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Quote of the Day: Trust, but Verify?
In properly organized groups no faith is required; what is required is simply a little trust and even that only for a little while, for the sooner a man begins to verify all he hears the better it is for him. ~ G. I. Gurdjieff
It was many years before Reagan said it and in a very different context, but perhaps Reagan had read a book on Gurdjieff’s teachings? Gurdjieff was a mystic from the first half of the Twentieth Century. Like any true mystic and spiritual teacher, he wanted people to think, not follow blindly. (If you’re supposed to have faith and follow blindly, it’s probably a cult.) I could mention many ways that this could be applied today, just as it could be applied since the beginning of the world. But, I’ll leave that up to all of you.
I think our friend @saintaugustine embodies this well. On the issue of whether the election on 2020 was stolen, he did not take it on faith from either side. He verified. If you have not looked into his study and conclusions, you should.
What have you been verifying, Ricochet?
Published in Group Writing
Well, thank you, Arahant. Maybe I should link something later from the laptop.
Please do.
From “Posts I’ve Written on Ricochet” (bolded ones more highly recommended reading):
My goodness, Arahant, I do not remember anyone mentioning the name of the magnificent G. I. Gurdjieff since about 1979, when I left a study group in southern California that focused on his teachings. His writing could be very dense, not to be scanned, but to be pondered. However, he did write one shorter book that was easy to read. It was a collection of stories of his travels through the middle east seeking meetings in person with highly evolved teachers. The name of the book is “Meetings with Remarkable Men”. Thanks for taking me back to my memories.
Yeah. When I ran across the quote, it gave me a smile to remember him.
I should also say that Gurdjieff’s books and information about him is well worth reading.
There are those who see him as a con man. What fools. How could anyone not a mystic realize that the Parisian corset fashion was moving to shorter styles, try to buy short stays and find they were not available and decide instead to buy up all the old long corsets in Russia to cut down to Parisian dictates–and make a fortune? Or start a “Great American Fix It” business and “repair” the typewriters for the Russian Army when their ribbons had reached the end of the spool and needed a lever switched in order to reverse direction (which the Russian Army did not know)? And have wisdom enough to keep the typewriters for a month or so to make sure the idea of repair remainded firm?
Americans love a rogue and a scamp.
Oh, and @gfhandle, don’t forget about dying birds yellow and selling them as canaries.
So, I take it that you think that Christianity is a cult.
I had to verify the author of this quote, since I had never heard of him. I guess you learn something new every day.
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Some groups who call themselves Christian certainly are. The whole thing? No.