“Death must come before rebirth. But what must die? False confidence in one’s own knowledge, self-love and egoism. Our egoism must be broken.”
All and Everything: Views from the Real World (1973)
Context: All religions speak about death during this life on earth. Death must come before rebirth. But what must die? False confidence in one’s own knowledge, self-love and egoism. Our egoism must be broken. We must realize that we are very complicated machines, and so this process of breaking is bound to be a long and difficult task. Before real growth becomes possible, our personality must die.
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G. I. Gurdjieff 62
influential spiritual teacher, Armenian philosopher, compos… 1866–1949Related quotes
“It's so beautiful here. You must come before you die.”
Paris in Love
Speech to the Socialist International Conference (30 June 1974), quoted in The Times (1 July 1974), p. 1
Prime Minister
“The will must not only despise death, it must love it; for chastity is the love of death.”
Source: Philosophie der Erlösung, Erster Band (2014), Ethik, § 26 ISBN 978-1494963262
Act I.
Dantons Tod (Danton's Death) (1835)
“That I shall sink in death, I know must be;
But with that death of mine what life will die?”
As quoted in "Giordano Bruno" by Thomas Davidson, in The Index Vol. VI. No. 36 (4 March 1886), p. 429
Context: That I shall sink in death, I know must be;
But with that death of mine what life will die? Across the air, I hear my heart's voice cry:
Where dost thou bear me reckless one? Descend!
Such rashness seldom ends but bitterly'
"Fear not the lofty fall" I answer "rend
With might the clouds, and be content to die,
If God such a glorious death for us intend."
4 January 2014.
A9 TV addresses, 2014
Context: Lack of love and egoism drags people into fragmentation. Love on the other hand brings about integration. Would anyone want to be separated from his loved one? One would only want to be separated from those he doesn’t love. One would not want to see those he hates. All these fragmentations in the world stem from a lack of love.