George Ivanovitch Gurdjieff

Gurdjieff — Beelzebub's Tales to His Grandson (1950) [DECLARED]

Gurdjieff — Life is Real Only Then, When 'I Am' (1975) [DECLARED]

Gurdjieff — Meetings with Remarkable Men (1963) [DECLARED]

Cuarto Camino · Founder

Cuarto Camino · Transmitter

«FIRST SERIES: To destroy, mercilessly, without any compromises whatsoever, in the mentation and feelings of the reader, the beliefs and views, by centuries rooted in him, about everything existing in the world» — declara el fin de la primera serie de All and Everything: destruir sin compromiso, en la mentación y los sentimientos del lector, las creencias y opiniones arraigadas por siglos.

«SECOND SERIES: To acquaint the reader with the material required for a new creation and to prove the soundness and good quality of it» — y el de la segunda: dar al lector el material que hace falta para una creación nueva y probar su solidez.

«THIRD SERIES: To assist the arising, in the mentation and in the feelings of the reader, of a veritable, nonfantastic representation not of that illusory world which he now perceives, but of the world existing in reality» — y el de la tercera: que surja en el lector una representación no fantástica del mundo que existe en realidad, y no del ilusorio que percibe.

«No one interested in my writings should ever attempt to read them in any other than the indicated order; in other words, he should never read anything written by me before he is already well acquainted with the earlier works» — impone por escrito, con su firma al pie, el orden de lectura de las tres series.

«as regards the real, indubitably comprehensible, genuine objective truths which will be brought to light by me in the third series, I intend to make them accessible exclusively only to those from among the hearers of the second series of my writings who will be selected by specially prepared people according to my considered instructions» — reserva las verdades objetivas de la tercera serie a los oyentes de la segunda que seleccionen personas preparadas según sus instrucciones; la línea va firmada por él y remitida a la primera serie.

«Read each of my written expositions thrice: First—at least as you have already become mechanized to read all your contemporary books and newspapers; Second—as if you were reading aloud to another person; And only third—try to fathom the gist of my writings» — da en la primera plana de la primera serie su instrucción de lectura, calcada de un dicho que atribuye a la sabiduría popular sobre la plegaria dicha tres veces.

«I now propose to give a form understandable for everyone to everything I have written down for the second series, in the hope that these ideas may serve as preparatory constructive material for setting up in the consciousness of creatures similar to myself a new world—a world in my opinion real, or at least one that can be perceived as real by all degrees of human thinking without the slightest impulse of doubt, instead of the illusory world which contemporary people picture to themselves» — declara al abrir la segunda serie qué se propone: que sus ideas sirvan de material de construcción para levantar en la consciencia un mundo real, en lugar del ilusorio.

«the wise ancient saying, ‘always to strive that the wolf be full and the sheep intact’» — trae como dicho antiguo la fórmula con que resume su modo de proceder.

«according to my convictions which have been formed thanks to long years of investigations, strengthened by numerous quite exceptionally conducted experiments on the results of which is based the 'Institute for the Harmonious Development of Man' founded by me» — declara, en una conferencia leída a sus alumnos, que el Instituto para el Desarrollo Armónico del Hombre lo fundó él y lo apoya en años de investigaciones y experimentos.

«Man is a machine. All his deeds, actions, words, thoughts, feelings, convictions, opinions, and habits are the results of external influences, external impressions. Out of himself a man cannot produce a single thought, a single action. Everything he says, does, thinks, feels—all this happens. Man cannot discover anything, invent anything. It all happens» — Ouspensky reproduce entre comillas su respuesta en Moscú: el hombre es una máquina y todo en él ocurre por influencias exteriores. El volumen no imprime nunca su apellido y lo llama G.

«Man is a plurality. Man’s name is legion» — resume en dos frases, por la misma mano, su tesis sobre la ausencia de un yo permanente.

«Besides these three ways yet a fourth way exists by which can go those who cannot go by any of the first three ways» — enuncia el cuarto camino como el de quienes no pueden ir por los tres que acaba de describir: el del faquir, el del monje y el del yogui.

«The fourth way differs from the old and the new ways by the fact that it is never a permanent way. It has no definite forms and there are no institutions connected with it. It appears and disappears governed by some particular laws of its own» — lo distingue de los tres por no ser permanente: sin formas definidas ni instituciones, aparece y desaparece por leyes propias.

