Practical, Spiritual Precepts

The following 83 practical precepts have been formulated by Spiritual Master Teacher G.I. Gurdjieff (1872 – 1949). As with almost everything he left behind, this too has taken on a life of its own, and various variants are now circulating.

1. Fix your attention on yourself; be aware in every moment of what you think, feel, want and do.
2. Always finish what you started.
3. Do what you are doing the best you can.
4. Don’t be chained to anything that will destroy you in the long run.
5. Develop your generosity without witnesses.
6. Treat each person as if they were a close relative.
7. Tidy up what you’ve messed up.
8. Learn to receive; give thanks for every gift.
9. Stop calling yourself.
10. Don’t lie and don’t steal; if you do, you lie and steal from yourself.
11. Help others without making them dependent on you.
12. Don’t want to be imitated.
13. Draw up work plans and carry them out.
14. Don’t take up too much space.
15. Do not make noise or gestures that are not necessary.
16. If you have no faith, do as if you did.
17. Don’t be impressed by strong personalities.
18. Don’t take over anything or anyone.
19. Distribute equally.
20. Don’t seduce.
21. Eat and sleep the bare minimum.
22. Don’t talk about your personal problems.
23. Don’t make judgments or criticisms when you know only a fraction of the facts.
24. Don’t make unnecessary friendships.
25. Don’t follow trends.
26. Don’t sell yourself.
27. Respect the contracts you have signed.
28. Be on time.
29. Do not envy others’ possessions or successes.
30. Speak the bare minimum.
31. Don’t think about the benefits your work will bring you.
32. Never threaten.
33. Keep your promises.
34. In an argument, put yourself in the other person’s shoes.
35. Agree to be overtaken by someone.
36. Don’t eliminate; transform.
37. Overcome your fears; behind each of them there is a desire.
38. Help the other to help themselves.
39. Overcome your dislikes and get closer to the people you would like to push away.
40. Don’t act as a reaction to what they say about you, for better or for worse.
41. Turn your pride into dignity.
42. Turn your anger into creativity.
43. Turn your greed into respect for beauty.
44. Turn your envy into admiration for the qualities of the other.
45. Turn your hate into charity.
46. Do not praise yourself and do not insult yourself.
47. Treat what doesn’t belong to you as if it belongs to you.
48. Don’t complain.
49. Develop your imagination.
50. Don’t give orders just for the sake of being obeyed.
51. Pay for the services you are given.
52. Do not advertise your works or ideas.
53. Do not try to arouse in others emotions towards you such as pity, admiration, sympathy, complicity.
54. Don’t try to stand out for your outward appearance.
55. Never contradict; shut up.
56. Don’t get into debt; buy and pay immediately.
57. If you offend someone, apologize.
58. If you have offended publicly, apologize in public.
59. If you find that you have said something wrong, do not insist out of pride in your mistake, and immediately give up on your intentions.
60. Do not defend your oldest ideas for the simple fact that you were the one who stated them.
61. Do not store unnecessary items.
62. Don’t make yourself beautiful about other people’s ideas.
63. Don’t get photographed near famous people.
64. Don’t be accountable to anyone; be your own judge.
65. Don’t define yourself by what you own.
66. Never talk about yourself without giving yourself a chance to change.
67. Accept that nothing is yours.
68. When they ask you for your opinion about something or someone, just say their qualities.
69. When you get sick, instead of hating evil, consider it to be your teacher.
70. Don’t look secretly; look straight in the eye.
71. Don’t forget your dead, but give them a limited place so they don’t invade your whole life.
72. In the place where you live, always dedicate a space to the sacred.
73. When rendering a service, don’t overdo your efforts.
74. If you decide to work for others, do it with pleasure.
75. If you are in doubt between doing and not doing, take the risk and do.
76. Don’t try to be everything to your partner; accept that you seek in someone else what you cannot offer them.
77. When someone has their audience, don’t rush to contradict them by stealing the attention of those present.
78. Live off the money you have earned yourself.
79. Don’t brag about your love affairs.
80. Don’t flaunt your weaknesses.
81. Never visit someone just to pass the time.
82. Get to redistribute.
83. If you are meditating and a devil comes, make him meditate with you.

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These 83 practical precepts are also available in Dutch.

© Pateo.NL : This page was last updated on 2023/05/22.