Human beings no longer realize their deeper cosmic purposes and possibilities, or attain real "I."

Psychological Illusions examines the psychology of the fourth way teaching, the psychopathology of humankind as explained by Gurdjieff, as well as the cosmology and metaphysics elaborated by this remarkable teacher. This includes material on the Ray of Creation, the fundmaental cosmoc laws, and the alchemical processes involved in the crystallization of the higher-being-bodies for the life of the soul. Gurdjieff has outlined a remarkably consistent, intelligent and sophisticated model of life, human consciousness and the Universe, which raises questions about everything thought to be understood in common knowledge. Gurdjieff himself described his aim - "to destroy without mercy ... the beliefs and views, by centuries rooted in him (humankind), about everything existing in the world." Gurdjieff's remarkable teaching does indeed enable us to understand "all the rubbish accumulated in human mentation." (1950)

The Gurdjieff fourth way teachings offers a profound analysis of human psychology, and the metaphysics and cosmology of consciousness. It is a remarkable and coherent system of esoteric teaching about the miraculous possibilities existing for the evolution of the individual human being, and about the horror of the situation for humanity asleep, living under their psychological illustrations. ISBN # 0-9689435-2-7

$32 Cdn, $27 US funds

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