A disciple asks his master how he can come “to hear God speak.” The master replies: “When thou canst throw thyself into THAT, where no creature dwelleth, though it be but for a moment, then thou hearest what God speaketh.” The disciple asks him if the place where no creature dwells is near or far away. The master says: “It is in thee”, and he adds that it is to be reached by ceasing, even for a moment, from all one’s thinking and willing, “when thou standest still from self-thinking and self-willing and canst stop the wheel of the imagination and the senses.” In another place he says that this act must be done once a day at least and only for a short time.
He is really describing what in this Work is called Self-Remembering. In one book written some eight centuries ago, by someone belonging to the Sufi schools, the writer compares Self-Remembering with coming to the surface of the sea and drawing in air. “This air,” he says, “is miraculous, and will last a whole day, even when one is at the bottom of the ocean.” When you make a practice of Self-Remembering every day, you begin to be aware of a continuity running through your life. On the other hand, you become aware when this continuity is lost. When you feel this continuity and the loss of it, you have a point in the Work in the Emotional Center. This is like “inner taste,” the starting of real Work-conscience.
Maurice Nicoll, “Self-Remembering” in Psychological Commentaries on the Teaching of Gurdjieff and Ouspensky (Vol.1, p. 317)
Working Note: For Today’s Inner Effort
Orientation: Touch a moment where thinking and willing fall silent.
What to Notice:
The constant movement of inner talking.
Trying to control or push events internally.
Imagination running without stop.
The inability to remain still inwardly even for a few seconds.
A faint taste when this stops, then its loss.
Work Effort for Today:
Once today, stop completely for a brief moment.
Do not follow thought or intention.
Let everything fall still inwardly.
Sense yourself without adding anything.
Then stop the exercise at once.
Remember: Cease inner talking and willing; stand still inwardly for a moment.
