Birdlip, July 29, 1944
COMMENTARY ON WILL II
Let us continue the commentaries on what Will is from the Work point of view. It is necessary to recapitulate a little. We have at present, the Work teaches, only the diverse wills of many different 'I's. We have no real, no permanent and steady Will. First of all, each 'I' uses us at the moment and so each 'I' speaks through the telephone-that is, through our mouth-and says all sorts of things and calls itself 'I'. If there is any doubt, any hesitation, what speaks is the resultant of the several wills of these different 'I's. This resultant decides. It is called Will but it is not Real Will. It is a compromise between many different voices, like a Parliament (which means a Speaking-House). The final vote is the resultant of many different parties. It is the resultant of many different wills and desires. This is the state of what we call our will. It is the resultant of many wills, many different desires. But Real Will cannot be a resultant, for Will in a real sense is Master and is above the desires of life and all life-'I's.
On one occasion G. was speaking of aim. He asked people round him what was their aim. People said different things-such as that they wished always to be happy or to do good to others and so on. Someone said: "I wish for self-mastery." G. said at once that this was a real aim. "This", he said in so many words, "is something the Work is about. This I can teach you if you are willing to go through all the difficulties that must be overcome to attain it. Real Will is possible because it exists in Man. It is Master. But Man is cut off from it."
Master -Real 'I'-Real Will
Steward
Deputy-Steward
The many 'I's of Personality
Now you have heard that Master will not come until the Horse, Carriage and Driver are in a proper state and relation. The Driver must emerge from the inn and eventually get on the box. This is the first step. Let us think once more of this first step. The Work teaches that it is impossible for the Master-that is, Real 'I'-to come unless certain conditions are fulfilled. The first condition is that the Driver, wasting his money in the public-house-that is, in dreams and illusions and pictures of himself, and especially in imagining he is master of him-
great deal about what it means to take in more impressions.
One way to take in more impressions is to try to look at things without associations. This is a, very interesting method.
Another way is to see everything happening in life in the light of the Work-that is, to bring the Work up to the place of incoming impressions.
Another way is to see Personality acting in oneself.
You will find for yourselves as you go on in the Work many ways of taking in impressions to a greater extent. But you must remember that everything tends to become mechanical. In consequence, if you can find a way of taking in impressions more fully, you must not expect it to continue to give results. One has to be clever. One has to have a number of irons in the fire, as Mr. O. once said-that is, different methods at different times.
Now if we could make Personality passive-I say "if"-then impressions would fall on Essence which lies behind Personality. This would give us a great deal of force. Everything would look much fresher, much more brilliant, much more interesting. As we are mechanical, we cease to take in new impressions often at a very early stage in our lives. We take in simply the same impressions over and over again. We see everything in exactly the same way and we take one another in exactly the same way. Of course, if you can manage to see a person you know without any associations you will get a shock. You see a quite different person. In the same way, if we begin to see ourselves, if we can get behind ourselves through self-observation, we will again get a shock. We will realize we do not know ourselves and are quite different from what we thought. You remember the strange esoteric phrase in the Gospels, where Christ is talking about what is necessary for work on oneself. He is really speaking about the Personality. He says: "Whosoever shall not receive the Kingdom of God as a little child, he shall in no wise enter therein." (Luke XVIII 17). Here we must think about the idea of this Work-namely, becoming conscious.
I would like to speak about Personality-that is, the acquired part of us-and remind you of a few things. Everyone has this built-up Personality with its own view-points, likes and dislikes, customs, attitudes, and so on. Can any of you see that you have a machine of this kind and that what is you is not it? In each country quite different kinds of Personality have become ingrained. A Chinese is quite different from an Englishman. Yet each will take his Personality as absolute truth, absolute right. If you can catch a glimpse of what I mean it may help you to see what Personality is in yourself. Now, as was said, if Personality becomes more passive, impressions begin to fall on Essence. This makes it possible for Essence to grow-an extraordinary experience. As long as impressions fall on Personality they will always produce the same effects mechanically. But when they begin to fall on Essence everything is always new'-and far richer and more varied. In fact, everything is wonderful. Instead of having the feeling that everything is repeating itself, everything is the same, one begins to feel that nothing is ever the same. But one condition that is necessary is that one lives more in the moment and notices those forces coming at the moment and so takes in impressions from the actual moment. If one is always living in imagination or in the past this is impossible. When we are in the Personality and only react in set, stereotyped mechanical ways to every moment we soon feel a strange staleness, a deadness in ourselves. We are making no attempt to take in new impressions. We are really in a person that has been formed in us and that we think is ourself. The most interesting thing is that people say: "How can I think differently? How can I feel differently?" when this is the whole point of the Work. If you cannot observe how you react, then of course nothing can be changed. If you cannot or will not take in any new ideas, again, nothing can be changed. If you think that you can retain your former ways of thinking and feeling and estimating things and simply add something new to yourself as you are, then again you cannot change. It is you that has to change and you are just how you mechanically think and feel about everything. That is you. Have you then begun to observe this you, this person who thinks, feels and acts as always? Are you satisfied with this acquired you?
1Maurice Nicoll
“Psychological Commentaries on the Teaching of Gurdjieff and Ouspensky” Vol. 2