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A Call to Original Christianity

 

"Yes . . . my dear friend, if only the teaching of the Divine Jesus Christ were carried out in full conformity with its original then the religion unprecedently wisely founded on it, would not only be the best of all existing religions, but even of all religions which may arise and exist in the future."

Gurdjieff, “Beelzebub's Tales to His Grandson” page 1009.

 

Modern Christianity often appears more concerned with maintaining institutions and dogmas than fostering genuine spiritual transformation. Perhaps the time has come for a radical return to what might be called "Original" Christianity? This is not a naïve, nostalgic longing for some early Christian Golden Age or new intellectual reformulation for post-modernity, but a serious call to rediscover the profound, transformative essence of Christianity as a path of individual inner awakening, such as that expounded by Gurdjieff.

 

"For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them."

Matthew 18:20 KJV

 

The Lost Heart of Christianity

 

“If you want to lose your faith, make friends with a Priest!”

Sayings of Gurdjieff’s Father in Gurdjieff’s “Meetings with Remarkable Men” page 47

 

Many modern Christians find themselves disillusioned with a faith that seems to have lost its way, while being publicly persecuted, mocked or targeted as a convenient scapegoat from the woke hysteria infesting western civilization that has forgotten its roots and now sees the sacrilegious as sacred.


Make no mistake, the Christian Church has not helped itself either. The pedantic scholastics have hijacked doctrine to endlessly argue minutiae, effectively "pecking" the Gospel message to death. The bleeding-heart socialists, captured by the torrents of the times, have successfully diluted faith to mere political activism. And the clerical bureaucrats inhabiting and protected by its organisations have drained the life out of practice by subjugating the sacraments, and everything associated with them, to the microscope of infinite administration.


Is it any wonder that the core message of Christianity may no longer be seen as a path of personal transformation and spiritual enlightenment, but a slavish complicity to a bygone era that has lost touch with reality?

 

“A Christian is a man who is able to fulfil the Commandments."

Gurdjieff quoted in "Views from the Real World" page 154

 

Jesus Christ preached a message of radical inner change—of dying to the old self and being reborn in spirit (John 3:3-7) through our own conscious labours and intentional sufferings, and by the Grace of God. This message, however, has been buried under centuries of institutionalization and dogmatic interpretation, and soaked in the current misguided hyper-intellectualism of modern ideologies divorced from the realities of life where virtue signalling is substituted for virtue.


The early Christians were not just adherents of a new religion, or "The Way" as it was known; they were seekers of a profound spiritual truth that promised a direct and transformative experience of the divine through Christ.


The heart of Gurdjieff's exposition, his "Fourth Way", is a path, not of ascetic withdrawal or ritualistic conformity, but of responsibility to a conscious awakening in the midst of everyday life—a path strikingly resonant, if not identical with, the original teachings of Jesus Christ.

 

“We can only strive to be able to be Christians.”

One of Gurdjieff’s Aphorisms in "Views from the Real World" page 274

 

A Path to Awakening, a Return to Christ

 

"What is the relation of the teaching you are expounding to Christianity as we know it?" asked somebody present.

"I do not know what you know about Christianity," answered G., emphasizing this word. "It would be necessary to talk a great deal and to talk for a long time in order to make clear what you understand by this term. But for the benefit of those who know already, I will say that, if you like, this is esoteric Christianity."

Gurdjieff quoted in P.D.Ouspensky's "In Search of the Miraculous” page 102.

 

For modern Christians, the Gospels speak a great deal to the necessity of the "Why?" in following Christ, that is, for our salvation. It also speaks to the "What?" - to follow the precepts of Christ. But little to nothing is said of precisely "How?".


Prayer, worship and sacraments are a good start, but they are not enough. For example, How do I turn the other cheek in the heat of the moment, let alone love my enemy who constantly seeks to harm me? How do I keep remembrance of God's Grace when everything around me, and in me, continually pulls me away, makes me forget? These are very practical questions requiring immediate, practical responses in the midst of everyday life...right here, right now...the true field of personal and collective transformation.


