We have to see what makes us negative and we have to accept the fact that we are made negative by certain things. From the work point of view, we now have to work just on this being negative, and not seek an outer cause. The fault is our own because, broadly speaking, if you are negative, it is your own fault. I know this is difficult, yet it is what the Work says. Someone said recently at a meeting, in trying to describe this enormous teaching and field of self-observation, that if he is served with a not properly cooked breakfast all his feeling of happiness vanishes.
But that is not nearly enough. The Work is bigger, wider, than such a small thing. That is better than nothing in the way of observation, but it is very, very slight. This person must now try to observe how he or she is negative under such circumstances, because observing such a reaction is due to some attitude, to some picture, to something they expect and take for granted. As long as the situation remains, such people will be capable of not much development of being. They will be impeded by their small being, their small attitudes, their forms of expectancy, of what is due to them, and so will be very difficult kinds of people, probably exacting, without knowing that all the trouble lies in themselves for having such a small outlook on life and such over-exaggerated self-love.
Maurice Nicoll, “What it Means to Work on Oneself” in Psychological Commentaries on the Teaching of Gurdjieff and Ouspensky (Vol. 4, p. 1280).
Working Note: For Today’s Inner Effort
Orientation: Take negative emotion as your own responsibility.
What to Notice:
Small events destroying inner balance.
Expecting life to satisfy self-love.
Inner complaints over trivial inconveniences.
Seeking outer causes for negative states.
Work Effort for Today:
When irritated by a small thing, stop inwardly.
Do not blame the circumstance immediately.
Observe the expectation behind the reaction.
Remember the Work is larger than this moment.
Remember: Negative emotion reveals the level of being.
