In the absence of any real emotion- real compassion, real empathy, reaf

feeling, all of which our inner barriers actively exclude-, the machine
of chief feature gets to work to devise the best substitue it can. And
most of the time, unfortunately, that seems to be negativity. Negativity
is much easier to manufacture than real feeling, because it can be
effortlessly produced from the natural friction between our wall and the
outside world. And there's always friction, isn't there?
The problem is, that friction generates heat.
Inside this inner fortress, we live in a perpetual state of fear. This
fear is created by the very presence of the wall itself, which blinds us
to 99% of what we need to know about what is going on around us. Over
time, our fortress fills up with all kinds of volatile chemicals. Every
so often the friction produces enough heat and the whole thing goes
kablooey.
We all know what that feels like. The results of this repeated
accumulation and detonation of inner negativity destroy everything we
work for. If we don't come to grips with it, no matter what we try, we
keep finding ourselves in the middle of a pile a rubble that- just a few
moments ago- was supposed to be the foundation of an inner temple.
Chief feature is probably not "all negative." We actually need it. After
all, in our relatively crippled ordinary state- we are all so partial we
limp along through life without any inner unity, and are constantly
trying to compensate for our lack of inner connection- we need at least
some strong part to help us along. Life is always unexpectedly battering
us in one way or another, and if we can't meet it in a right way- with
balance and unity- then we better have a few defenses to deploy.
It is a deal with the devil. Chief feature becomes a steel shield formed
at the very front of our being to protect us. Our conduct in life all
takes place from behind this barrier. After we've finished forming it
rather early in life, nothing really gets in, and a lot of our real
essential self can't get out. No matter what happens, chief feature is
right there, advising us, reassuring us, rationalizing, and making sure
that we're comfortable.
Even if what we are comfortable in is a big pile of our own excrement.
The price of relative saftey is this imprisonment. Life is held at arm's
length, producing a state referred to in various ways such as sleep,
lack of relationship, attachment, or identification.
Dwelling behind this wall of our own making, we all convince ourselves
that the view from the little slit through which all our exchanges take
place is a damned good one.
In fact, the view is so good we don't even know we have a wall.
Chief feature is invisible. So invisible that Gurdjieff advised us if we

are told what it is, we will most certainly deny it. I know a little
about how this works because of my experience with denial in alcoholism.
What little I know is scary, because what I do know is that I was
absolutely delusional about my drinking.
The implication is that chief feature causes us to live in an equally
profound state of delusion about ourselves. It takes great effort to see
through a veil that thick.
A lot of what keeps chief feature "functioning within acceptable
parameters" (as my favorite character on Star Trek- The Next Generation,
Data, used to say)- is negativity.