Table of Contents
Self-Remembering
Nicoll describes self-remembering as a state of being and a practice that involves a different relationship to oneself, one’s body, and the world.
It’s not merely thinking about oneself, but an active and conscious effort to become aware of one’s own existence.
He also describes it as an internal movement, a kind of psychological ‘to and fro’ motion with a pressure of attention, moving from outer awareness to one’s inner state and back again.
A Preliminary Aside: The Scourge of Materialism
As an aside to self-remembering, Here’s a quote from Maurice Nicoll’s book Living Time, first published in 1952.
… in this age of materialism men seem doomed to sacrifice themselves more and more to mass organisations, to war, to machines, to speed, to gigantism and ugliness of every kind, in order to get emotional satisfaction.
Seen from this angle, the attitude of scientific materialism really increases man’s inner weakness, which is always too great. In all that belongs to himself, in all that is necessary for the dawn of individuality, it renders him more and more impotent, giving him the illusion that he can gain absolute power over a dead material world.
And with this increasing inner weakness he seeks more and more to put himself under some dominating personality, to surrender his thinking, to cease to be a man at all.1
Writing now in early 2025, this quote seems to me an apt description of our times. If this was true in 1952, how much is more is it true today?
For Nicoll, what we have missed (and which spiritual traditions, current and ancient, hold and held dear) is that the materialist world view misses the essence of who we are.
He taught and wrote at length on a more accurate representation – that we are primarily consciousness, connected using the very limited ranges of our senses to a world that we assume is material (though we have no real proof of this.) But our consciousness is our true limitless wealth, which we overlook at our peril.
One way to realise this (rather than merely to hold it as a theory) is, over an extended period of time, to practice what Ouspensky called self-remembering. This is a nuanced practice that one may approach in a form appropriate to themselves… and, to re-iterate, practice over a long period – period of years.
Eight Aspects of Self-remembering
Nicoll describes self-remembering as a state of being and a practice that involves a different relationship to oneself, one’s body, and the world. It’s not merely thinking about oneself, but an active and conscious effort to become aware of one’s own existence.
…if you experience a moment of real consciousness, a moment of self-remembering, you will feel that it is just as if you were insulated from life and that nothing could touch you.
And such would be the case if we were always in a state of self-remembering. Our task is to try to imitate higher states of consciousness, so as to attract them.2
He also describes it as an internal movement, a kind of psychological ‘to and fro’ motion with a pressure of attention, moving from outer awareness to one’s inner state and back again.
(Nicoll also spoke of self-observing, which is more of a foundational state of noticing the ways in which we are mechanical in our actions and thoughts. Self-remembering, however, is an advance over self-observing in fact the intention is to connect with something higher in the mind.)
It is a paradoxical experience in that you feel your nothingness and your uniqueness, and you feel connected to all Creation, an integral part of it.3
Here are 8 key aspects of Nicoll’s concept of self-remembering:
1. A Higher State of Being
Self-remembering is associated with a higher level of consciousness and being, involving an element of acknowledging the existence of a Greater Mind.
It’s a state where one feels the extraordinariness of their existence and the miracle of consciousness, leading to a sense of wonder and questioning “Who am I?”.
2. Inner Stop
A preliminary step to self-remembering is the practice of ‘inner stop‘. This involves stopping the flow of mechanical thoughts and associations.
It requires a total silence and a loss of the ordinary sense of oneself, standing motionless in the mind without paying attention to passing thoughts.
3. A Triple Relation
Self-remembering is described as a relation between consciousness, the body with its external senses, and the external world of things and people.
Maintaining this triple relationship is key to experiencing the taste of self-remembering.
4. Drawing in Scattered Elements
Self-remembering involves drawing back into oneself the scattered elements of one’s attention that are usually glued to events.
5. Not Contending
Self-remembering is not about struggling against inner or outer things, but raising oneself above them.
It is described as a kind of non-identifying with oneself, as if one were merely acting and had forgotten oneself.
6. Emotional Quality
Self-remembering has a certain emotional quality that is distinct from ordinary states of being. This emotional quality helps one access higher parts of centres and bigger ‘I’s.
(The idea that we have multiple ‘I’s is basic to the teachings of Ouspensky and Gurdjieff.)
7. A Source of Nourishment
Self-remembering is believed to provide a special kind of nourishment to every cell in the body, a kind of food that is not ordinarily received.
8. Surrender of Oneself
Self-remembering is also considered a surrender of oneself, a recognition of one’s helplessness and a request for help.
Eight Forms of Self-remembering
Nicoll also notes that there are many different forms of self-remembering, including:
1. Stopping the Noise of Oneself
Getting out of the ordinary feeling of oneself and becoming ‘no one’ for a moment.
2. Feeling the Intense Reality of Oneself
Experiencing the ‘I’ in all that one has to do for a period of time.
3. Different Approaches for Different States
Remembering oneself in one way when in a bad state and in another when in a good state, and recognising that the latter as often the more difficult.
4. Awakening a Specific Part of Oneself
Awakening in the specific part of oneself where one knows one is asleep. As Gurdjieff said:
“In order to awaken, first of all one must realise that one is in a state of sleep.”
5. Integrating Outer and Inner Awareness
Looking both in and out, seeing the outer world and one’s reaction to it, thereby making identification impossible.
6. Relaxation
Completely relaxing the body, stopping all thought and movement, reversing wrong states of being.
7. Practising During Daily Life
Practising self-remembering and non-identifying amidst the happenings of life.
8. Seeing versus Thinking
Self-remembering is a form of seeing, rather than simply thinking about oneself. Gurdjieff is quoted as saying:
“You always think, think, think. I look,”
Conclusion
The practice of self-remembering is intended to create a state where impressions become emotional and more meaningful.
It is considered by Nicoll to be an advance over the practice of self-observation (the purpose of which is to become aware of one’s own existence and to see the mechanical aspects of one’s behaviour).
But self-remembering also involves seeing oneself as separate from one’s mechanical reactions.
It is understood to be an ongoing process of learning and discovery, not a fixed technique. Nicoll emphasises that one must find the forms of self-remembering that are most effective for one’s own individual needs.
- Maurice Nicoll, Living Time, p30 of the 1952 edition. ↩︎
- Psychological Commentaries on the Teachings of Ouspensky and Gurdjieff v1 p29. ↩︎
- Fourth Way Teachings: The Practice of Inner Transformation, Rebecca Nottingham. ↩︎