“The evolution of man is the evolution of his consciousness, and ‘consciousness’ cannot evolve unconsciously."The evolution of man is the evolution of his will, and ‘will’ cannot evolve involuntarily.
"The evolution of man is the evolution of his power of doing, and ‘doing’ cannot be the result of things which ‘happen’."
- G. Gurdjieff, quoted in In Search of the Miraculous, P.D. Ouspensky
Even if this idea quoted above made great impact when I was young, I didn't know the nuts and bolts of what was meant. It sounded powerful, but there was no experience to back it up, only a suspicion it was true.
Slowly I find that some of the most sweeping tenets of the Work reach into tiny details of how I am in daily living. Moments of impartial observation occasionally bring these details up close.
Only then in such moments does it become apparent that there is, in fact, a difference between 'doing' and 'happening.' At that point the idea has finally made its way home -- transported from books and monumental doctrine out onto the sidewalk, into the kitchen, the living room of daily life, where all of our 'happenings' go on.
Through observation and experience, you verify for yourself whether an idea in the Work holds water. There is a built-in process of authentication that goes on, and it ain't nobody's business but your own.
Working glimpses slowly build up a faculty of self-knowledge that has a different vibration rate than school or book learning. It is active and pushes against my passive assumptions, providing insight and emotional force to make conscious decisions and bits of changes within myself.
It is so delicate, and I lose it so often, but thank goodness it can be found now and again through a renewed application of the Method.
