The Uniqueness of the Work

The Work is not remotely like any other way to understanding. It has much in common with the world's major religions, because all its teachings can be found in them, but unlike religions, it does not demand any outward form of worship or the acceptance of any particular theology.

It has something in common with counselling, since it is a way to understand oneself. Counselling, however, aims to help clients function normally in everyday life. While some counselling theories include a spiritual component, this is not the basic aim of the counselling process.

The Work takes over where counselling leaves off. It assumes the Work student is competent to function at the level of life, can support himself or herself, is not a scrounger or an idler, and has reasonably good relationships with family and friends.

It then helps the student to get to know his own psychology at a much deeper level than counselling can - or should - attempt. (Of course, I'm using masculine pronouns to include both men and women here).

The Work is not part of the occult world, although it is esoteric: as Gurdjieff described it, it is "esoteric Christianity".

The Work encourages the study of various esoteric systems such as the tarot, the I Ching, astrology and so on, but it does not seek to use them for fortune telling, or divination.

Why not? Because one of the greatest obstacles to spiritual progress is the student's False Personality, which is ruled by an Imaginary I - and to practice occult systems for monetary gain, or to win admiration from other people, artificially boosts this undesirable aspect of the student's psychological makeup.

The student becomes identified with his imagined prowess in such practices, and his Pride and Vanity are increased to an alarming extent. So much so, in some cases, that it becomes quite impossible for the truths of the Work to penetrate the thick crust which Pride and Vanity form around the False Personality. This crust shuts out the light of the Work and the student will make no progress in the Work - indeed, will become a drain on the energy of the teacher and the group.

The Work is not just such another system, as some students imagine.

It can't simply be added on to the knowledge a student may already have about such subjects.

This fact was best expressed by the Head of Conscious Humanity, known as Jesus in the Gospels, when He said that you can't pour new wine into old wine skins. The new wine is strong and potent, and will burst the old vessels so that all will be lost.

Likewise, He said, you can't patch up an older garment by sewing on a piece of brand new material. Again, the old can't take the strain of bearing with the new. The whole cloth will fall apart.

The Work must be seen and appreciated for what it is - a radically different, thoroughgoing approach to self-knowledge and knowledge of the cosmos, which can't be understood with the old I's that we use to study other systems.

We have to allow the Work to gradually penetrate us, to gently shine its searching light on the dark places of our Personality and False Personality so that we see those proud and vain I's for what they are; a useless, conceited attempt to aggrandize ourselves in the eyes of others.

We cannot use the Work to build up our Personality or False Personality, as those other systems may be used (or, rather, misused).

It doesn't work.

In the supportive, encouraging setting of the Work group, under the guidance of an understanding teacher, the student is gradually shown the futility of his False Personality, with its useless, harmful I's and its opposition to real truth. He is shown how to escape from its imprisonment and to begin to taste real freedom.

He is given his first, bitter-sweet taste of remorse of conscience as he begins to see his own mistakes, his own lies, his own ill-will. The Work does not condemn him for these things. The Work shows him that they are simply unreal, not-him, not part of his Essence, and definitely not part of his Real I.

To see the truth of how we have lived, how we've behaved, can be very painful. But it is a cleansing pain, akin to the probing of a surgeon's scalpel as it cuts away dead and decaying flesh. It hurts, yes, but this is necessary for us to heal.

Some people, however, can't bear the pain of real insight and immediately turn away. It may happen after a few months or after many years in the Work. The moment will come for each persevering student when he is given the chance to see himself, to really see and understand how he has been the slave of I's that seek his and other people's ill being. These I's lie to us and deform our relationships, bringing only accidents, misunderstandings and disasters. Such a realization cannot be pleasant, by its very nature.

The teacher's role here is to help the student undergo this cleansing process - called in Christianity the Way of Purgation - without jumping in to condemn or deny the reality he is being shown. As the Bible tells us not to judge, so does the Work. Such judging is quite useless - it is merely one set of mechanical I's opposing another - and leaves the student no better off. Instead, we simply allow ourselves to see the truths we are shown, without flinching or denying their existence.

As Dr Nicoll puts it, there are many processes which can only take place in the dark, and when a light is shone upon them, they stop. So it is with the ill will stirred up in us and other people by our own negative emotional I's, our own destructive thought patterns, our own unacknowledged pride, vanity, deceitfulness and arrogance.

The light of the Work will heal and cure, if only we endure it without turning away. And we will find that, as we continue to see ourselves in its healing rays, we are given a taste of real freedom that is quite unforgettable, and quite unlike anything else.

There are two ways in which people may escape the feeling of powerlessness and impotence so many find unpalatable and seek to deny.

One is to add on other "assets", including occult skills, to make other people see the student as someone powerful, to be noticed, to be admired. Of course, this is merely building the hot air pie of the False Personality ever taller.

The other is to allow those vain, conceited, impotent I's to be gradually deprived of their power over us, so that enlightment may come, and we may see ourselves - and the world around us - as they truly are.

Only then may we understand the great, hidden truths of the cosmos which the Work wishes to show us.

Eventually, this is goal of all true religions, and this is why we may compare their teachings to those of the Work. Whether Christian, Muslim, Jew, Buddhist or Hindu, all lead the sincere disciple to see the truths of themselves, and through this insight to reach liberation from False Personality.

Eventually, through admitting our powerlessness, we may become truly able to "do".

It may, however, take many lifetimes for the religious seeker to reach such understanding. Many will never make it.

The Work offers a short cut, which is why it's sometimes called "The Way of Accelerated Completion". If you deeply long for freedom and understanding, the Work will show you how to reach them and will offer you the conditions to achieve them in this lifetime. The rest is up to you.