The Difference Between Knowing and Observing

To know and to observe are not the same thing. You may know you are in a negative state, but that does not mean that you are observing it. A person in the Work said to me that he disliked somebody intensely. I said: "Try to observe it." He replied: "Why should I observe it? I don't need to. I know it already."

Self-observation, which is active, is a means of self-change, whereas merely knowing, which is passive, is not. Knowing is not an act of attention. Self-observation is an act of attention directed inwards —to what is going on in you. In the case of a person you dislike, you notice what thoughts crowd into your mind, the chorus of voices speaking in you, what they are saying, what unpleasant emotions surge up, and so on.

The attention comes from the observing side, whereas the thoughts and emotions belong to the observed side in yourself. This is dividing yourself into two. To think is quite different from observing oneself. You may think about yourself all day and never observe yourself once.

Maurice Nicoll, "Self-Observation" in Psychological Commentaries on the Teaching of Gurdjieff and Ouspensky (Vol. 1, p. 213-214)