What are you aiming at, son?

“You must have an aim, a serious aim,” said Gurdjieff. And of course that is true. Without an aim, we are loose cannons. We live eccentrically, inadvertently.

Contentment

Life cannot give me what I need while I chase after what I want. What comes to me unbidden, unanticipated, is the precondition to contentment. Contentment is not an achievement. Not a result.

Stop trying

I used to be religious and was, for a time, a minister. Once, during a visit, a lapsed parishioner told me he was going to try to get to church.

Imagine that—a well-off, scratch golfer trying to get to church.

Trying is failing. Do what you feel like doing.

Doing it

The man doing what he doesn’t want to do needs help in order to do it. The man who wants to do what he’s doing needs no help. See! He’s already doing it.

An inside job

Happiness cannot be found outside of ourselves, e.g. in fame, sex, money, children, houses, high office or anything else. Happiness is an inside job. It’s the recognition of our innermost self. Of love.