The Gurdjieff Society of West Virginia

The Gurdjieff Society of West Virginia Please visit/like Three Rivers to be connected. Thanks, from Admin

The Gurdjieff Society of West Virginia, serving primarily the Wheeling, WV and Pittsburgh PA areas, has now merged with https://www.facebook.com/ThreeRiversGurdjieffSociety/.

07/20/2026

"A question arises about this birth of which we have spoken: Does it happen continuously, or at intervals, when a man applies himself to it and exerts himself with all his might to forget all things and be conscious in this alone? Now note the explanation. Man has an active intellect, a passive intellect, and a potential intellect. The active intellect is ever ready to act, whether it be in God or in creatures, for it exerts itself rationally in creatures in the way of ordering the creatures, and bringing them back to their source, or in raising itself, to the honor and glory of God. All that is in its power and its domain, and hence its name active. But when God undertakes the work, the mind must remain passive. But potential intellect pays regard to both, to the activity of God and the passivity of the soul, so that this may be achieved as far as possible. In the one case there is activity, where the mind does the work itself; in the other case there is passivity, when God undertakes the work, and then the mind should, nay, must, remain still and let God act.
Now before this is begun by the mind and completed by God, the mind has a prevision of it, a potential knowledge that it can come to be thus. This is the meaning of 'potential intellect,' though often it is neglected and never comes to fruition. But when the mind strives with all its might and with real sincerity, then God takes charge of the mind and its work, and then the mind sees and experiences God. But since this enduring and vision of God places an intolerable strain on the mind while in this body, God accordingly withdraws at times from the mind, and that is why he said, "A little while you shall see me, and again a little while you shall not see me" (cf. John 16:16)".
Meister Eckhart, Sermon 2 (via Richard Smithies)

07/13/2026

“What is required to come to an inner sensation, an inner feeling of reality? We need to know the way, the process, accepting that as we are today we have no means to open to reality amid the activity of life. I must know the road I am traveling—the way up and the way down. I learn first to withdraw from activity in order to find this Presence, something real in me. Afterward, I will again go toward manifestation.”
~ Jeanne de Salzmann, 'The Reality of Being'

06/24/2026

Questioner: I would like to ask a question about concentration. When I want to collect myself and I fix my attention on a point, my thinking seems empty. Instead of being concentrated, it is empty. It is still, but it is empty and this stillness does not exclude associations. On the other hand, when I am held by an external object, my thought is not still but it seems to me much more concentrated. I have no associations. My thought is never fixed but it seems to me far more concentrated than when my concentration is intentional; the stilling of thought I arrive at seems to me the opposite of true concentration.
Gurdjieff [to the other student]: What he is telling you interests me very much. How do you explain the question?
[Other Student]: When he tries to concentrate, his thought agglutinates.
Gurdjieff: No. Don't say it like that. I am going to give an explanation which will be very good for you too and which will help you very much. I can say it now. Try to understand. To begin with, the secret is "I am." You begin like that. Now, I feel "I." But how do I feel "I"? What is "I." I feel this place [the top of the arm] and this one [solar plexus]. Try that now. And at the same time, I constate with my head. Do that. It will make you understand. I feel and sense these two parts [the top of the arm and the solar plexus] and at the same time, with my head, I constate what is going on. Do that now. If you do it, you will understand what has been missing in you up till now. It is very simple. Afterwards, when you have felt that with one part of your attention and with your head, you will be able to travel in yourself, freely. Associations, that is another thing. Leave them alone; they are "cheap" things—little things. I am bigger than my associations.
~ Gurdjieff, "Paris/Wartime Meetings

06/07/2026

"Mr. Gurdjieff frequently said that ‘conscious labour’ and ‘intentional suffering,’ by reducing [the] unconscious flow of associations, could prolong life. For those who work on attention and use it in the struggle with associations, who do not forget to ‘remember themselves’ - for those people attention begins to be not only the centre of life, but also the factor that lengthens it."
~ Thomas de Hartmann, 'Our Life with Mr Gurdjieff'

05/09/2026

". . . the love and seeking of the Divine can be and ordinarily is there before the experience comes — it is an instinct, an inherent longing in the soul and it comes up as soon as certain coverings of the soul disappear or begin to disappear. The next thing I have said is that it is better to get the nature ready first (the purified heart and all that) before the “experiences” begin rather than the other way round and I base that on the many cases there have been of the danger of experiences before the heart and vital are ready for the true experience. Of course, in many cases there is a true experience first, a touch of the Grace, but it is not something that lasts and is always there but rather something that touches and withdraws and waits for the nature to get ready. But this is not in every case, not even in the majority of cases, I believe. One has to begin with the soul’s inherent longing, then the struggle with the nature to get the temple ready, then the unveiling of the Image, the permanent Presence in the sanctuary."
~ sri Aurobindo

04/22/2026

THE OBJECT OF THE INTEGRAL YOGA:
The object of the yoga is to enter into and be possessed by the Divine Presence and Consciousness, to love the Divine for the Divine’s sake alone, to be tuned in our nature into the nature of the Divine, and in our will and works and life to be the instrument of the Divine. Its object is not to be a great yogi or a Superman (although that may come) or to grab at the Divine for the sake of the ego’s power, pride or pleasure. It is not for Moksha though liberation comes by it and all else may come, but these must not be our objects. The Divine alone is our object.
~ Aurobindo, The Integral Yoga

". . . seek first the kingdom of God . . . "
~ Matthew 6:33

04/21/2026

1�Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not love, I am become as sounding brass, or a clanging cymbal.
2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not love, I am nothing.
3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not love, it profiteth me nothing.
4 Love suffereth long, and is kind; love envieth not; love vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,
5 Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;
6 Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;
7 Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.
8 Love never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.
9 For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.
10 But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.
11 When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.
12 For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.
13 And now abideth faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

~1 Corinthians 13

Address

Pittsburgh, PA

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when The Gurdjieff Society of West Virginia posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Organization

Send a message to The Gurdjieff Society of West Virginia:

Shortcuts

Featured

Share

Category