«Schools of the fourth way exist for the needs of the work which is being carried out in connection with the proposed undertaking. They never exist by themselves as schools for the purpose of education and instruction» — ata la existencia de las escuelas del cuarto camino a una empresa concreta y les niega existencia propia como escuelas de enseñanza.

«The fourth way is sometimes called the way of the sly man. The ‘sly man’ knows some secret which the fakir, monk, and yogi do not know. How the ‘sly man’ learned this secret—it is not known. Perhaps he found it in some old books, perhaps he inherited it, perhaps he bought it, perhaps he stole it from someone. It makes no difference. The ‘sly man’ knows the secret and with its help outstrips the fakir, the monk, and the yogi» — le da su otro nombre, el del hombre astuto, y deja sin decidir de dónde sale su secreto.

«But for the benefit of those who know already, I will say that, if you like, this is esoteric Christianity» — así contesta, según Ouspensky, a la pregunta por la relación entre el sistema y el cristianismo.

«A Christian is one who lives in accordance with Christ’s precepts. Such as we are we cannot be Christians. In order to be Christians we must be able ‘to do.’ We cannot do; with us everything ‘happens.’» — define al cristiano por vivir conforme a los preceptos de Cristo y niega que se pueda ser tal mientras todo en uno ocurra en vez de hacerse.

«This is why in all ancient teachings the first demand at the beginning of the way to liberation was: ‘Know thyself.’» — pone el conócete a ti mismo como primera exigencia de todas las enseñanzas antiguas al empezar el camino.

«A great deal can be found by reading. For instance, take yourself: you might already know a great deal if you knew how to read. I mean that, if you understood everything you have read in your life, you would already know what you are looking for now» — contesta a Ouspensky sobre si sirve leer literatura oculta o mística: leyendo se encuentra mucho, y él ya sabría lo que busca si supiera leer.

«But you do not understand either what you read or what you write. You do not even understand what the word ‘understand’ means. Yet understanding is essential, and reading can be useful only if you understand what you read. But, of course, no book can give real preparation» — y en la misma respuesta le niega la comprensión de lo que lee y de lo que escribe, y dice que ningún libro da la preparación verdadera.

«One can be useful to oneself; one can be useful to other people; one can be useful to me» — Ouspensky recuerda su fórmula de las tres líneas de trabajo, y dice que con el tercer término él se representaba a sí mismo como la escuela.

«If you like, this is esoteric Christianity'. And he added: 'What from your point of view is the most important thing in Christ's teaching? It is action: do this, do not do that. The question is—can you do it? You must decide for yourself whether you can understand it better now or not, but you must take Christianity as a teaching of action, not as a mental teaching» — Ouspensky recuerda, en las clases de Londres, lo que contestó en San Petersburgo a la misma pregunta; la comilla suelta de en medio es del relato de Ouspensky y así lo imprime la capa de texto.

«and our Mr District Attorney writes and writes. How can he understand all this when I myself do not very well understand all I have been saying» — Sophia Wellbeloved abre su diccionario con esta pregunta suya en voz alta, tomada de Taylor, sobre el discípulo que toma notas.

«Story is breath, life. Without story man have no self» — Wellbeloved lo cita de Taylor 1998; el inglés rudimentario con que hablaba es el que imprime la fuente y va tal cual.

«George Ivanovitch Gurdjieff <1866?-1949) was born on the borders of Russia and Armenia and travelled widely in the Middle and far East When he returned to Russia in cA9U, he taught that people are ‘asleep’, have no central T and function mechanically» — Sophia Wellbeloved lo presenta al abrir su diccionario de conceptos; el escaneo imprime el paréntesis de las fechas con un signo de menor, la I mayúscula como T y el año del regreso como cA9U (sic).

«When he died he ‘left behind him a school embodying a specific methodology for the development of consciousness’ that, according to Gurdjieff, requires ‘a harmonious blending of the distinctive energies of rniiuf feeling, and body» — la misma introducción cita a Jeanne de Salzmann para decir qué dejó al morir; el escaneo imprime mind como rniiuf (sic).

«Gurdjieffs teaching, known as ‘the Work’, began to be modified during his lifetime, first by Gurdjieff himself in response to the needs» — Wellbeloved nombra su enseñanza como the Work y data en vida de él el comienzo de sus modificaciones; el verbatim se corta antes del folio corrido de la plana.

