In Search of the Miraculous

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The following is the teaching of Gurdjieff,

such as it has been understood and formulated

by Ouspensky, concerning the practical task

of survival:

 

« On one occasion, at one of these meetings,

someone asked about he possibility of

reincarnation, and whether it was possible to

believe in cases of communication with the

dead. "Many things are possible", said

Girdjieff. "But it is necessary to understand

that man's being, both in life and death, if

it does not exist after death, may be very

different in quality. The 'man-machine' with

whom everything happens, who is now one, the

next moment another, and the next moment a

third, has no future of any kind; he his

buried and that is all. Dust returns to dust.

This applies to him. In order to be able to

speak of any kind of future life there must

be a certain crystallisation, a certain

fusion of man's inner qualities, a certain

independence of external influences. If there

is anything in a man able to resist external

influences, then this very thing itself may

also be able to resist the death of the

physical body... But even if something

survives, its future can be very varied. In

certain cases of fuller crystallisation, what

people call 'reincarnation' may be possible

after death, and, in other cases, what people

call 'existence on the other side'. In both

cases it is the continuation of life in the

'astral body', or with the help of the

'astral body'. You know what the expression

'astral body' means. But the systems with

which your are acquainted and which use this

expression state that all men have an 'astral

body'. This is quite wrong. What may be

called 'astral body' is obtained by means of

fusion, that is, by means of terribly hard

inner work and struggle. Man is not born with

it. And only a few men acquire an 'astral

body'. If it is formed it may live after the

death of the physical body (but what is born

comes to dies, note from Antoine), and it may

be born again in another physical body...

Fusion, inner unity, is obtained by means of

'friction', by the struggle between 'yes' and

'no' in man. If man lives without inner

struggle, if everything happens in him

without opposition, if he goes wherever he is

drawn or wherever the winds blows, he will

remain such as he is. But if struggle begins

in him, and particularly if there is a

definite line in this struggle, then

gradually, permanent traits begin to form

themselves, he begins to 'crystallise'...

Crystallisation is possible on any

foundations. Take for instant a brigand, a

really good, genuine brigand. I knew such a

brigand in the Caucasus. he will stand with a

rifle behind a stone by the roadside for

height hours without stirring. Could you do

this? All the time, mind you, a struggle is

going on in him. He his thirsty and hot, and

flies are biting him; but he stands still.

Another his a monk; he his afraid of the

devil; all night long he beats his head in

the floor and prays. thus crystallisation is

achieved... Such people can become immortal."

»

>From "In search of the Miraculous" P.D.

Ouspensky