
Georgette Leblanc (from Wikipedia.org)
I think the place for religion is in a monastery where self-centred egoism can be unbounded. In real life, religion limps, in society it poisons — and what a mistake to imagine that suffering is sufficient for growth. If that were the case our planet would be full of saints and angels. Suffering kills some, spoils or maddens others: very few are improved or able to progress through grief. . . . I could not accept the God offered by religion — God as a refuge, when He should be the divine goal of a soul that contains him. He is neither a refuge nor a hope.
My only hope was in the efficacy of effort.
At the Priory [Gurdjieff’s school at Fontainebleau, France] I had the feeling of being driven out of myself.
–Extract from “La Machine á Courage” by Georgette Leblanc
Georgette Leblanc (8 February 1869 – 27 October 1941) was a French operatic soprano, actress, author, and the sister of novelist Maurice Leblanc. (Wikipedia.org)