Sacrifice

 

 

“This is almost all that can be said in general about the ‘stairway’ and about the ‘way,’ because there are different ways. We have spoken of this before. And, for instance, on the fourth way there are special conditions which cannot be on the other ways. Thus the conditions for ascending the stairway on the fourth way are that a man cannot ascend to a higher step until he places another man on his own step. The other, in his turn, must put in his place a third man in order to ascend higher. Thus, the higher a man ascends the more he depends upon those who are following him. If they stop he also stops. Such situations as this may also occur on the way. A man may attain something, for instance, some special powers, and may later on sacrifice these powers in order to raise other people to his level. If the people with whom he is working ascend to his level, he will receive back all that he has sacrificed. But if they do not ascend, he may lose it altogether. "

 

 

Excerpt taken from In Search of the Miraculous by P. D. Ouspensky, pub. Paul H. Crompton Ltd, 2004, p. 202.

 

Commentary

 

While the comments that Gurdjieff made to Ouspensky about inner work are almost always taken to refer to the actual external groups that he mentioned human beings must work together in, little thought is given to the idea that in each instance Gurdjieff was also implicitly describing the Sufi concept of man's inner kingdom. (cf. Ibn Arabi, Divine Governance of the Human Kingdom.)

 

When understood from this point of view, we can see that such passages take on an entire new layer and level of meaning.