The Practice of Non-Considering and the Illusion of "I Can Do"

I call your attention to the last practice mentioned—Non-considering. This means not identifying with Internal Considering. Have you noticed how much of the day is spent in considering, how many of your actions are influenced by it, and how often you cannot be in what you are doing because one half of you is internally considering? Have you noticed this tremendous power that life exerts on us to keep us asleep, this factor of Internal Considering?

But if something stronger than life governs you, you will find that in place of internally considering you will begin to externally consider and then a great deal of peace will come to you and a great deal of strength that hitherto has been wasted in Internal Considering.

Also, you will begin to understand other people far better, and instead of worrying about everything you will have real thoughts about other people and about yourself, and everything will become much more simple and quieter. Perhaps some of you have noticed the connection between Internal Considering and the idea that one can do.

Maurice Nicoll, “Work on Being" in Psychological Commentaries on the Teaching of Gurdjieff and Ouspensky (Vol. 2, p.707)