"The first necessity for obtaining self-knowledge is to become profoundly conscious of ignorance; to feel with every fibre of the heart that one is ceaselessly self-deceived. The second requisite is the still deeper conviction that such knowledge such intuitive and certain knowledge can be obtained by effort. The third and most important is an indomitable determination to obtain and face that knowledge. Self-knowledge of this kind is unattainable by what men usually call self-analysis. It is not reached by reasoning or any brain process; for it is the awakening to consciousness of the divine nature of man. To obtain this knowledge is a greater achievement than to command the elements or to know the future."

— H. P. Blavatsky

Art: Oedipus and the Sphinx, c. 1867 by Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres

"(Objectless awareness) is a tensile field of vibratory awareness, within which you can be conscious of the whole without having to split the field into the usual subject/object polarity... The Tibetan Buddhists call it rigpa: ‘pure awareness.’ And I have come to suspect that the contemplative masters of our own Christian lineage were also well aware of this state and that this is actually what is intended by the word ‘vigilance’ in the Eastern Orthodox tradition and ‘recollection’ in the West. It doesn’t mean thinking deeply about something, recalling it. Rather, it means that you yourself are gathered – ‘re-collected’ – within that deeper inner attentiveness whose much more powerful energetic vibrancy allows a different mode of perception to unfold.”

~ Cynthia Bourgeault

"Gurdjieff: Mysticism, Contemplation, and Exercises" by Joseph Azize

"The Armenian-born mystic, philosopher, and spiritual teacher G. I. Gurdjieff (c.1866-1949) is an enigmatic figure, the subject of a great deal of interest and speculation, but not easily fitting into any of the common categories of "esoteric", "occult", or "New Age". Scholars have for the most part passed over in silence the contemplative exercises presented in Gurdjieff's writings. Although Gurdjieff had intended them to be confidential, some of the most important exercises were published posthumously in 1950 and in 1975.

Arguing that an understanding of these exercises is necessary to fully appreciate Gurdjieff's contribution to modern esotericism, Joseph Azize offers the first complete study of the exercises and their theoretical foundation. It shows the continuity in Gurdjieff's teaching, but also the development and change. His original contribution to Western Esotericism lay in his use of tasks, disciplines, and contemplation-like exercises to bring his pupils to a sense of their own presence which could to some extent be maintained in daily life in the social domain, and not only in the secluded conditions typical of meditation. Azize contends that Gurdjieff had initially intended not to use contemplation-like exercises, as he perceived dangers to be associated with these monastic methods, and the religious tradition to be in tension with the secular and supra-denominational guise in which he first couched his teaching. As Gurdjieff adapted the teaching he had found in Eastern monasteries to Western urban and post-religious culture, however, he found it necessary to introduce contemplation."

If Life's hard...... Get Harder......

Theosophy in a nutshell.

saw another cunt on one of those fggy scooters earlier today and saw that image in my head and started laughing like a rtrd on the street. Went home and opened PS

Tyler https://youtu.be/G3kWCjUVcVY?si=0d9ijn5bbwy8mrtS&utm_source=MTQxZ

Here is the book