What is the meaning of Gurdjieff's saying: 'Practice love to animals first, because they are more sensitive'?

Osho, what is the meaning of gurdjieff's saying: "practice love to animals first, because they are more sensitive"?

Don't take it literally, because I know my people are dangerous people! He is talking metaphorically! But George Gurdjieff's statement is not complete; it has to be made complete so you don't misunderstand it. Start loving yourself; that has to be the beginning and that is also going to be the end. Then the circle is complete: you begin by loving yourself, because you are the closest to yourself. Of course, when you begin to love yourself your love is from the circumference towards the center, because you exist on the circumference. You turn in: you stand on the door which connects your inside and the outside. You look inwards -- you are still standing on the circumference -- and you fall in love with your center. This is the beginning. And the end will be that you have reached the center and you stand at the center and look…

But ordinary human beings are not mirrors; they are parasites, suckers. If you give them love they will suck it -- they are like vacuum cleaners! And not only that; they are like milking machines: they will go on milking you. And when there is a milking machine its capacity is infinite, because they are just like black-holes: you cannot fulfil their desire, the more will always be there. The more you give, the more they will expect; they will never feel grateful for what you have done. They will always complain about what you have not done; hence it is really the most difficult experience in life to love a human being. Gurdjieff used to say love starts with animals for the simple reason that if you love a dog he will respond. You can trust a dog. At least he will wag his tail!

So the second direction is: the maximal development of personality on the paths of love. Let us love, let us give love, let us live in love. And it is not necessary that we give love only to humans for love to be learned. Initiation into love is the initiation of the whole personality into lovingness—to be loving. We may lift a stone as if lifting a friend; and we may hold a person’s hand as if grasping an enemy’s. A man can behave lovingly even with things, and another man behaves with humans in a way he should not behave even with things. A man filled with hatred treats humans as objects; a man filled with love gives even objects a personality. A German traveler once went to meet a fakir.

There are lovers and no love. Parents pretend they love their children, children pretend they love their parents, husbands pretend, wives pretend -- pretensions and pretensions... And it is not that they are doing it knowingly, they may be completely unaware of the fact. But the root cause is... If everybody was told from the very beginning that love is the greatest art in life because it is the greatest magic, the most miraculous phenomenon.... You cannot take it for granted, you have to explore it, you have to go deeply into it, you have to learn its ways. It is an art. People learn painting for years; then too, only in thousands of painters does one become a Picasso. People learn music for years and then only once in a while is there a Yehudi Menuhin or Ravi Shankar.

One has to sow the seeds; one has to prepare the soil. One has to be very loving, careful. One has to defend the new sprouts, because there are a thousand and one dangers, and love is very delicate. One has to handle it carefully: love is very subtle and the world is very gross. Love is like a flower, and in the world you will find only rocks and rocks. The flower can be crushed very easily. Its beauty can be destroyed at any moment. It is a miracle that it happens in such a hard world, but it does happen. Love makes one aware that miracles are possible. There is no other miracle which is bigger than love. Be a gardener of love. Let your heart be the soil Tend the garden carefully in the right time, when the spring comes.