Key
[G] = from Gurdjieff or in Gurdjieff’s terminology
[K] = from C. Daly King’s Oragean Version
[O] = from Ouspensky’s In Search of the Miraculous
[S] = from Schreiber
Search = In Search of the Miraculous
BT = Beelzebub’s Tales to His Grandson, An Objectively Impartial Criticism of the Life of Man
Active Mentation [G]: Sustained, strong, and realistic thought. Active mentation in a being and the useful results of this mentation are in reality actualized exclusively only with the equal-degree functionings of all his three localizations of the results spiritualized in his presence, called “thinking center,” “feeling center,” and “moving-motor center.” BT, p. 1172
Active Force (or Affirming or Positive Force); Passive Force (or Denying or Resisting or Receptive Force); Neutralizing Force (or Reconciling) [G]: The elements of Gurdjieff’s Law of Three, or Sacred Triamazi-kamno.
Affirming Force [G]: The first force of the Law of Three.
Air [G]: Second being-food necessary for human sustenance but also containing special active elements. See also Foods.
Alarm Clock [G]: Gurdjieff’s term for any stimulus from the outside that will wake us up from the sleeping-waking hypnotic trance we call being awake.
Amplification: Expansion of a trait, emotion, sensation, or thought. As a practice, for example, I intentionally increase my manifestation of an emotion to a somewhat greater degree in order to see it more clearly. Attention: Focusing or concentrating capability. Crucial for any kind of self-observation or self-study.
Authentic-I [S]: Result of data received, conceived and nurtured only by the reception of new impressions of myself received by intentionally engaging in self-observation.
Automatic: Our usual state of functioning without consciousness.
Awareness: Mindfulness that something exists.
Being: Inner oneness, degree of harmonization of the centers, as distinct from behavior.Being Self-Perfection [G]: Harmonization and balancing of the centers with the aim of the development of higher being-bodies.
Being-Partkdolg-Duty [G]: The primary means for self-perfecting practiced by three-brained beings on all planets in the universe where such beings exist; also expressed as “conscious labors and intentional sufferings.”
Biographical-I [S]: One’s identity, built from the experiences of life. Bobbin-kandelnosts [G]: Devices residing in each center resembling, figuratively, a spool or watch spring upon which are imprinted all the associations of that center. If a person lives only according to the principle of Itoklanoz rather than by the Foolasnitamnian Principle, the associations are activated willy-nilly by internal and external stimuli, and the spool unwinds accordingly. When the Bobbin-kandelnost is fully unwound, the center or brain dies. If the individual has forgotten not to give himself up wholly to the associations from one center only, one brain will use up its material first and die. The other two centers are left alive, and the organism is thus severely disabled. Gurdjieff calls it, “dying by thirds.” Just as the spring of a watch has a winding of a definite duration, so these beings also can associate and experience only as much as the possibilities for experiencing put into them by Nature during the crystallization of those same Bobbin-kandelnosts in their brains. They can associate and consequently exist just so much, and not a whit more nor less. BT p. 440.
Bodies [G]: Besides our physical or “planetary” body, we can, with work, develop two higher bodies within us; but as we are, we do not work with the proper energy to develop them. They are the “Kesdjan,” “astral,” or “emotional body” and the “mental” or “soul” body. We must produce the connections and “coat” these higher bodies intentionally from finer substances. Substances required for the blood of the planetary of the being enter into them through their “first-being-food” or, as your favourites say, “through food.” But the substances needed both for coating and for perfecting the higher being-body Kesdjan enter their common presences through their, as they say, “breathing” and through certain what are called “pores” of their skin. And the sacred cosmic substances required for the coating of the highest being-body, which sacred being-part of theirs, as I have already told you, they call soul, can be assimilated and correspondingly transformed and coated in them, just as in us, exclusively only from the process of what is called “Aiessirittoorassnian-contemplation” actualized in the common presence by the cognized intention on the part of all their spiritualized independent parts. BT, p. 569.
Buffers [O]: Energy blockages unintentionally created in people, by themselves and not by nature, through education and the hypnotic influence of all surrounding life; so that they do not experience the contradictions among their different “I’s.” “Buffers” lull a man to sleep, give him the agreeable and peaceful sensation that all will be well, that no contra- dictions exist and that he can sleep in peace. “Buffers” are appliances by means of which a man can always be in the right. “Buffers” help a man not to feel his conscience. Search, p. 155.
