In Gurdjieff's system it is fundamental to understand the principles that distinguish "knowing" and "being". Let's try to understand it together:

KNOWING  "Knowing" refers to an intellectual experience. I "know" the lesson or "I' ve learned" this subject or "I understand" the meaning of a discussion.

BEING  "Being" refers to what we are, to our inner richness or poverty, to the richness of our relationships, to the way we are in a deeper sense.

A philosophy professor who knows everything about the subject he teaches, but is quarrelsome, mean, selfish and indifferent towards other people, is the classic example of a man with highly developed knowledge but a poor being.

On the other hand, a good man, sweet, kind and generous but with a poor education regarding the many processes of life and the mechanisms that rule the process of thinking, and who has never asked questions about the world around him is a man with a very developed being but with little knowledge.

Gurdjieff said that both these kinds of man are partial, which means they are not absolute men.

His objective was the growth of men from the points of view of both "knowledge" and "being".

Knowledge alone is not enough, we need a Master who is in contact with those who are learned and, in different ways, can transmit knowledge leading the subject’s "Being" to evolving growth. This cannot be done with an Internet site or a book. We need contact with a real Guide who will enable us to grow in both knowledge and being. This Guide before helping other people to grow must also have grown himself. A false Guide is a danger for the growth of one's 'being' in the same way that a lie is a danger for the growth of real knowledge. When knowledge and being grow harmoniously together we have Consciousness.