«The facts of Gurdjieff’s early life are known only from his own mythologised autobiographical writings» — y acota de dónde sale lo que se sabe de su primera vida.

«Ouspensky, who was one of Gurdjieff’s early pupils, sets out an account of the teaching he received in Russia» — Wellbeloved adjudica a Ouspensky la condición de discípulo temprano y ata su libro a la enseñanza recibida en Rusia; es el puente que identifica al G. de ese volumen.

«had been approved by Gurdjieff as a true account of his teaching» — y consigna que él mismo aprobó ese libro como relato verdadero de lo que enseñaba.

«Gurdjieff saw the English language proofs of Tales the week before he died in 1949. It was published in 1950. He left the publication of the other two series at the discretion of his pupil and successor» — Wellbeloved data en la semana anterior a su muerte la revisión de las pruebas inglesas de la primera serie, y en 1950 su publicación.

«The very date of his birth is in dispute, although Gurdjieff himself stipulates 1866. Between then and 1912 we are chasteningly reliant on Gurdjieff’s own four impressionistic accounts, which — in the nature of myth — are innocent of consistency, Aristotelian logic and chronological discipline» — James Moore abre su cronología diciendo que la fecha de nacimiento está en disputa y que para lo anterior a 1912 solo se cuenta con los cuatro relatos del propio Gurdjieff.

«Gurdjieff was born in 1866 — towards this provisional conclusion three separate arguments converge» — Moore da su conclusión sobre el año y la llama provisional, en la nota que abre el apartado Gurdjieff Himself.

«Two extreme views may serve as points of reference: that he was a charlatan, and conversely that he was ‘the most immediate, the most valid and the most totally representative figure of our times» — Moore plantea en su introducción los dos extremos entre los que se mueve el juicio sobre él, y atribuye el segundo a Peter Brook.

«The word ‘myth’ has never been pejorative for me, and in the present context it is dignified by the immense significance which Gurdjieff himself attached to tradition. It is thus in the most positive sense that Gurdjieff is a creature of myth — reiterating in modern dress the urgent quest of literature’s first hero Gilgamesh, King of Uruk. But every stick has two ends. If Gurdjieff is not to become the amorphous plaything of extravagant imaginations, his myth requires the skeleton of an articulated chronology and the musculature of a robust historicity. It is precisely towards the calibration of myth and history that I have worked» — Moore explica el título de su biografía: mito no es palabra peyorativa para él, y dice su trabajo dirigido a calibrar mito e historia.

«Gurdjieff himself seems to speak with a bewildering variety of voices. Reportage offers his direct speech in two strongly contrasted modes: couth and uncouth. Albeit a polyglot in Asiatic languages, Gurdjieff seldom attempted more than a rudimentary English (nouns without articles, verbs without adverbs) which lends an entire genre of English and American memoirs their picaresque quality. By contrast, in the masterly translations by P. D. Ouspensky, a pupil he taught in Russian, Gurdjieff is seen to command a clear, grammatical, and even sophisticated prose» — Moore advierte de las dos voces en que llega su habla, y es la advertencia que esta ficha aplica al citarlo.

«Moore, J.H., London, United Kingdom» — la lista de colaboradores del Dictionary of Gnosis and Western Esotericism le adjudica a James Moore la entrada sobre Gurdjieff.

«At this early juncture balanced encyclopaedism is baulked by Gurdjieff’s cavalier burning of his personal papers in spring 1930 and by a curious absence of collateral evidence» — Moore, en esa entrada, da dos razones de la escasez documental: la quema de sus papeles personales en la primavera de 1930 y la falta de testimonio colateral.

«None of Gurdjieff’s fifteen companions, the “Seekers of Truth”, have resolved into recognisable historical entities» — y consigna que ninguno de los quince compañeros que él llama Buscadores de la Verdad se ha resuelto en figura histórica reconocible.

«George Ivanovitch Gurdjieff (1877-1949)» — la entrada sobre Julius Evola del mismo diccionario lo data en 1877, contra el 1866 que Moore firma en ese volumen.

«For G.I. Gurdjieff (1877 or 1866-1949), as for Boehme, Nature has a double nature, a creational nature and an eternal nature» — Antoine Faivre lo data con las dos fechas en disputa y lo empareja con Böhme por la doble naturaleza que ambos dan a la Naturaleza.

