Nicoll’s Dream

I see someone teaching or drilling some recruits. That is all. At first sight there seems nothing marvellous. He smiles. He indicates somehow that he does not necessarily expect to get any results from what he is doing. He does not seem to mind. He does not show any signs of impatience when they are rude to him. The lesson is nearly over, but this will not make any difference to him. It is as if he said, "Well, this has to be done. One cannot expect much. One must give them help, though they don't want it." It is his invulnerability that strikes me. He is not hurt or angered by their sneers or lack of discipline. He has some curious power but hardly uses it.

He seemed purified from all violence. That was the secret. That was the source of the curious power I detected in him. A man without violence.

And then I reflected that to reach him I had to get across to the other side of the deep gulf full of the bones of prehistoric beasts, where the non-violent lived and taught—the country of the non-violent, where recruits were being taught.

From this glance I know better what going in a new direction is and what a new will purified from violence means. I know also that the possibilities of following this new will and new direction lie in every moment of one's life.

Maurice Nicoll, “Emortions that Shut" in Psychological Commentaries on the Teaching of Gurdjieff and Ouspensky (Vol. 4, p. 1500)