Articles in popular media acknowledge society suffers universally from attention deficit disorder and frequently offer the practice of “Mindfulness” as the remedy, usually denoted as a somewhat more alert state, a way of being more present in the moment.

Patanjali (5^th century B.C.) in his Yoga Sutras detailed the basic tenets of yoga and described the common state of human awareness as wandering, lost in illusion, and subject to endless involuntary changes. He wrote a person is incapable of meditating in ordinary awareness, that Dharana, concentration or one-pointed attention, is a preliminary stage leading to the ability to meditate.

Mindfulness is too vague a term to describe this dynamic range of awareness, and in most writings on meditation, techniques are not generally given to build on it, expand it, and make it a permanent state of consciousness.  There is probably no better terminology to use for clarity and real insight into degrees of consciousness than Gurdjieff’s, “Self Observation,” so that’s the term this book will employ.

The observing self is the part of you that watches the activity of your body, mind, emotions, and environment, but is not lost in those things. It is the part of you that is aware it is observing as it is observing, an awareness independent of all of your inner and outer manifestations. At first this sounds like nothing at all, but with minimal experimentation it will be demonstrated to be the most essential something. With the techniques outlined in the following pages, this initially and sporadic small awareness can grow and grow into a permanent awareness and euphoria.

Patanjali called true meditation Dhyana, a steady and continuous flow of that one-pointed concentration. If you were able to observe yourself all of the time without exception, you would have achieved what Gurdjieff calls “Self Remembering,” a higher state of consciousness than you normally ever have.

One problem you may have understanding self observation is that it describes something you think you already have, so you would naturally have no interest in acquiring it. And at the moment you’re told you don’t have it, you wake up enough to have it momentarily.

Doing a Life Review can help you see your attention and presence have not been continuous, but have only been sporadic throughout your life. If you sit quietly and review memories from the time you were born to the present day, you’ll realize you only remember certain times and experiences, but others are completely lost. What you remember are times you were aware of yourself during heightened emotion or more intense experience. Memories like those are remembered more: upsets and excitements, feeling love for family members, being moved by beauty, unusual events.

What you don’t remember are times you were not aware of yourself. What may surprise you is that your past appears to be mostly unremembered with little brief spurts of memory scattered through it. This bears more reflection. If you don’t remember it, it’s like it never happened at all, as if you weren’t actually there or some other being had temporary possession of your mind. In a sense, you have lived way less than you thought.

Why self observation has been so elusive and left such gaps in your life experience can be demonstrated by an attempt to self observe for three minutes while sitting still. Sit in a chair with a watch in hand or in view and begin the attempt to be aware of your feelings, sensations and thoughts for three full minutes. Most people find this a quite boring and uncomfortable experiment. Books on meditation instruct a person to do just this for long periods of time, usually while sitting cross legged on the floor. People are told if they are bored or uncomfortable it’s just their resistance to this exercise, and that they should keep persisting despite their misery.  When the most determined persist, after years of this they usually report no more significant benefits other than a slightly increased ability to relax. They generally do not show any increased awareness in ordinary life circumstances. If you learn to be awake only when sitting still with eyes closed, then you will only have learned to be awake under those specific, narrow conditions.

For a number of reasons, it is better to attempt to practice self observation all of the time. If you learn to be awake in your ordinary life conditions, you will have learned to be awake in all those conditions. Those are the very circumstances that made you what you are, and so that is the best focus of your exercise.

Practicing self observation on a regular basis, with the goal of achieving constant self remembering is an extremely accelerated path to higher states of consciousness. People who have done this report profound results in a very short time compared to close-eyed meditators.

There is so much to observe when you place your attention on your life in the present moment. Rather than being dull, it becomes more exciting all the time, since the more you observe, the more you see that you weren’t aware of before. You don’t have to be uncomfortable, strain yourself, or go to a special place to practice self observation in your daily life.

For best results with your attempts at continuous self observation, mark your day at beginning and end with an Intention and an Evaluation. Take a quiet minute first thing in the morning and mentally state or write down your Intention for the day, something like “Today I will observe myself all day long.” At the end of the day take a minute to review and mentally play back the tape of your day. Evaluate how often you were able to remember to observe yourself.

Like many learned skills, this is more difficult when you first begin and becomes gradually easier with practice. If you persist in your efforts, it eventually will be completely effortless and you’ll wonder why it ever seemed difficult at all. With the increased attention of self observation, you can learn many things about your body and mind that were formally hidden from you, and increase your ability to attain a higher state of consciousness, opening up a world you never imagined existed, one that seems quite miraculous.

To be capable of genuine meditative states, your attention must be developed.

Self Observation Main Points

The observing self is the part of you that watches the activity of your body, mind, emotions, and environment, but is not lost in those things. It is the part of you that is aware it is observing as it is observing, an awareness independent of all of your inner and outer manifestations.

The observing self is initially a sporadic small awareness, but with certain techniques can grow and grow into a permanent awareness and euphoria.

Self observation describes something you think you already have. Part of developing it is understanding that you rarely have it.

It is better to attempt to practice self observation all of the time. If you learn to be awake in your ordinary life conditions, you will have learned to be awake in all those conditions.

Practicing self observation on a regular basis, with the goal of achieving constant self remembering is an extremely accelerated path to higher states of consciousness.

Self Observation Exercises

Sit quietly and review memories of your life from birth to the present day. Look for those times and events you do remember. Note times devoid of memory.

Attempt to self observe for three minutes while sitting still.

Start a journal of your daily practice to keep track of your progress in self observing.

Make an intention in the morning to self observe all day as much as possible. Before bedtime, evaluate how often you were able to do this.

Self Observation Glossary

Dharana – Sanskrit yogic term for ability to hold attention on one thing exclusive of all else

Dhyana – Sanskrit yogic term for ability to hold attention on one thing exclusive of all else for long period of time. Also known as meditation.

Evaluation – Honest assessment of how well one’s Intention was met

Intention – Goal for consciousness work for a defined period of time

Life Review – Mentally reviewing the events of one’s life and noting times of awareness

Mindfulness – A popularized term vaguely denoting a somewhat more alert state or way of being more present in the moment

Meditation – Ability to hold attention on one thing exclusive of all else for long period of time

Playing Back the Tape – Reviewing mentally one’s experiences and awareness during a segment of time

Self Observation – Being aware of the activity of one’s body, mind, emotions, and environment, but not being lost in those things

Self Remembering – Observing oneself all of the time without exception

III. Learning to Differentiate Between the Three Centers