G.I. Gurdjieff

“Most of our problems come from the wrong center responding to a situation.”

“To know which center is responding is the beginning of self-observation.”

“Self-observation, without judgment, is the first step on the Work.”

“You cannot change what you do not see.”

“And most of what you do, you do without seeing.”

“Begin by seeing. Don't try to change.”

“Change comes from sustained seeing.”

“The Fourth Way is the way of the householder.”

“It is not the way of the monk, the fakir, or the yogi.”

“It is a way that uses ordinary life as the field of practice.”

“You do not have to leave the world to do this work.”

“You only have to be present in the world.”

“Buffers are the false comforts that prevent us from seeing the truth about ourselves.”

“To work, the buffers must be slowly dissolved.”

“This is painful. There is no way around the pain.”

“But it is purifying pain. It leads to clarity.”

“Negative emotions cannot be transformed by suppression.”

“They can only be transformed by understanding.”

“To understand a negative emotion, you must observe it without identifying with it.”