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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.

G. I. Gurdjieff#15

GrowthFaithDeathEgoSpirit

About this quote

What does it mean?
Death before rebirth means breaking false confidence, self-love, and egoism before real growth can occur.
In plain terms
To grow, you must break your ego and stop trusting yourself too much.
What can you take from it?
Break your ego to allow real growth.

Where it applies

  • spiritual growth
  • self improvement
  • personal crisis

Putting it to work

  • humility
  • letting go
  • reflection

Questions to consider

  • What part of you needs to die?
  • How do you handle egoism?

Another view

Breaking the ego can be psychologically difficult or harmful.

More from G. I. Gurdjieff

  1. I ask you to believe nothing that you cannot verify for yourself.

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  2. The power of changing oneself lies not in the mind, but in the body and the feelings. Unfortunately, however, our body and our feelings are so constituted that…

    Permalink to quote #16
  3. There do exist enquiring minds, which long for the truth of the heart, seek it, strive to solve the problems set by life, try to penetrate to the essence of th…

    Permalink to quote #13

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