When you remember the Work within you and your aim in it and at the same time look out at life, this act of Self-Remembering brings the Work up to the point of entry of impressions—that is, it enables you to take incoming life from a Work point point of view and notice the reactions you are about to make and prevent impressions from falling on their customary places in you and producing their habitual reactions. All this involves a struggle between ‘Yes’ and ‘No’. Those in such a state can see an impression about to produce a typical response in them and say ‘Yes’ to it, or ‘No’. If the response the impression is about to cause is contrary to your aim and you say ‘No’ to it, then you are keeping your aim.
You are working on yourself and in that moment you have sacrificed something. What have you sacrificed? The satisfaction of reacting as usual—that is, mechanically—the satisfaction, let us say, of feeling aggrieved, or the satisfaction of some unpleasant thought or some unpleasant manifestation, and so on. All this involves a struggle which is very quick and does not show itself externally. It takes place within you and has to do with your inner assent or inner refusal. It takes place where you should be conscious, where you should be awake—and where, actually, you are asleep. This place can be found. It is the place where the First Conscious Shock is given. You should always remember your aim when you remember yourself.
Maurice Nicoll, “First Conscious Shock—(continued)” in Psychological Commentaries on the Teaching of Gurdjieff and Ouspensky (Vol. 1, p. 199-200).
Working Note
Remember yourself together with your aim just before an impression becomes a reaction, and use that small interval to give your inner “Yes” or “No.”
Today’s Aim
Keep your aim present at the point where impressions first enter.
Notice
The instant before you answer.
The pull toward a familiar reaction.
The wish to feel justified.
The quiet presence of your aim.
The difference between consent and refusal.
Practice
Several times today, especially when something stirs you, remember yourself and your aim at the same moment.
Before the reaction takes hold, ask inwardly: “Is this in accord with my aim?” Then quietly give your inner “Yes” or “No,” and accept the small sacrifice of not reacting mechanically.
Remember
The real struggle is not outside; it is where you quietly consent or refuse.
The Weekly Aim
“I will observe my first inner reaction before I explain or express it.”
