Practical Work on Self

I would like to preface this rather lenghty "review" with quotes from Gurdjieff and E.J.Gold by way of arguement, so to speak, as to "why work on ourselves at all". "If a man could understand all the horror of the lives of ordinary people who are turning round in a circle of insignificant interests and insignificant aims, if he could understand what they are losing, he would understand that there can only be one thing that is serious for him - to escape from the general law, to be free. What can be serious for a man in prison who is condemned to death? Only one thing: how to save himself, how to escape: nothing else is serious." - G. I. Gurdjieff "You really have so little choice - so little to decide. You get put through the machine and it chops you up and spits you out. Your life, it's all mechanical, of the machine, until you have free will. You can't be accepted into the Work until you have matured -- freed yourself and take responsibility for your life, become accountable for your every action. It's not just from coming to a school. It's an active process - you have to take the responsibility for yourself. When you're trapped in the machine, it doesn't matter what you do." - E.J.Gold As a picture tells a thousand words, the following final chapter of "Practical Work On Self" describes one exercise (of twenty-four) which the author gives for those wishing to work on themselves toward awakening the machine for transformation of the essential self. To quote Iven Lourie, Senior Editor of the publisher, Gateways, "This book is a lab manual, a portable toolkit for the essential self....These exercises never grow stale, and never lose their potency. In fact, they increase intensity over the years, and it should be regarded as a whole-lifetime work." However, just like learning how to swim, reading about it won't do much good unless we get in the water and start practicing. Until then we are only dreaming. Chapter 24 - Last Hour Of Life To know how to settle accounts every hour is something every man should have learned in school, just as to learn to breathe, to eat, to move, and to awaken the machine should be part of any genuine curriculum of education. How would you like to discover just how precious life really is, but only in your last moment, just as the machine is taking its last few breaths? What would you learn about life? What would you appreciate suddenly, that you had never really appreciated - maybe never even noticed - before this moment? Above everything else would be breath. Perhaps for the first time, you would notice that every inbreath was accompanied by smells! And what exquisite smells! Suddenly you cling to the experience of every aroma. You notice that each scent is a combination of many different tones, and you may even be able, for the first time in your life - and also the last - to be able to seperate and identify many of the individual tones and overtones which combine to produce what we call an olfactory

I have had this book for almost a decade. Originally schooled in various 4th Way communities, I found this book struck me as too obvious...what I mean is that its exercises seemed to me to be so obvious, so to the point, that if one actually used them, rather than read about them, something would happen.And something does happen. Using the 24 exercises, I have confronted myself in various ways...and for me, simply seeing myself, is a beautiful thing...not in the artistic sense, but in the mystery of self...I am on the surface a complicated & complex human...but once I see past the overly contrived & elaborate personality...past the fear of self discovery...reality becomes a little more real.This book is not for the hobbiests...meaning, it actually gives you something to do, not just something to think about...I use this text along with THE HUMAN BIOLOGICAL MACHINE in an on-line self-awareness/transformation workshop. I can only give this book my higest recommendation...working actively with it for 5 years has made "knowing thy self" seem plausible and real.

A very useful book when you are ready for practical help. Reading books is a great way to get the ideas in your intellectual center but there is a point where reading needs the support of actual techniques that can assist one in their work. Very valuable to me, I highly recommend this book.

This book is quite exciting. Besides offering some ideas and theories about the conundrum of having a being in a body, it offers practical exercises to fine tune that unique and astonishing relationship.It outlines some strategies for the ever challenging project of how to awaken the machine. The exercise are practical and inspiring. Well, okay, some of them are a less than obvious, but what fun would it be without having to work for it a little bit? The exercises can be viewed as a course, so you can follow an organized structure. I like to do one exercise every week. Then start all over again. It is even better the third and fourth time around.A must for anyone serious about developing attention and presence.