George Gurdjieff: Was this man the best psychologist ever? Philosophy

Tonight's meeting we will be discussing about Gurdjieff's psychological concept of "buffers". The source is Ouspensky's book, where he transcribes the teachings of Gurdjieff, called "In search of the Miraculous". Here is the link to where Gurdjieff speaks about "buffers": https://youtu.be/66559_VA5HA?si=avQsRRjWrZhK2IWv&t=24542. You will find the exact point where he talks about buffers to be at 6:50 mins into the video.

Here are some quotes from the above piece by Gurdjieff:

"If a man throughout the whole of his life were to feel all the contradictions that are within him he could not live and act as calmly as he lives and acts now. He would have constant friction, constant unrest. We fail to see how contradictory and hostile the different "I"s of our personality are to one another. If a man were to feel all these contradictions he would feel what he really is, he would moreover feel that he is mad".

"A man must destroy contradictions or cease to feel them".

"If buffers are created in him, he can cease to feel them (contradictions)".

"It is very hard to live without buffers but they keep man from the possibility of inner development because buffers are made to lessen shocks and it is only shocks that can lead a man out of the state of which he lives, that is to awaken him".

"Buffers lull a man to sleep, give him the agreeable and peaceful sensation that all will be well, that no contradictions exist and he can sleep in peace. Buffers are an appliance by which a man can always be in the right. Buffers help a man not to feel his conscience".

Here are some questions on the above just to stimulate some thought:

Do you recognise the work of buffers in you?

How do you define "conscience"?

Do you feel the possible break through to be made if you removed all your artificial buffers?

What contradictions do you notice in your psychology? Do you try to see them objectively or do you justify them or do you ignore them?

Do you sense the truth in buffers, their existence in your psychology, yet feel unconscious to their operation in you?

What questions came up for you?

(I will update the meeting notes for Wednesday Aug 27 on Thursday Aug 28 here).

Thanks out to Wiki Commons for the event cover and to George Ivanovich Gurdjieff for the legacy of esoteric material and wisdom he has left behind, and a great inspiration to do the self-inquiry work.

Check out the "What we are about" section in the groups' main page for some guidelines we work to adhere to. Meetings are run on the popular Zoom platform. Please contemplate the topic in advance of the meeting to get the best out of it and bring your views and convictions to the meeting, if possible have a pen and paper close by to record anything useful that may come up that you resonate with on the night, little things you may want to contemplate further.