The Work begins by teaching you very earnestly that there are many 'I's in yourself. Unless you can bear to realize this, you cannot do this Work beyond a certain point. You cannot separate from yourself and if this is the case you cannot really grasp the Work. Everything will remain personal. You will be offended.

When you begin to get force from the Work through your evaluation of it you must remember that it requires care. You may for days be unable to make proper effort, yet, as it was said, you know you are in some intermediary state. If you notice—if you have gone far enough—you are being tempted.

The Work seeks to make a new arrangement in our minds and it can only do so when it is allowed to enter a person's mind. Nothing will enter anybody's mind unless they feel an affection for it, a desire for it. And this means in so many words that unless one has 'I's in oneself that wish to work, 'I's that have always felt there is something else, 'I's that can hear the Work, not merely through the ears, but through the mind and understanding—unless such 'I's exist, the Work can never enter, but if it does enter then it becomes a matter of choice.

You should be very careful on getting up in the morning to work carefully on yourselves and, in fact, before getting up. All sorts of unpleasant 'I's may start talking about their troubles and taking a certain view of the day and if you listen to them you will be absorbing negative impressions and so starting the day well-poisoned.

It is necessary to say sometimes: "I can work". To say to oneself: "I can work" is a good thing and gives a little shock to oneself. It scatters those stealthy negative 'I's that tend to come in through one's unguarded spots.

If you observe yourself rightly, you notice these thoughts not as yourself but as coming from a negative ‘I’ in you. As a result what it says does not get power over you, because you are separate from it.