Centers [G]: Independent localizations of energy in the body that have their own intelligence and can even act as whole personalities. In various places in In Search of the Miraculous, Ouspensky quotes Gurdjieff speaking about the centers ranging in number from three to seven. The instinctive, moving, feeling or emotional, thinking, and sex center are the five lower centers; and the higher emotional, and higher intellectual centers exist in us although we are not in touch with them. Later on in the book, and in Beelzebub’s Tales to His Grandson, Gurdjieff speaks primarily of just three centers or three brains: the moving/instinctive, the feeling or emotional and the intellectual centers. He distinguishes three-brained beings from two-brained beings (other mammals, birds, and reptiles) and one-brained beings (worms, insects, arachnids, corals, etc.), and says three-brained beings play an active role in the drama of the cosmos. Having three brains or centers means that men and women can manifest the law of three inside themselves. Three-brained beings have the possibility personally to perfect themselves, because in them there are localized three centers of their common presence or three brains, upon which afterwards, when the process of Djartklom proceeds in the Omnipresent-Okidanokh, the three holy forces of the sacred Triamazikamno are deposited and they acquire the possibility for their further, this time, independent actualizings. BT, p. 145.
Chaos: Inherent unpredictability of a system.
Classical Conditioning: A method of pairing conditioned stimuli with unconditioned stimuli so that the subject associates one with the other. Example: a father always gives his four-year-old son a big, loving hug as soon as he comes home. The hug is preceded by the front screen door slamming (conditioned stimulus). The son learns to associate this slam- ming door with his father’s wonderful hug (unconditioned stimulus). Conscience [G]: Universal sense of right and wrong which should govern a person’s conduct. Given great emphasis in Gurdjieff’s teachings as the “very representative of the Creator” and crucial for our transformation. Through conscience, we can free ourselves from Kundabuffer, which man can no longer do through the practice of Faith, Hope or Love (Charity). Conscience is obscured by buffers, including those associated with morality and culture. Conscience is the fire which alone can create the unity which a man lacks in that state in which he begins to study himself. The concept “conscience” has nothing in common with the concept “morality.” Conscience is a general and permanent phenomenon. Conscience is the same for all men and conscience is only possible in the absence of “buffers.” Search, p. 156.
Conscious Labor [G]: Intentional work toward an aim while maintaining a sense of one’s own presence.
Conscious Labors and Intentional Sufferings [G]: What Gurdjieff called “being-Partkdolg-duty.” Gurdjieff does not define them, but simply states they were given to us as the chief means for our self-perfecting and for service to higher purposes.
Conscious Shock [G]: Intentional or artificial action taken to facilitate the start or continuation of an octave, in contrast to mechanical shocks that come about without our own volition. The third octave, that is, the octave of impressions, begins through a conscious effort. Search, p. 189.
Consciousness [G]: Properly, the state of being awake and aware of what is going on around you; a state where you yourself exist in the moment. What we ordinarily call “consciousness” is what Gurdjieff called our “waking state,” a half-aware state that is continually changing. We have only the possibility of consciousness and rare flashes of it. Therefore, we cannot define what conscious- ness is. Search, p. 117.
Countertransference: A therapist’s unintentional transference toward a particular client. See also Transference.
Denial: A State of mind marked by the refusal or inability to recognize and/or deal with an existing problem.
Denying Force [G]: Second holy force of the Law of Three, also called resisting force, or passive force.
Disidentification: The Capacity of separating a part of one’s mind from one’s thoughts, feelings, or behavior in a given situation.
Enneagram [G]: Symbol showing the interaction of the primordial cosmic laws of three and seven.
Essence [G]: A person’s nature before the development of personality; what one is born with.
Evolution and Involution [G]: Two directions of an octave: in the evolutionary octave, energy is boosted up and becomes finer; in the involutionary, energy travels downward, is weakened and becomes coarser.
Experimentation [K]: Advanced practice consisting of making small changes in habits or activities as a means of gaining additional self-knowledge and understanding; as opposed to simply observing.
