The Five Being-Obligolnian Strivings
According to Gurdjieff in Beelzebub's Tales To His Grandson
(G.I. Gurdjieff. Beelzebub's Tales to His Grandson. E. P. Dutton Inc, New York, 1964. Pages 385-386.):
"All the beings of this planet then began to work in order to have in their consciousness this Divine function of genuine conscience, and for this purpose, as everywhere in the Universe, they transubstantiated in themselves what are called the 'being-obligolnian-strivings' which consist of the following five, namely:
The first striving:
to have in their ordinary being-existence everything satisfying and really necessary for their planetary body.The second:
to have a constant and unflagging instinctive need for self-perfection in the sense of being.The third:
the conscious striving to know ever more and more concerning the laws of World-creation and World-maintenance.The fourth:
the striving from the beginning of their existence to pay for their arising and individuality as quickly as possible, in order afterwards to be free to lighten as much as possible the Sorrow of our COMMON FATHER.And the fifth:
the striving always to assist the most rapid perfecting of other beings, both those similar to oneself and those of other forms, up to the degree of the sacred 'Martfotai' that is up to the degree of self-individuality."One needs to discover the fundamental 'skillful means' through which these strivings can be born from within:
There are three forces— of the body, mind and feeling. Unless these are together, equally developed and harmonized, a steady connection cannot be made with a higher force. Everything in the Work is a preparation for that connection.
That is the aim of the Work.
Jeanne de Salzman