first and third Wednesday of every month - May 2 and 16
One Hundred Years of Gurdjieff’s Work
October 5th - 7th, 2012
A man once fed a peacock with a pill of opium at four o’clock in the afternoon. Having tasted the intoxication of the drug it came back the next day at exactly the same time for another dose. Similarly, a devotee who has the good fortune of meeting God in the stillness of the heart, feels an uncontrollable desire to meet God again and again.
Mental progress consists in assimilating information and turning it into experience which may be useful in promoting peaceful conditions without and tranquility within. Spiritual progress is the expansion of human sympathy, love, compassion and the increase of a real longing for truth and beauty. Some day, when the grace of God descends upon us, we will realise the narrowness of our ordinary outlook. It matters not if a man eats with his fingers or with knife and fork provided that he observes the laws of hygiene. It is said that a healthy man who does not protect the weak, who is neglectful of his parents and his elders who is not devoted to the cultivation of virtue and who has no interest in prayer is no better than the showy tail of a peacock which attracts hunters and dogs and is consequently but a useless ornament.
Prayer is an attempt by the limited mind to come into contact with the omnipotent Mind which has decreed the laws of nature, which has set the limits to the orbit of the earth and the tides of the sea. It is well known that one imbibes the qualities of those with whom one keeps company and who we respect and love. Prayer involves an attitude of reverence and affection towards the limitless and universal Mind who controls the beat of our pulse, the motions of our thoughts and everything else in the universe. Mind governs matter and the spirit governs the mind. Prayer is natural and an enrichment of our soul but not the final goal. The final goal is the direct experience of our own Self as Absolute and limitless.
Suppose an ant decides to do good to an elephant, what can it do? Let the ant evolve and become a human being and it will be in a position to do good to the elephant. Change the inner mental set-up through an attitude of reverence and service in inner silence created by prayer. Then we will see more, much more.
March 6, 2009
