Are You A Parrot?

Have you noticed the rigid man, the rigid woman, who always thinks in the same set way, always says the same thing, always expresses the same opinion, like a parrot? Perhaps you may have, but I advise you first of all to notice yourself in this respect. Are you a parrot?

Such a person will always be the same person, always say the same thing, always express the same standpoints, take all experience in a stereotyped way. He or she is no good from the Work point of view. Why? Because being quite satisfied does not lead to self-change. The great key to self-change lies in observing oneself, observing how one talks, what opinions one constantly repeats, what one constantly condemns in others, what one is so proud of, and so on.

Maurice Nicoll, “The Meaning of Force in the Work" in Psychological Commentaries on the Teaching of Gurdjieff and Ouspensky (Vol. 2, p. 714)