The First and Second Lines of Work

The first line of Work is to make us know our state of being and state of knowledge. Otherwise we cannot change. To observe is the first thing, but it must be without criticism or analysis. It has been said, on one occasion, that you can change nothing until you know all yourself.

The second line of Work is work in conjunction with other people in the Work. Unless you practice the first line of Work you cannot practice the second. Again, unless you practice the second, you cannot practice the first rightly.

Maurice Nicoll, “The Three Lines of Work" in Psychological Commentaries on the Teaching of Gurdjieff and Ouspensky (Vol. 1, p. 335)