External Considering [G]: Capacity to put oneself into another’s shoes—that is, into the psychological state and/or requirements of another person in a particular situation.
False Personality [G]: Persona or mask each of us develops to adjust to the foreign environment we enter at birth. In many ways, personality is a survival mechanism, but it often has a part added on that is not natural and is unnecessary for survival and interaction with others. This other, false part is born later than personality, and it is usually the result of insecurity.
Foods [G]: Gurdjieff extends the concept of food to include a second kind of food, air, and a third, impressions.
Foolasnitamnian Principle [G]: Way of living proper to three-brained beings, in contrast to the Itoklanoz Principle. The Foolasnitamnian Principle is the natural one and was presumed to again govern three-brained beings on earth after the removal of the organ Kundabuffer.
Foolasnitamnian [G]: The first kind or first principle of being-existence which is called Foolasnitamnian is proper to all three-brained beings arising on any planet of our Great Universe, and the fundamental aim and sense of the existence of these beings is that there proceed through them the transmutation of cosmic substances necessary for what is called the common-cosmic trogoautoegocratic process. BT, p. 130.
Fourth Way [G]: Path proposed by Gurdjieff, distinct from the three traditional ways of the fakir, the monk, and the yogi. The fourth way develops all three of the major centers simultaneously. It is practiced in ordinary life conditions—no withdrawal from ordinary life is necessary or even advisable.
Gatekeeper and Gatekeeping: Individual and collective dynamics that resist and restrict experience. The “gatekeeper” is the personifica- tion of these dynamics.
Hasnamuss [G]: An Individual who somehow has managed to develop self-consciousness or higher being-bodies but who lacks conscience, is depraved, takes pleasure in leading others astray, and so on. In partic- ular, the hasnamuss strives to be what he is not.
Hazard: The unpredictable or free nature of existence, which makes possible free choice and acts of intelligence.
Heropass, Merciless Heropass [G]: Passage of time itself.
Higher Being-Body [G]: Soul. See Bodies
Higher Emotional [G]: One of two higher centers that is complete and working within us, but inaccessible in our ordinary state. The difference in speed between the speed of our usual emotions and the speed of the higher emotional center is so great that no connection can take place and we fail to hear within us the voices that are speaking and calling to us from the higher emotional center. Search, p. 195.
Higher Intellectual [G]: One of two higher centers that is complete and working within us, but only accessible through the higher emotional center. In most cases where accidental contact with the higher thinking center takes place, a man becomes unconscious. Search, p. 195.
Hydrogens [G]: The basic element or substance of life, when not connected with a particular center. Hydrogens are numbered according to what Gurdjieff called their “density of vibrations,” and so can be thought of as higher or lower energies, the higher energies being finer or less dense. The term “point of the universe” has a quite definite meaning, namely, a “point” represents a certain combination of hydrogens which is organized in a definite place and fulfills a definite function in one or another system. The concept “point” cannot be replaced by the concept “hydrogen” because “hydrogen” means simply matter not limited by space. A point is always limited in space. At the same time, a “point of the universe” can be designated by the number of the “hydrogen” which predominates in it or is central to it. Search, p. 170.
Hypnosis [G]: Sleep, or waking-sleep, that operates throughout one’s ordinary life.
“I”: Pronoun used when referring to oneself. The illusion that we have one “I,” according to Gurdjieff, arises from the fact that we have the same body and the same or only a few different names throughout our lives. See also Multiplicity of “I’s.”
Identification [S]: Identification refers to my attachment—that is, an inability to separate my authentic-I from that to which any of my “I’s” are attached, be it an idea, belief, image, feeling, sensation, situation, material object, or anything else. State in which a person is only able to experience himself through his attachment at a given moment to whatever has attracted his attention, without realizing that he exists separate from whatever has attracted his attention. Man is always in a state of identification; only the object of his identification changes. Search, p.150.
Imago: Image a person unconsciously projects onto their partner that represents both of one’s parents or other caregivers. Impressions [G]: Third being-food.
Incarnation: Being in a body.
