08-11-2016, 07:24 AM
(This post was last modified: 08-11-2016, 01:11 PM by herald.
Edit Reason: remove surplus space
)
I have been asked to compare and contrast the so-called Great Work of G. I. Gurdjieff with the channeled material from Ra that we call The Law of One. I humbly accept this honor/duty to shed some light on two teachings I love.
For the benefit of the gentle reader who may not have found the other thread of this forum discussing the one called Georges and his possible polarities in the service to our infinite creator, please allow me this brief excerpt from that thread to begin.
Mr. Gurdjieff was born and grew up under harsh conditions in the late 1800s in a war riddled part of Caucasia. He had a loving family and an Orthodox Christian upbringing. As a very young man he was independent enough to travel on his own, by foot to many parts of Eurasia. During this time he met with and learned from a few of the remaining groups that were originally called the Essenes. (Edgar Cayce reported that it was the Essenes who raised the young Jesus of Nazareth.)
Later in life, Gurdjieff struggled to support dozens of people who were moving as refugees after the horrific takedown of the Tsar of Russia and his family. He made money buying and selling rugs and art, teaching sacred dance, and earlier, by performing hypnosis to help alcoholics recover and repairing small machines. He worked tirelessly, and always with the intent to help others who wished for a better understanding of their human potential.
The central core of this work is that we as we are ... due to unfortunate circumstances beyond our control and established long, long ago in our past … we do not easily and automatically "transform" (the Ra equivalent of graduate). The chances of us doing so, automatically without great effort are small. Correspondingly, I calculate the "harmonious evolution" of the Ra group on Venus as .169 or thereabouts, and the harvest here on Earth is said to be thinner than that. For many here it is not exactly their first "great cycle", either.
Gurdjieff’s shocking statement to the people of his time was “You say man has an eternal soul, well I say man does not have a soul, but he can acquire one.” The Ra statement is equally as shocking for people of our time that believe in a unique eternal human soul, which is roughly: Not only does each human have a soul, but also each mosquito and each blade of grass has a soul- not only that the very carbon atoms and the winds that stir them have a soul as well. What Gurdjieff refers to here, is of course the graduated, or “harvested" soul. Likewise said in the material we remain virtually unaware of our integrated self.
The terminology of The Work is amazingly similar, for example, OMNI-LOVING, All-COMMON, UNI-BEING, CREATOR ENDLESSNESS and THE ONE INTELLIGENT, INFINITE CREATOR. Even in the establishment of a logos,The Work is consistent. Ra says that we are subjected to a "veil of forgetting" and The Work says "self remembering" is crucial, moreover, it is based on the higher aspects of our selves (of which we are unaware for the most part) influencing the lower parts of our selves. Amazingly similar to the "Higher Self" of the Ra Material. The lifespan of the human in G's cosmology is also much, much shorter than it used to be long ago.
Gurdjieff recognized something about human behavior within a small community trying to live in harmony that caused a certain kind of friction which could be used to help along this process of transformation. Ra refers to this friction as catalyst. Although Ra gave to us a system for refining the soul to assist in graduation, sadly that information was said to be so distorted by humans that they felt a need (call it desire if you desire) to return to Earth from the sixth dimension to clarify and make amends. Mr. Gurdjieff's alter ego "Beelzebub" had to spend some time away from his home "star system" (also classifying them differently than common astronomy), after having indulged in a minor "youthful transgression". (This in the 1940's).
Similarly to the gifts from Ra in ancient Egypt, The Work of Gurdjieff was also distorted. Well in advance G. knew this would happen and humorously named his allegory's character after a devil. Nearly indistinguishable from the Ra material isThe Work's painstaking measures to describe a set of distortions of the One, that infinitely separate into the octave of dimensions.
While the Ra material may be useful for the adept seeking either a positive or negative path, the true "work" of Gurdjieff is only useful to those on a positive path, as the vital key to its process is the generation of a kind of energy, through what he called "being Parktdlog duty": described as both "conscious labor and intentional suffering" and "bearing the unpleasant manifestations of others". These terms require a reminder that everyone suffers and labors with catalyst - and when done consciously and intentionally it can help create a special kind of substance in the body that anoints (Greek: Chrios ) and develops what are called the "higher-being bodies". Starkly aligned with the concepts discussed in the Ra material: the fourth and fifth dimensional being forms.
As prerequisite to The Work, the individual needs to be “a good householder”. This means roughly that one’s family, and domestic business is maintained and that they are sound of mind. For a time G. referred to this undertaking as the “fourth way”- a term which was latched onto by his most famous student Pyotor Ouspensky and remains to this day an anathema. To avoid the human tendency to create icons out of terms, Gurdjieff would often change his terminology. He spoke several languages, but made always a great effort to communicate in English. The original concept was: the first way was the fakir, who could overcome the body, the second was the the monk, who could overcome the emotions, and the third, the yogi who could overcome the mind. With Gurdjieff’s revolutionary method, women could openly participate in the spiritual transformation process, a landmark for our written history.
