Gnosis in a Hundred PagesPage 17 of 100 · Part I

Part I · Asleep

A day, and the evening review

The practices of Part I make one shape across a day. At night, you walk the day backward.

Read to me

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Morning, the doors of the day, and at night the day walked backward.

You now have three practices. Here is how they fit into an ordinary day.

In the morning, before you reach for your phone, take one breath and decide to remember yourself today. Then let the day begin.

Through the day, use the doors. Each doorway is a reminder: Where am I? Am I really here? A few times, add the three questions from page 15. Choose one ordinary task and watch yourself doing it.

Before sleep, the day replays in reverse, scene by scene.

At night comes the third practice, the evening review. It is one of the oldest exercises there is, and one of the most useful. Lying in bed before sleep, go back over the day in reverse order: from now, to the evening, to the afternoon, to the morning. Do it as a witness, not a judge. You are not grading yourself. You are seeing what happened.

Things will appear that you missed while you were living them: a sharp word, a kindness you ignored, a fear that steered your afternoon. Do not argue with them. Just see them.

The review does three things. It strengthens your self-observation, because you see what you could not see in the moment. It prepares you for the work of Part II, where you meet the selves one by one. And it trains your memory, which you will need at night in Part IV.

The evening review · practice three

  1. In bed, with the light off, close your eyes and let your body relax.
  2. Start with the last thing you did before lying down.
  3. Move backward, scene by scene, toward the morning.
  4. In each scene, notice what you felt, and which self was speaking.
  5. If you fall asleep partway through, that is fine. Begin again tomorrow night.

Words on this page

Retrospection
Reviewing the day backward, as a witness.

In the old words

“For a few minutes, watch the day replay in reverse, evening to morning, as a witness and never as a judge, letting each scene pass and complete itself.”

Sealing the VesselGene Hart
On the next pagePart II · The enemy within. You have seen the many selves. Next, you meet them one by one.18. What a self is