Inner Considering [G]: Identification with what a person imagines others think of him. He always worries other people do not value him enough, are not sufficiently polite and courteous. All this torments him, makes him suspect others and lose an immense amount of energy on guesswork, on suppositions, and develops in him a distrustful and hostile attitude. How somebody looked at him, what somebody thought of him, what somebody said of him – all this acquires for him an immense significance. Search, p. 151.
Instinctive-Moving Center [G]: The part of the human nervous system that controls all involuntary (autonomic nervous system) and also learned movements.
Intellectual Center [G]: The localization (brain) of the intellectual/ cognitive activities of a person.
Intentional Suffering [G]: Consciously putting oneself in an uncomfortable position to fulfill an aim or obligation connected with being- Partkdolg-duty.
Interpersonal: Behaviors and experiences resulting from a relation- ship between at least two people.
Intrapersonal: Behaviors and experiences taking place within a single individual
.
Introjection: Imitation of a psychological or behavioral trait of a parent, caregiver or other, which becomes a permanent aspect of the person’s psychological makeup.
Itoklanoz Principle [G]: Living according to the same mechanisms as one- and two-brained beings. Attention being subject to activation and reception of the associations (impressions) of only one center at a time. See also Foolasnitamnian Principle.
Kesdjan body [G]: See Bodies.
Kundabuffer [G]: An inhibiting device that was implanted in humans at some unspecified time long ago, which served to block the develop- ment of intelligence. Although it was eventually removed, it still acts on mankind through cultural influences right up to the present day, hindering our ability to perceive reality. This may have been a traumatic event for all of mankind with negative consequences that afflict us all still. [A] special organ with a property such that, first, they should perceive reality topsy-turvy and, secondly, that every repeated impression from outside should crystallize in them data which would engender factors for evoking in them sensations of “pleasure” and “enjoyment.” BT, p. 88.
Kundalini [G]: According to Gurdjieff, a bastardization of the word “Kundabuffer,” following the loss of understanding its meaning.
Law of Octaves, Law of Sevenfoldness (Heptaparaparshinokh) [G]: Idea that every process, no matter upon what level it takes place, is governed by a structure analogous to the seven-toned scale. Every completed process is a transition from the initial note “Do” through a series of successive tones to the “Do” of the next octave. The transition is not continuous and requires interventions or shocks at two specific places or “intervals” for it to be completed.
Law of Reciprocal Maintenance [G]: See Reciprocal Maintenance. Law of Three (Triamazikamno) [G]: Three independent forces—active, passive, and neutralizing, Gurdjieff’s second fundamental law of the universe. Nothing can happen nor can there be any real change, without the participation of the three independent forces working together.
. . . the second fundamental cosmic law. . . consists of three independent forces, that is to say, this sacred law mani-fests in everything, without exception, and everywhere in the Universe, in three separate independent aspects; and these three aspects exist in the Universe under the following denominations: the first, under the denomina- tion, the Holy-Affirming; the second, the Holy-Denying; and the third, the Holy-Reconciling; and this is also why, concerning this sacred law and its three independent forces, the said Objective Science has, among its formula- tions, specially concerning this sacred law, the following: a law which always flows into a consequence and becomes the cause of subsequent consequences, and always func- tions by three independent and quite opposite character- istic manifestations, latent within it, in properties neither seen nor sensed. BT pp. 138–139.
Level of Being [S]: Degree of completion of the possibilities inherent in the human organism.
Megalocosmos [G]: The whole universe.
Mental Body: The higher mind, in some teachings; in the analogy of the equipage, where the carriage is the physical body; the horse is the astral body; the driver is the mental body; and the master is the causal body.
Mentation [G]: Thinking, in Gurdjieff’s terminology; in general, thinking carefully about something.
Metanoia: From the Greek, “to think in a new way.” Translated in the Bible as “repentance”; more generally, a transformative change of heart. Movements: Training exercises and sacred dances developed by Gurdjieff to strengthen attention and the ability to work with all three centers. They are practiced in a group working in concert and accompanied by music. The Movements were said to be both a spiritual practice and a kind of book where one might learn about the ideas of world creation and world maintenance, if one could read the language.
Multiplicity of “I’s”: Psychological state of an undeveloped man or woman. Ordinary people, says Gurdjieff, lack unity, or a real “I,” but say “I” to every passing thought, feeling, emotion, or association.
