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Let us try to get some of the energy contained in the idea that Man, that Woman, is asleep, and make some reflections by means of it. It is said often in these Commentaries that we should not remain unconscious of our psychology. One reason is that what we are unconscious of in ourselves we tend to see only in others. I mean, that we will tend to see, let us say, meanness, as outside of ourselves when it is possibly inside ourselves. If we are constantly seeing meanness in others we may be pretty sure that it is something we are blind to in ourselves.
Now this tendency is one particular part of our general state of sleep. If we reflect on this particular part of our sleep we see that it gives rise to an incalculable amount of unhappiness in the world. We accuse and condemn another for what we also do and are. This is a failure or lack in consciousness due to the general level of our consciousness. It characterizes the second or “so-called waking state”, which we believe—until we waken up to it—to be a state of full consciousness. The Work calls it a state of sleep. I ask in parenthesis here: “Do you, even after long, uncritical self-observation, truly begin to realize that you are not properly conscious?” Perhaps one has not thought of oneself in this way.
Maurice Nicoll, “Definite, Topical and Concrete Self-Observation” in Psychological Commentaries on the Teaching of Gurdjieff and Ouspensky (Vol. 5, p. 1597).
Working Note: For Today’s Inner Effort
Orientation: Remember you are not fully conscious in the moment.
What to Notice:
Seeing faults in others repeatedly.
Feeling certain in your judgments.
Not questioning your own state.
Acting and speaking without awareness.
A moment where you sense you are asleep.
Work Effort for Today:
In a reaction, say inwardly: “I am not conscious now.”
Pause before continuing.
Do not trust the first thought.
Observe the state without correcting it.
Remember: You are asleep and see others through this sleep.
