No Final Solutions: The Art of Navigating Life's Storms

Now, in conclusion, as regards the Work finding a way for you when you begin to give it a place in yourself, let me say this. Everyone has problems and troubles. No one is without them. We try to find solutions—final solutions—as if afterwards there would be no further trouble.

Remember that there are no final solutions to anything. To try to find final solutions to things is like trying to do away with the waves of the storms of the sea. You have to have a good ship, a good rudder and a good compass. The solution to things lies in seamanship. Or, to change the metaphor—it is said in this Work that it sells leather from which you can make good shoes. You cannot clear away all the mud and stones and pebbles, but you can construct good shoes to walk over them.

Maurice Nicoll, “Commentary on the Relationship of a Man to Himself” in Psychological Commentaries on the Teaching of Gurdjieff and Ouspensky (Vol. 1, p. 368)