A real aim depends on an emotional perception of something you dislike in yourself and which you wish to change eventually. It depends on a certain integrity of feeling that persists in spite of downfalls. Thus great patience is necessary in connection with any real aim. A formatory aim is quite different from real aim and although you begin with formatory aims you must realize they cannot be kept and so must admit you cannot do, in this sense. Real aim can only arise from long observation and real evaluation of the Work, because unless the presence of the Work is constantly with real aim—i.e. unless you rely on the Work as well as yourself to keep it—it can lead nowhere except into False Personality and the feeling of merit.
Real aim always nourishes you, nourishes your understanding, and then you see how it can change and yet remain the same, how it can tack from one side to the other and never go in the direct way which our natural impatience demands, because all real aim is connected with our own self-development—i.e. with the development of Essence in us, with the development of understanding in us which is the greatest force we can create—whereas false aim cannot develop our understanding and very often simply contracts us and turns us into Puritans.
Maurice Nicoll, “Commentary on the Meaning of Aim in the Work” in Psychological Commentaries on the Teaching of Gurdjieff and Ouspensky (Vol. 2, p. 629)
Working Note: For Today’s Inner Effort
Orientation: Let aim come from seeing something you dislike in yourself.
What to Notice:
A recurring reaction you do not wish to have.
Seeing it briefly, then justifying or forgetting it.
Losing aim after a failure or “downfall.”
Subtle feelings of merit about trying to work.
Impatience—wanting quick change or direct progress.
Work Effort for Today:
Choose one small, repeated reaction.
When it appears, observe it without justification.
Do not expect to change it—remain with seeing it.
Return to this again later in the day.
Remember: Real aim comes from what I see and do not like.
