“For one who desires to study human mechanicality in general and to make it clear to himself, the very best object of study is he himself with his own mechanicality; and to study this practically and to understand it sensibly, with all one’s being, and not “psychopathically,” that is, with only one part of one’s entire presence, is possible only as a result of correctly conducted self-observation.
And as regards this possibility of correctly conducting self-observation and conducting it without the risk of incurring the maleficent consequences which have more than once been observed from people’s attempts to do this without proper knowledge, it is necessary that the warning must be given—in order to avoid the possibility of excessive zeal—that our experience, based on the vast exact information we have, has shown that this is not so simple a thing as at first glance it may appear. This is why we make the study of the mechanicality of contemporary man the groundwork of a correctly conducted self-observation.
Before beginning to study this mechanicality and all the principles for a correctly conducted self-observation, a man in the first place must decide, once and forever, that he will be sincere with himself unconditionally, will shut his eyes to nothing, shun no results wherever they may lead him, be afraid of no inferences, and be limited by no previous, self-imposed limits…”
G. I. Gurdjieff, Beelzebub’s Tales to His Grandson, 1950, p. 1210.
Search results for “self observation” in Keith Buzzell’s books about the Fourth Way
The term “Self Observation” appears in Buzzell’s writings and is indexed below. These results come from using the “Search Books” tool from the menu above. The full search results are accessible by typing “self observation” into the search books tool. For convenience we have placed them at the bottom of this page.
 | Perspectives On Beelzebub’s Tales (2005) — 6 hits | |
| p. 3 | consequence that only a superficial understanding – of such ideas as “work on oneself,” “self observation,” “presence” and the enneagram symbol – has been manifested into ordinary life. This is a lawful | |
| p. 30 | can test its applicability: its resonance with memory, known fact and the data derived from self observation and our own Being-efforts. We can ask the following questions: If this scenario of Earth | |
| p. 40 | separation from the firstand third-brain images that appear at la1 (h24) and re3 (h24). True self observation can then take place as this inner separation establishes a ‘witness’ to the automatic products | |
 | Explorations In Active Mentation (2006) — 9 hits | |
| Intro | heart and body during this time, but the anchoring reality of the little understood concepts of self observation, external considering, negative emotions and the possibility of transformation kept me reading | |
| p. 39 | awakeness’ between the first described negative state, the mechanical weeding and the effort at self observation. There are also experiences that sometimes happen during efforts in Movements or with self-remembering | |
| p. 41 | paragraph to be speaking about the possible result of a real effort (e.g., a stop, an effort at self observation, a denial task). The task, or the description of the effort to be made, comes, ultimately | |
