People who make a great many requirements expect a great deal from others and if they do not get what they expect, they are disappointed and they feel they are owed. That is, they begin to form a great background of internal considering to their lives. This makes them bitter. They feel they have scores to settle. For a person of this kind to externally consider becomes very difficult. But it should not be so difficult for you unless you are crystallized.
To realize that you expect the other person to do things you would never think of doing yourself makes a very good starting point from which to begin to externally consider another person. It is a practical starting point and a Work starting point. You realize then that you expect the other person not only to do things you would never think of doing but to be different from you, behave differently, put up with things differently, and so on.
Maurice Nicoll, “Internal Considering and External Considering” in Psychological Commentaries on the Teaching of Gurdjieff and Ouspensky (Vol. 1, p. 266).
Working Note: For Today’s Inner Effort
Orientation: Observe your requirements of other people.
What to Notice:
Disappointment when someone does not behave as expected.
The feeling that another person ought to understand you.
Silent demands placed on others.
A sense of being owed something.
Work Effort for Today:
Catch one requirement as it appears.
Ask whether you would willingly do the same yourself.
Do not continue the internal account.
Practise external considering instead.
Remember: See the requirement; withdraw it and consider the other.