Church liturgy, no matter how deep and broad, can only ever offer generic direction and broad collective support, as important as that is. Individual development of discipleship inevitably requires an individual approach, particularly within the complexity of modern life and for contemporary sensibilities. The question of "How?", for each of us, and not just the "Why?" and "What?" for everyone, has become urgent.

 

"Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent."

John 6:28-29 KJV

 

Gurdjieff viewed that humanity lives in a state of "waking sleep," unaware of its true potential. He argued that through a dedicated and disciplined self-observation and balanced inner work, individuals in collaborative communities could begin to awaken to their true nature - echoing the Christian imperative to "wake up" from spiritual slumber (Ephesians 5:14) and to enter into relationship with Christ.


Gurdjieff's emphasis on the development of "objective conscience" elaborates the Christian call to embody the mind of Christ (Philippians 2:5). This is not a superficial adherence to moral codes, but a profound inner transformation that aligns one's will with the divine. The parallels between Gurdjieff's practical teachings and the essence of early Christianity are profound, if not derived from a common source as Gurdjieff indicated. It offers a fresh perspective on what it means to live a truly Christian life in the modern world.

 

“...it is necessary to become dead to what has become for you your ordinary life.

It is just this death that is spoken of in all religions. It is defined in the saying which has reached us from remote antiquity, "Without death no resurrection," that is to say, "If you do not die you will not be resurrected."

The death referred to is not the death of the body, since for such a death there is no need of resurrection.

For if there is a soul, and moreover, an immortal soul, it can dispense with a resurrection of the body…”

Gurdjieff, “Beelzebub's Tales to His Grandson” page 1232

 

A Call for Radical Renewal

 

“No one has a right to call himself a Christian who does not carry out Christ’s precepts.”

Gurdjieff quoted in P.D.Ouspensky's "In Search of the Miraculous” page 299.

 

To advocate for a return to Original Christianity, such as through the praxis of Gurdjieff, is to challenge the status quo. It is to say that modern Christianity, in many ways, has lost its way—becoming entangled in the very "mechanicalness" and "sleep" that both Gurdjieff and Christ warned against. This is not an indictment of Christianity itself, but rather an observation of the inevitable principles of most Christian practices today.


What if Christians took seriously the call to "be transformed by the renewing of your mind" (Romans 12:2), not merely as a creed to be repeated when worshipping together, but as a practical, everyday and individual endeavor? What if the focus shifted from external conformity to inner transformation? This is the radical message that both Gurdjieff and Christ preached: that true spirituality is about becoming a new kind of person, a new kind of Being, one who is more awake and aware of the constant need for Christ's help and our divine purpose.

 

"A man who is able to do all that is demanded of a Christian, both with his mind and his essence, is called a Christian without quotation marks. A man who, in his mind, wishes to do all that is demanded of a Christian, but can do so only with his mind and not with his essence, is called pre-Christian. And a man who can do nothing, even with his mind, is called a non-Christian."

Gurdjieff quoted in "Views from the Real World" page 154

 

The Challenge of Authentic Christianity

 

“Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?”

Matthew 16:24-26 KJV

 

The call for a return to Original Christianity, such as inspired by Gurdjieff, is a challenge to the Christian community. It asks believers to look beyond the surface and to engage in the difficult, yet rewarding, daily work of inner transformation that includes and integrates all sides of our Being, such as the intellect, feeling and body, into a new wholeness - a new creation. This is not about abandoning tradition or the Grace of God, but about going deeper, far deeper, into authentic Christian spirituality that Christ called us to Be, here and now.


In embracing this challenge, Christians can rediscover the radical, transformative message at the heart of their faith—a message that calls for nothing less than a complete awakening to one's true nature in Christ. Gurdjieff's practices offer a vehicle for such a journey, one that is as relevant today as it was in the early days of Christianity. It is time for a renaissance of Original Christianity, a return to the essence of what it means to be truly alive, awake, and connected to Christ in our everyday lives as we navigate the future together.

 

“Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”

Matthew 22:36-40 KJV

 

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