Gurdjieff
“Every man has a certain feature in his character which is central. It is like an axle round which all his ‘false personality’ revolves. Every man’s personal work must consist in struggling against this chief fault. This explains why there can be no general rules of work… How can there be general rules? What is useful for one is harmful for another. One man talks too much; he must learn to keep silent. Another man is silent when he ought to talk and he must learn to talk; and so it is always and in everything. General rules for the work of groups refer to everyone. Personal directions can only be individual. In this connection again a man cannot find his own chief feature, his chief fault, by himself. This is practically a law. The teacher has to point out this feature to him, and show him how to fight against it. No one else but the teacher can do this.
“The struggle against the ‘false I,’ against one’s chief feature or chief fault, is the most important part of the work, and it must proceed in deeds, not in words. For this purpose the teacher gives each man definite tasks which require, in order to carry them out, the conquest of his chief feature. When a man carries out these tasks he struggles with himself, works on himself. If he avoids the tasks, tries not to carry them out, it means that either he does not want to or that he cannot work. —In Search of the Miraculous, Chapter 11
C.S. Nott
Chief Feature in each one of us is a key to our actions and manifestations. It tips the scales. Always the same motive moves Chief Feature. It is like the bias in bowling, which prevents the ball going straight. Always Chief Feature makes us go off at a tangent. It is something mechanical…and is found in the emotional part of essence. It gives the tone pitch to the three centres, and forms the pattern of our wishes. It arises from one or more of the seven deadly sins, but chiefly from self-love and vanity… —Further Teachings of Gurdjieff, C.S. Nott
A.R. Orage
Look for chief feature in 5 things: Greed; Self-pride; Lying; Fear; Sex. Chief feature can often be a combination of one or many of these 5… It is always the last little thing making you act as you do. It is in every situation. Look for it. —Gurdjieff’s Emissary in New York: Talks and Lectures with A.R. Orage 1924-1931, Beyond Behavior (Kathryn Hulme Papers)
P.D. Ouspensky
People’s chief weaknesses are very different, and if we can resist something that another man cannot resist, because it happens to be his chief feature, this difference in weaknesses gives us the illusion that we can ‘do’… It is interesting that one can hardly ever find one’s own chief feature, because one is in it…
Q. Can one ever find the chief feature by oneself?
A. At a certain moment in organized work it will come out, or you may be told. But if you are told, you will not believe it. Or sometimes it is so obvious that it is impossible to deny it, but with the help of buffers one can forget it again… You must come near to it yourself. When you feel it yourself, you will know. If you are only told, you may easily forget…
What we must study now is all our points of view, habitual emotions, the way we think, what we invent. These are all results of chief feature or chief features, for there may be two or three features which are the most important, not necessarily only one…
Q. Does chief feature always make decisions at important moments? A. This is the best definition for it—that it always makes decisions… —The Fourth Way, Chapter 7
‘If you can look at the pattern of your whole life,’ (said) Ouspensky, ‘you may be able to see the same sort of problem continually recurring…and ending in the same sort of impasse. If you manage to do this, you are likely to be in the neighborhood of your Chief Feature. Understand that your Chief Feature is an axis in yourself, around which a great many other things are revolving, and that explains why the fruits of your chief weakness are continually recurring… —A Study of Gurdjieff’s Teaching, Kenneth Walker
Q. Are there many varieties of chief feature? A. There are strange varieties and there are classical ones. One very common feature, described in many places in the New Testament, is when we see other people’s faults, but not our own… —The Fourth Way, Chapter 7
Mme. de Salzmann
When I think of myself and the rest, the others, I realize that others please me, make me afraid, threaten me. But I need them. It is by my reactions that I can see both myself and the others, not just me. In order to know what I really am, I must go from discovery to discovery. Liberation is not to be found in judging the “bad” or the “good.”. The only bad is ignorance, the only good, awakening. Yet everyone wants to direct or be directed as he likes, to judge and criticize before seeking to understand… —The Reality of Being, 51. To organize
John Pentland
Your chief feature…represents all that keeps you in darkness…
Don’t believe anyone who tells you your chief feature. You work. A great teacher can give you guidance, but he can’t do the work for you… —Exchanges Within, John Pentland