Now if you have begun to have Work-memory through self-observation, you no longer believe in your momentary different states—i.e. in your different ‘I’s which keep coming up in turn. ‘I’s cannot be overcome save by self-observation and non-identifying. A person may have the idea that he should really make up his mind definitely, let us say, about Mr. X. I will ask you this question: ‘What is going to make up your mind?’ Each ‘I’ will make up your mind quite differently—that is, each ‘I’ will give you a quite different outlook towards him.
If you begin to observe your ‘I’s and not identify with him you will finally get a picture of Mr. X. composed of all the different angles that each ‘I’ in you sees. You will therefore get a composite picture of Mr. X.—not a picture based on the opposites but a full picture of him. I will add here that this is quite impossible unless you can see different ‘I’s in yourself. If you have no memory arising from moments of self-observation and Self-Remembering you will never be able to get a full picture of Mr. X. And what is the reason? The reason is that you have no composite picture of yourself yet and therefore are still in Imaginary ‘I’ whose power over us makes us say ‘I’ to every ‘I’.”
Maurice Nicoll, “The Observation of ‘I’s and States” in Psychological Commentaries on the Teaching of Gurdjieff and Ouspensky (Vol. 3, p. 803-804).
Working Note
When a definite judgment of another person appears, observe which ‘I’ is making it, and do not identify with that single view as though it were the whole of you.
Today’s Aim
To notice the different ‘I’s that form different judgments of the same person.
Notice
How your view of someone changes during the day.
The certainty with which each new ‘I’ speaks.
The impulse to say inwardly, “This is what I really think.”
How mood alters what you see in another person.
What becomes visible when you do not identify with one judgment.
The beginnings of a fuller picture.
Practice
Choose one person toward whom you have definite opinions.
Whenever a judgment of this person arises, observe it without trying to correct it or settle the matter. Simply notice: this is one ‘I’ seeing from one angle.
Later, remember the different views that appeared.
Remember
Do not let one momentary ‘I’ make up your mind.
The Weekly Aim
“I will observe the ‘I’ in me that wants to be right.”
