What is the difference between the kind of work that is imposed on us by the fact of existence, working to maintain one’s own existence, to feed and to care for one’s body and this Work? The difference is that the conscious work is not something that one is aware of instinctively. It is something that one is aware of because of one’s human nature. But here something difficult enters as to the circumstances that make this work possible. It is certainly very close if not identical with service, but here we have something special. If we look at the way that Gurdjieff presents this notion of “Conscious Labour and Intentional Suffering” we can see that invariably, it is concerned with serving the future.

From the talk: Conscious Labour and Intentional Suffering, Sherborne House 1974