Muscular Amnesia: Body’s tendency to hold tension in a muscle when the need for that tension has passed.
Noticing: John G. Bennett, Noticing, (North Yorks, UK: Coombe Springs Press, 1976), 13-14.
“Noticing is connected with the “I,” with the real “I.” But because we have nothing prepared that is able to give this a place in us, it is just a moment. It is also fair to say that noticing is something that happens to our essence, but because we cannot remain conscious of ourselves in our essence until very considerable changes have happened, we notice, and then our personality takes over. After the moment of noticing, though very interesting things may happen, they no longer have that extraordinary quality. From that moment onwards, we think, we see, we argue with ourselves, we run away, we avoid things, all the different ways in which the personality can react to a situation.”
Objective Consciousness: State of being characterized by presence, awareness, and impartiality.
Obligolnian Strivings [G]: Natural aims toward the development of being that a normal man or woman would pursue over the course of a lifetime.
Octaves [G]: See Law of Octaves.
Organic or Instinctive Shame [G]: See Shame.
Participation [K] [S]: Allowing oneself to be what one is, while being a spectator from the inside of oneself.
Personality: Mechanism built into the psyche in response to the demands of culture and society.
Planetary Body [G]: Physical body.
Pondering: Deeply mulling over an idea or situation, being interested in it and viewing it from many different angles; finding the meaning in the words describing a thing or situation. Ideally, attempting to under- stand, which requires data from each of the three main centers.
Preconscious: State of awareness just beneath a person’s ordinary level of consciousness, where a vague knowledge or understanding may reside. The meaning of what is there is usually missed, although if one were more sensitive, he could, in fact, notice it.
Presence: Truly being here, at least in a physical sense, but implying the whole of oneself.
. . . each is, in his whole presence, exactly similar in every respect to our Megalocosmos. BT, p. 777.
Prieuré: Large estate near Versailles, France, where Gurdjieff set up his Institute for the Harmonious Development of Man.
Projection: Unconscious denial of one’s own individual defects, past situations, or experiences, and instead attribution of such defects to others, such as partners in close relationships, leaders, or other group members. Such attribution colors or influences a person’s interactions or views of other people.
Projective Identification: Attribution of a thought, belief, or emotion unacceptable to oneself onto another. More complex than simple projection, since the individual does not fully disavow his own impulses and may even remain aware of them, but believes his own reactions are justifiable as responses to the other person’s behavior. In this way, a person, in what can feel like a “magical” way, induces the very feelings in the other that he or she mistakenly attributed to this other person. Psychostatic and Psychokinetic people: John G. Bennett’s division of humanity into three groups: the psychostatic group, those who are not making any attempt to evolve, although they may be powerful and effective in the external world; the psychokinetic group, who are actively involved in work on themselves, but are neither fully awake nor fully asleep and may be uncertain and in need of spiritual guidance; and the psychoteleios group, who have realized their potential.
PTSD: Post-traumatic stress disorder. The reaction to a traumatic, often life-threatening event, which has caused a range of dysfunctional behaviors.
Ray of Creation [O]: Large octave comprising the whole universe of which our solar system is a lower branch.
Real “I” [G]: Result of long work to fully know, understand, and be able to direct one’s will.
Reciprocal Maintenance [G]: Process of mutual feeding and support through which all systems and life forms in the Universe maintain their existence. In all probability there exists in the World some law of the reciprocal maintenance of everything existing. Obviously our lives serve also for maintaining something great or small in the World. BT, pp. 1094–1095.
Reconciling Force [G]: Third force of the Law of Three.
Reflexivity: The ability to reflect on and engage the patterns of one’s behavior, thoughts, emotions, movements, and sensations that shape our lives.
Repression: Pushing down of unacceptable feelings or thoughts, in a manner that we cannot access them in our usual state of waking consciousness.
Robot: Automatic functioning of the man-machine without the pres- ence of one’s own “I.”
Schadenfreude: German word for exultation in the difficulties of others.
Second conscious shock [G]: Associated with self-remembering and valuation of the Work, needed to complete our transformation; allows for the production of finer energies obtained by making a conscious effort in the moment an impression is received. See also Shocks.
