GURDJIEFF, G.I. – Life is real only then, when I am - Integral Book

tions of contemporary life in the ordinary mentation of man, and theelucidation of all these questions has been made by me in such a logicalsequence and in such a confrontative form as, helping to accustom thereader automatically to active mentation and contributing to an easy andsimultaneous theoretical assimilation of the very essence of thequestions dealt with, should give the possibility to cognize, first of all,not only with one's ordinary automatic consciousness, which in this casehas no value, but with all one's being, that which is most important andis unfailingly required for the possibility of further work upon oneself,namely, the ephemeral nature of former conceptions andunderstandings.An all-round acquaintance with the contents of these three books isnecessary also in order that when I personally, or the mentionedinstructors, speak during our general meetings about some questionwhich in the given moment is the center -of-gravity question, and speakabout its details, we may, for the purpose of economizing time, simplyrefer to the corresponding chapter in this first series, and you, alreadyhaving preliminary information about this, may easily assimilate whatwe shall subsequently develop in detail.For example, intending in today's meeting to speak about a questionwhich is based on data I have already more or less elucidated in the lastchapter of the third book, namely in the chapter entitled "From theAuthor," the deliberations on the proposed question today should be asa continuation of this chapter.Well, if you were all well-informed of its contents, then I could forthe purpose of economizing time refer to the requisite passages, but nowI shall be compelled to waste time on reading to you certain extracts.In the present case, one requires chiefly the knowledge of that part ofthe last chapter called "The Addition," which I