The claim is that ordinary waking life is a kind of sleep — and that there's one specific thing to do about it.
Why this is hard
Watch yourself for an hour and you'll find almost none of it was chosen. Something happened, something responded, and nobody was home for either. The instruction is to be home — not more often, but at all.
1 of 3
Attention divides in two.
Because all attention usually goes outward, none to the one looking.
You're washing a cup, and you know you're the one washing it.
2 of 3
It fades in seconds.
Because the effort must be made again, and making it is the practice.
You get four seconds and lose it. You make it again.
3 of 3
Friction is fuel.
Because a difficult moment authorises practice rather than interrupting it.
A hard exchange at home becomes the place you remember yourself.
The practice
Three times today, for as long as it lasts: do what you're doing, and know you're the one doing it.
The school insisted on a teacher and a group. That is what they said; it isn't a rule here.
G. I. Gurdjieff, and P. D. Ouspensky's In Search of the Miraculous.