Above Steward lies Real ‘I’. If we could get in touch with Real ‘I’ directly without having to pay all that is necessary for this inner development, then we should be able to remember ourselves in the Work-sense of that term. But we have to start from where we are and gradually by a process of inner separation and selection learn not to go with certain ‘I’s and give the preference to other different ‘I’s which stand on a slightly higher level of our average being. But negative Self-Remembering is one of our very great difficulties and will stand in the way of any further inner growth.
It is very easy to feel that one is no good, that one understands nothing, that one is not making any progress. It is very easy to yield to these ‘I’s that say “if only this”, “if only that”. All this is negative Self-Remembering and has to be separated from eventually. In fact, it is sometimes very astonishing to realize that what we thought was our genuine humility is nothing of the kind and that it is nothing but an artifice arising from our False Personality—i.e., that it is a form of vanity or self-pride.
Maurice Nicoll, “Commentary on Self-Remembering” in Psychological Commentaries on the Teaching of Gurdjieff and Ouspensky (Vol. 3, p. 897)
For your reflection: Throughout this day, can you notice the first “I” that says you’re failing or not enough—and quietly refuse to go with it?
