Georges Gurdjieff

A Documentary Film

Produced by Jean-Claude Lubtchansky

https://www.gurdjieff.org/lubtchansky1.htm

the excerpts:
Pierre Schaeffer:

One might ask why Gurdjieff did not appear in political events. It seems that his ambition was greater than that. It seems also that the sources rediscovered by Gurdjieff during his 20 years of far-flung journeys, these treasures from a lost civilization, this forgotten wisdom, of which he may be the only real heir, appeared greater to him than any political activity. Besides, one is forced to admit that most human endeavors end in failure, become contradictory and that the results are completely opposite and in a contrary direction to that of the original expectations……

Dr. Michel de Salzmann:

If for example we take a moment to consider our life, it would seem that to put oneself in question—taking the time to stop and see who one is, what a human being really is—is an incredible luxury. I term it a luxury because the movement of life is such, its pressure so great, that the current of never-ending social suggestion and its hypnotic consensus ensures that everyone is at the mercy of individual as well as collective fantasies. But if this fundamental questioning ever takes place, it requires attention. With a small amount of attention there is only a small amount of self-questioning. If we were capable of a complete mobilization of ourselves, that is, possessing a total attention—including not only our thought but also our emotion, or feeling, and even our body—perhaps we could, in this act of general mobilization in which we finally appear; perhaps we could know ourselves and have a response to the question: ‘Who am I?’

And then finally, ultimately, might we get to the bottom of this question: ‘Who am I?’—following it to its supreme limit, by being able to completely mobilize oneself—but this, says Gurdjieff, is impossible for us and he explains why this is so.

Question: And doesn’t such an experience need an entire life? Is it possible to do something such as this by oneself?

In theory, it is possible: because one does not need time to know … but practically, it is a different thing. If we take into account the strength of our conditioning, a counter-current is needed, another influence of extraordinary strength, in order to oppose one’s personal conditioning resulting from 10, 20, 50, 60 years of habits, or from the general conditioning of our surroundings, the influence of the milieu in which we live, established through centuries.

However, this force does exist. In certain moments, a man may, all of a sudden, hear this question which is inside himself and may realize progressively that it is impossible for him to stay there, and be involved in life at the same time—this is the main point—because Gurdjieff requested that we not abandon life in order to be, and not only not abandon life but even not wish to change the conditions of one’s own life, saying that everything that makes up the life of each one of us is the reflection of his person, and therefore a mirror for self-knowledge.

[Reading of a conversation between Gurdjieff and Ouspensky from In Search of the Miraculous, p. 22.]

Try to understand what I am saying: everything is dependent on everything else, everything is connected, nothing is separate. Therefore everything is going in the only way it can go. If people were different everything would be different. They are what they are, so everything is as it is.
This was very difficult to swallow.
‘Is there nothing, absolutely nothing, that can be done?’ I asked.
‘Absolutely nothing.’
‘And can nobody do anything?’

That is another question. In order to do it is necessary to be. And it is necessary first to understand what to be means. If we continue our talks you will see that we use a special language and that, in order to talk with us, it is necessary to learn this language. It is not worth while talking in ordinary language because, in that language, it is impossible to understand one another. This also, at the moment, seems strange to you. But it is true. In order to understand it is necessary to learn another language. In the language which people speak they cannot understand one another. You will see later on why this is so.

……