Let us suppose that, having begun to realize that we react to events mechanically, we have then to begin to realize that we can react to events less mechanically and so more consciously. To a very vain and self-stuffed person this is not easy. Understand clearly that we cannot change the events but only our way of taking them. But if we have not practiced self-observation, if we have not made a new place in our minds where we can, to a small extent, observe incoming impressions before reacting to them and observe how ordinarily we would react, this will be impossible. That is, we remain machines governed by life, which is a series of changing events that overpower us in a regular rotation.
Men and women glued to life cannot distinguish themselves from life. They are life: life as the event is them. Life as a series of changing events comes in to us as impressions and causes us to react mechanically. We take this mechanical reaction as I, as oneself. We identify with every event, more, or less. The point of the Work is to create a conscious place or bar or customs-house where we can be more or less awake to what is happening. The more identified you are, the less you will remember yourself. This week try especially to distinguish between an event and your reaction to it.
Maurice Nicoll, “Life as Events and our Mechanical Reactions by Identifying with them” in Psychological Commentaries on the Teaching of Gurdjieff and Ouspensky (Vol. 4, p. 1256).
Working Note
Today, do not try to stop events; quietly make room to notice your reaction before it becomes you.
Today’s Aim
To distinguish the event from my mechanical reaction to it.
Notice
An unexpected interruption.
The first movement of irritation or approval.
The moment you begin to justify your reaction.
A brief gap before words or actions.
Whether you remember yourself or become the event.
Practice
Several times today, when something happens, pause inwardly for a moment before responding.
Silently ask: What is the event, and what is my reaction to it?
Do not try to change either. Simply let that small inner place remain present for an instant before you act.
Remember
The event comes to me; my reaction does not have to be immediate.
The Weekly Aim
“I will observe my first inner reaction before I explain or express it.”