The Work states that the wish for this transformation must be imperative and acted upon; a sense of urgency is conveyed by language such as “the terror of the situation”. Ra speaks of urgent scenarios also, involving a pole shift, negative wanderers and planets, weather manipulation, underground bases, and additionally, a "harvest" which would occur in thirty (three - oh) years, and so on.
Both G. and Ra spoke of very, very ancient civilizations and their knowledge as being quite advanced from our own. The Work details two (2) other, great ages. Ra spoke of chakras, or energy complexes -but The Work was attempting to develop a different language, so the term "centers" was used. For example, the "Higher Emotional Center" parallels the "Green Ray". The three lower centers of The Work functioned automatically - up to a point, like the red, orange and yellow rays - but to get beyond that point (like the progression of the notes Do-Re-Mi- on the musical scale)- the spiritual development a level of conscious awareness needs to be present, which connects the lower to the higher. A second shock is needed then within the same process, in order to coat and develop the "Higher Intellectual Center" (Si-Do). This is an excellent fit with the words of Ra that "understanding" was not for us humans in the third density.
Ra's imperative was expressed in terms of "adepts" and "graduation". In The Work it is set forth at the beginning: In each moment we have we the possibility to recall our deepest wish that we may be able to transform. Ra says the struggle of 51% STO path equals the difficulty of 95% STS (with a thumb on the STO scale). Nonetheless, a graduation of 17% of us would be "super sweet", minus all of the dual bodies and wanderers (Brothers And Sisters Of Sorrow
(The odds aren't good- I mean there are people heroically helping others all over the world- so with hundreds -no thousands of lives in one's history, the question raised by the Ra Material is: Are we STO enough to be acceptable for entry into a more dense experience of life?
The term "The Work" partly refers to G.'s attempt to show how difficult it can be to genuinely develop a community (his held together until the end of his life and even afterwards for a short time through others who used his ideas to aid in their unique way of polarizing, as is our honor/duty in this plane of our creator oneness.) It also remains in the beautiful dance movements he choreographed, which are still performed, and in the music he composed. Currently in print are a series of books that he wrote and completed after nearly being killed in a traumatic car accident several years before he finally died in 1949.
There is a very interesting, though quite possibly transient thread in this forum where a discussion ensues as to whether or not Mr. G. I. Gurdjieff was STS or STO, I hope that we will find apt thoughts quite ripe for posting there.
For the benefit of the gentle reader who may not have found the other thread of this forum discussing the one called Georges and his possible polarities in the service to our infinite creator, please allow me this brief excerpt from that thread to begin.
Mr. Gurdjieff was born and grew up under harsh conditions in the late 1800s in a war riddled part of Caucasia. He had a loving family and an Orthodox Christian upbringing. As a very young man he was independent enough to travel on his own, by foot to many parts of Eurasia. During this time he met with and learned from a few of the remaining groups that were originally called the Essenes. (Edgar Cayce reported that it was the Essenes who raised the young Jesus of Nazareth.)
Later in life, Gurdjieff struggled to support dozens of people who were moving as refugees after the horrific takedown of the Tsar of Russia and his family. He made money buying and selling rugs and art, teaching sacred dance, and earlier, by performing hypnosis to help alcoholics recover and repairing small machines. He worked tirelessly, and always with the intent to help others who wished for a better understanding of their human potential.
The central core of this work is that we as we are ... due to unfortunate circumstances beyond our control and established long, long ago in our past … we do not easily and automatically "transform" (the Ra equivalent of graduate). The chances of us doing so, automatically without great effort are small. Correspondingly, I calculate the "harmonious evolution" of the Ra group on Venus as .169 or thereabouts, and the harvest here on Earth is said to be thinner than that. For many here it is not exactly their first "great cycle", either.
Gurdjieff’s shocking statement to the people of his time was “You say man has an eternal soul, well I say man does not have a soul, but he can acquire one.” The Ra statement is equally as shocking for people of our time that believe in a unique eternal human soul, which is roughly: Not only does each human have a soul, but also each mosquito and each blade of grass has a soul- not only that the very carbon atoms and the winds that stir them have a soul as well. What Gurdjieff refers to here, is of course the graduated, or “harvested" soul. Likewise said in the material we remain virtually unaware of our integrated self.
The terminology of The Work is amazingly similar, for example, OMNI-LOVING, All-COMMON, UNI-BEING, CREATOR ENDLESSNESS and THE ONE INTELLIGENT, INFINITE CREATOR. Even in the establishment of a logos,The Work is consistent. Ra says that we are subjected to a "veil of forgetting" and The Work says "self remembering" is crucial, moreover, it is based on the higher aspects of our selves (of which we are unaware for the most part) influencing the lower parts of our selves. Amazingly similar to the "Higher Self" of the Ra Material. The lifespan of the human in G's cosmology is also much, much shorter than it used to be long ago.
