G.I.Gurdjieff

work on ourselves cannot proceed until we begin to be free from this illusion. We must realize that we do not exist, and therefore have nothing to lose. We must realize our “nothingness” in the full sense of the word. It is this consciousness of one’s nothingness that alone can conquer the fear of accepting the conditions of a school of the Fourth Way.

We have to recognize that “schools” are imperative because of the complexity of the human organization. No one is able to keep watch on the whole of himself, on all his different sides. Only school conditions can do this, with methodology and discipline. By ourselves we are too lazy.

In work on oneself the only effort that counts is super-effort, that is, effort which goes beyond what is usual and necessary. Ordinary efforts are not enough.