«Oscar Ichazo, G.I. Gurdjieff, and Jacob Needleman would represent the evolutionary current» — Faivre recoge de Sheldon R. Isenberg y Gene R. Thursby una división de la philosophia perennis contemporánea en corriente evolutiva y corriente devolutiva, y lo pone del lado evolutivo.

«GURDJIEFF HAD DEVOTED most of his life to teaching a system of knowledge to his pupils when, shortly before his death, he decided to publish the first of the three books in which he had expressed his ideas» — el prólogo sin firma de sus discípulos, al frente de la segunda serie, data poco antes de su muerte la decisión de publicar el primero de los tres libros.

«At the same time this book is written in the form of autobiography and contains the only available information about his early life and the sources of his knowledge» — el mismo prólogo declara que la segunda serie es la única información disponible sobre su primera vida y sobre las fuentes de su conocimiento.

«This school he calls simply the Universal Brotherhood, without telling more» — el mismo prólogo consigna que la escuela donde dice haber reunido los principios de una enseñanza esotérica la nombra sin decir más.

«But to meet him was always a test. In his presence every attitude seemed artificial. Whether too deferential, or on the contrary pretentious, from the first moment it was shattered; and nothing remained but a human creature stripped of his mask and revealed for an instant as he truly was. This was a merciless experience—and for some impossible to bear» — la nota de los traductores del mismo volumen describe lo que dicen que era encontrarse con él, y de ahí hace nacer las leyendas.

«Gurdjieff himself was amused by these stories. He even went so far as to provoke them, at times, if only to be rid of curiosity-seekers, incapable of understanding the meaning of his search» — la misma nota le adjudica haberse divertido con esas leyendas y haberlas provocado a veces.

«Gurdjieff was a master. This idea of master, so familiar in the East, is hardly accepted at all in the West. It calls to mind nothing definite; its content is extremely vague, even suspect» — la misma nota lo llama maestro en el sentido oriental del término, y dice que la idea no se acepta en Occidente.

«the function of a master is not limited to the teaching of doctrines, but implies an actual incarnation of knowledge, thanks to which he can awaken other men, and help them in their search simply by his presence» — y define la función del maestro según las concepciones que llama tradicionales: encarnación del conocimiento, no enseñanza de doctrinas.

«this is the very idea of the “harmonious development of man” on which he based that Institute which for many years he strove to set on its feet» — la misma nota ata la idea del desarrollo armónico del hombre al Instituto que dice que él se esforzó años por levantar.

«In the beginning in Russia Mr Gurdjieff always insisted that it was not a system; it was just fragments and one had to make a system out of them. And he insisted that it should be given in this way» — Ouspensky, en sus clases de Londres, consigna que él insistía en que aquello no era un sistema sino fragmentos con los que cada quien tenía que hacerse uno.

«The spiritual Work founded by Russian Georg Gurdjieff centers around his Law of Octaves» — Dennis William Hauck le adjudica haber fundado lo que llama el Work espiritual y lo centra en su ley de las octavas; imprime el nombre como Georg (sic).

«Modern examples include the Hindu gurus like Ramana Maharshi and Paramahansa Yogananda, and mystics like George Gurdjieff, who have huge followings worldwide» — Hauck lo pone entre los ejemplos modernos de maestro con seguimiento mundial, junto a Ramana Maharshi y Paramahansa Yogananda.

«none of Crowley’s works mention his humiliation by the famous mystic Georgei Gurdjieff, who berated him and threw him out of Gurdjieff’s community at Fontainbleu in 1925, as related in a well-known book by James Webb» — Ronald Hutton trae el episodio de 1925 tal como lo relata James Webb; imprime el nombre como Georgei y el lugar como Fontainbleu (sic), y el verbatim se corta antes de la llamada de nota.

«the statement of Gerald Yorke to his namesake Gerald Suster, that he was the sole witness of Crowley’s only actual meeting with Gurdjieff and that the latter was a total non-event» — Hutton opone, en la misma plana, el testimonio de Gerald Yorke a Gerald Suster, que dice haber sido el único testigo del único encuentro real entre los dos.

«the question is what G. I. Gurdjieff called “holy the firm.”» — Whitley Strieber, en el libro que escribe con Jeffrey Kripal, le atribuye la fórmula con que nombra el único suelo firme de la vida humana.

«G. I. Gurdjieff taught the importance of friction, and manufactured it in the lives of his students» — Strieber le adjudica en el mismo libro haber enseñado la importancia de la fricción y haberla fabricado en la vida de sus alumnos.