Gurdjieff recognized something about human behavior within a small community trying to live in harmony that caused a certain kind of friction which could be used to help along this process of transformation. Ra refers to this friction as catalyst. Although Ra gave to us a system for refining the soul to assist in graduation, sadly that information was said to be so distorted by humans that they felt a need (call it desire if you desire) to return to Earth from the sixth dimension to clarify and make amends. Mr. Gurdjieff's alter ego "Beelzebub" had to spend some time away from his home "star system" (also classifying them differently than common astronomy), after having indulged in a minor "youthful transgression". (This in the 1940's).
Similarly to the gifts from Ra in ancient Egypt, The Work of Gurdjieff was also distorted. Well in advance G. knew this would happen and humorously named his allegory's character after a devil. Nearly indistinguishable from the Ra material isThe Work's painstaking measures to describe a set of distortions of the One, that infinitely separate into the octave of dimensions.
While the Ra material may be useful for the adept seeking either a positive or negative path, the true "work" of Gurdjieff is only useful to those on a positive path, as the vital key to its process is the generation of a kind of energy, through what he called "being Parktdlog duty": described as both "conscious labor and intentional suffering" and "bearing the unpleasant manifestations of others". These terms require a reminder that everyone suffers and labors with catalyst - and when done consciously and intentionally it can help create a special kind of substance in the body that anoints (Greek: Chrios ) and develops what are called the "higher-being bodies". Starkly aligned with the concepts discussed in the Ra material: the fourth and fifth dimensional being forms.
As prerequisite to The Work, the individual needs to be “a good householder”. This means roughly that one’s family, and domestic business is maintained and that they are sound of mind. For a time G. referred to this undertaking as the “fourth way”- a term which was latched onto by his most famous student Pyotor Ouspensky and remains to this day an anathema. To avoid the human tendency to create icons out of terms, Gurdjieff would often change his terminology. He spoke several languages, but made always a great effort to communicate in English. The original concept was: the first way was the fakir, who could overcome the body, the second was the the monk, who could overcome the emotions, and the third, the yogi who could overcome the mind. With Gurdjieff’s revolutionary method, women could openly participate in the spiritual transformation process, a landmark for our written history.
The Work states that the wish for this transformation must be imperative and acted upon; a sense of urgency is conveyed by language such as “the terror of the situation”. Ra speaks of urgent scenarios also, involving a pole shift, negative wanderers and planets, weather manipulation, underground bases, and additionally, a "harvest" which would occur in thirty (three - oh) years, and so on.
Both G. and Ra spoke of very, very ancient civilizations and their knowledge as being quite advanced from our own. The Work details two (2) other, great ages. Ra spoke of chakras, or energy complexes -but The Work was attempting to develop a different language, so the term "centers" was used. For example, the "Higher Emotional Center" parallels the "Green Ray". The three lower centers of The Work functioned automatically - up to a point, like the red, orange and yellow rays - but to get beyond that point (like the progression of the notes Do-Re-Mi- on the musical scale)- the spiritual development a level of conscious awareness needs to be present, which connects the lower to the higher. A second shock is needed then within the same process, in order to coat and develop the "Higher Intellectual Center" (Si-Do). This is an excellent fit with the words of Ra that "understanding" was not for us humans in the third density.
Ra's imperative was expressed in terms of "adepts" and "graduation". In The Work it is set forth at the beginning: In each moment we have we the possibility to recall our deepest wish that we may be able to transform. Ra says the struggle of 51% STO path equals the difficulty of 95% STS (with a thumb on the STO scale). Nonetheless, a graduation of 17% of us would be "super sweet", minus all of the dual bodies and wanderers (Brothers And Sisters Of Sorrow
(The odds aren't good- I mean there are people heroically helping others all over the world- so with hundreds -no thousands of lives in one's history, the question raised by the Ra Material is: Are we STO enough to be acceptable for entry into a more dense experience of life?The term "The Work" partly refers to G.'s attempt to show how difficult it can be to genuinely develop a community (his held together until the end of his life and even afterwards for a short time through others who used his ideas to aid in their unique way of polarizing, as is our honor/duty in this plane of our creator oneness.) It also remains in the beautiful dance movements he choreographed, which are still performed, and in the music he composed. Currently in print are a series of books that he wrote and completed after nearly being killed in a traumatic car accident several years before he finally died in 1949.
There is a very interesting, though quite possibly transient thread in this forum where a discussion ensues as to whether or not Mr. G. I. Gurdjieff was STS or STO, I hope that we will find apt thoughts quite ripe for posting there.
![[+]](https://www.bring4th.org/forums/images/collapse_collapsed.png)