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However, Gurdjieff was a master of situations and could use even the most arduous conditions as a vehicle for intensifying work upon self. This is consistent with what all the masters have taught, that growth happens more effectively in the soil of insecurity. When things are too stable and safe we tend to go to sleep, as when it is dark and quiet at night.
Three Dangerous Magi
P. T. Mistlberger
The notion that hard work and persistence in the face of struggle might have a role in all of this often gets lost. In 2014, Ryan Holiday released a bestselling book12 on exactly this subject, The Obstacle Is the Way. It offered an update to the Roman Stoic Marcus Aurelius’s claim that “the impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way.” And this is certainly true of the ecstatic way. All that “effortless effort” takes a lot of work. So do the hard thing and the rest becomes much easier: Enjoy the state, but be sure to do the work. And no matter how tempting it is: Don’t become a Bliss Junkie.
Stealing Fire
Steven Kotler, Jamie Wheal
What I would like to do is use the time that is coming now to talk about some things that have come to mind. We’re in such a hurry most of the time we never get much chance to talk. The result is a kind of endless day-to-day shallowness, a monotony that leaves a person wondering years later where all the time went and sorry that it’s all gone. Now that we do have some time, and know it, I would like to use the time to talk in some depth about things that seem important.
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
Robert M. Pirsig
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