The Reward of Inner Work

This release from oneself, this release from Imaginary 'I', from the pictures one has had of oneself, from False Personality, is the greatest good one can do to oneself, and it involves the whole of the Work, its ideas, its practical teaching. What, then, is the reward? As I said, the reward is a much deeper understanding of oneself, of life and of other people.

What is this due to ? It is due to a thousand and one new connections having been made in oneself. Does understanding, then, imply more freedom? Yes, it implies far greater freedom internally, for it means that where you moved about in a tiny part of your total psychology, you now move in a greater part and are more at ease. So fear begins to leave you. For, the more understanding, the less foolish fear. Continual anxiety, continual unnecessary fear, is a sign of lack of understanding, and so of lack of inner development.

Maurice Nicoll, “Another Note on Understanding" in Psychological Commentaries on the Teaching of Gurdjieff and Ouspensky (Vol. 4, p. 1269)