Secret_History

Chapter 1: The Nature of the Quest 75
People interested in esoteric matters will probably have read the book by P.D.
Ouspensky, published posthumously, titled In Search of the Miraculous: Fragments
of an Unknown Teaching. The ideas in that book were presented to Ouspensky by
Georges Gurdjieff. Gurdjieff indicates the basis of his teaching: “for the benefit of
those who know already, I will say that, if you like, this is esoteric Christianity.”
Ouspensky’s book - correctly indicated by the title - contains only fragments of a
tradition which, until recently, was only transmitted orally. And only a study of the
complete tradition can give access to the revelation. The system disclosed by the
fragments that form Ouspensky’s book and Gurdjieff’s work, originates from
revelations issued by the Great Esoteric Brotherhood to which the Apostle Paul
alluded in his Epistle to the Romans:
We are assured and know that all things work together and are fitting into a plan for
good to and for those who love God and are called according to design and
purpose. For those whom He foreknew, He also destined from the beginning to be
molded into the image of His Son, that he might become the firstborn of MANY
brethren. And those whom He thus foreordained, He also called; and those whom
He called, He also justified, made them righteous, and those whom He justified, He
also glorified. What then shall we say to this: If God is for us, who can be against
us? [8;28-31]
Boris Mouravieff asks: What should be the attitude of students towards the
“Gurdjieff phenomenon” and Ouspensky’s “Fragments”?
The attentive reader will easily find the answer to that question himself in the
contents of this book: we must begin by separating the message from the
messenger, and we must look for the message beyond the level or information.
This is the way to discover and eliminate error. Robin Amis, editor of the English
translation of Mouravieff'’s work tells us:
In a myth well known in the Orient we are told that there exists a race of ‘Royal
Swans’. The fable adds that if we put milk mixed with water in front of one of
them, it will separate out the milk and drink it, leaving the water. That must be the
attitude of students.
Saint Gregory Palamas said the same when he wrote in his first Triad: “As for those
people they call ‘theologians’ or ‘teachers,’ and think themselves able to borrow
their theological terms, is it necessary even to mention them? Is it necessary that we
keep away from ‘the light which lights every man who comes into the world,’ and
wait for the terrible shadows of ignorance to illumine us, on the pretext that, just as
serpents are useful, this is something useful for us? For the flesh of serpents is only
useful to us if they have been killed, and cut up and used with reason as a remedy
against their own bites. Those who kill them in this way turn a part of these snakes
against themselves, just as if they had killed with his own sword a new Goliath,
who had taken arms, who had set himself up to oppose us, who cursed the army of
the living God - someone educated in divine things by sinners and illiterates.”
The fact is, Gurdjieff faced great difficulties at the point in time when he sought
to experiment with waking up humanity. As noted above, it was “Mission
Impossible”. However, what he and his followers did manage to do was to slash a
trail through a jungle of lies and disinformation. It is not appropriate for his
followers to insist that this bare trail is all there is and that there is no more.
Rather, it is only logical to widen the trail, to pass through the gate revealed at the