Self-calming [G]: Unconsciously decreasing anxiety through various means, including denial, addiction, distraction, justification, etc.
Self-consciousness: Capacity for awareness of one’s being.
Self-observation [G]: Impartial observation of oneself existing in the moment.
Self-remembering [G]: One of the key concepts in Gurdjieff’s teaching, the directing of the attention toward myself AND toward something else, either inside or outside the body, without allowing the focus on either to wane. In self-observation, our consciousness is split into an observing “I” and the object of self-observation—taking the body, for example, as a starting point. If, you place your attention on the “I” which is now separated from your body, then your awareness of yourself and this “I” is the act of self-remembering. Try to remember yourselves when you observe yourselves and later on tell me the results. Only those results will have any value that are accompanied by self-remembering. Otherwise, you yourself do not exist in your observations. In which case, what are all your observations worth? Search, p. 118.
Self-study: Practice comprising impartial self-observation to gain truthful knowledge and understanding of oneself.
Sensing [G]: Direct experience of the living energy within our bodies, including those of posture and movement as well as those having to do with the interior processes of the organism.
Sensitive Energy: Energy the body uses to organize and operate itself. Shame [G]: Instinctive or organic feeling proper to three-brained beings, connected with conscience; in contrast to artificial culturally and socially based pseudo-shame.
Shocks [G]: Interventions in a process where an additional energy or quality is needed to reach completion. There are mechanical shocks that arise without our awareness or intention and conscious shocks that require our active participation.
Sittings: Group work consisting of sitting in quiet surroundings and following certain guidelines that prepare and create energy for Work. Individual work of the same type is also called “sitting.”
Somatic: Relating to the body, its abilities, attributes, and actions.
Soul: See Bodies.
Sovereign Learner: A term from Elizabeth Schreiber’s work: That part of us that was active as a child, the part that was enthralled and interested in all aspects of the world and life.
Splitting: In psychology, the unconscious failure to integrate the good and bad aspects of another person or oneself into a unified whole. Superego: That part of the personality in Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalytic theory that comprises the ideals and strictures we have acquired from our parents and society. The superego works to suppress the urges of the id and tries to make the ego behave morally, rather than realistically.
Stopping Thoughts: Practice that some may associate with Gurdjieff’s Work. It is ill-advised to undertake such a practice.
Subconscious [G]: Gurdjieff’s terminology for the unconscious. This is where true consciousness has retreated, due to the unbecoming nature of human beings.
Sublimation: In psychology, a situation where an individual takes inner energies that may be taboo in society and transforms them into outward activity of a more socially acceptable nature.
Three-Centered or Three-Brained Beings [G]: See Centers. Transference: Passing on or displacing an emotion or affective attitude from one person to another person or object.
Transformation [G]: Fundamental change in a human being into what he should be, normally; as Gurdjieff would say, a person “made in the image of God” and an intelligent participant in the evolution of the universe.
. . . that transformation which should in general proceed in the entirety of a man and give him, from his own conscious mentation, the results he ought to have, which are proper to man and not merely to single- or double-brained animals. BT, p. 25.
Trauma [S]: Unintegrated negative human experience that causes disharmony within the psyche and dysfunctional behavior.
Trogoautoegocratic Process [G]: Universal process of eating and being eaten.
. . . this system, which maintains everything arisen and existing, was actualized by our Endless Creator in order that what is called the “exchange of substances” or the “Reciprocal-feeding” of everything that exists, might proceed in the Universe and thereby that the merciless “Heropass” might not have its maleficent effect on the Sun Absolute. BT, pp. 136–137.
Unconscious: That part of human consciousness in modern psychology that is unavailable in our waking-sleeping state. See Subconscious.
Understanding [G]: Distinguished from knowledge because it comes from being, from the whole of oneself and all three centers.
Waking-Sleeping State: The Second of our four possible degrees of consciousness, when we are awake but not self-conscious.
Way of the Fakir [G]: Path of self-development based on mastery of the human body. Asceticism.
Way of the Monk [G]: Path of self-development based on devotion and feeling, associated with religion. Worship.
Way of the Yogi [G]: Path of self-development based on the development and mastery of mental energies. Meditation.