Work-Octave and the Renewal of Being

It is necessary to return inwardly to valuation—and revalue the Work. This releases energy. In terms of the Work-Octave we have to return to the note Do and sound it more strongly. Many 'I's attack this note and seek to drain its energy of vibration—mocking 'I's, clownish 'I's, ugly 'I's, cruel 'I's, hard 'I's, arguing 'I's, denying 'I's, mob 'I's. All unpleasandt things in you seek to attack this opening note of the Work.

You will be startled to find how faint, how weak, this Do can become. This is because you do not renew it day by day and have let the uproar of life drown it. Circumstances can make a life-Do easy: a Work-Do is not easy—it is against life. Along with making the note Do sound more strongly in one's being, one has to reflect deeply—that is, in the Inner Man—upon why one is seeking the Work, for the two go together—or should do.

If you have neither valuation nor aim, how can the strength of the Work ever be received ? There is nothing to receive it with. If there is nothing in you to receive the Work, it cannot help you. If it does not begin to influence the way you think or feel or act, it is a sign that you have neither valuation nor aim.

Maurice Nicoll, “What is Consciousness" in Psychological Commentaries on the Teaching of Gurdjieff and Ouspensky (Vol. 5, p. 1525)