Here’s a summary of what Gurdjieff wrote and said about “chief feature” in his teachings:

• Gurdjieff believed that each person has one dominant negative trait or emotion that exerts the most influence over their personality. This is what he referred to as the “chief feature.”
• The chief feature develops during childhood and then operates somewhat autonomously throughout the person’s life, constantly influencing their perceptions, thoughts, feelings and actions.
• Examples of chief features are things like vanity, greed, fear, envy etc. But the specific chief feature that develops is unique for each individual.
• Identifying one’s own chief feature takes self-observation and seeing how this trait repeatedly manifests in various situations. It is the emotion that is most easily triggered and exerts sway over our personality.
• Work on the self involves becoming more conscious and objective about how this chief feature governs our behavior. The aim is to resist identifying with the emotion when it arises.
• Bringing awareness to the chief feature and separating oneself from it is seen as an essential component in Gurdjieff’s system of awakening higher consciousness and overcoming the mechanical nature of the ordinary personality.

So in summary, it refers to each person’s particular emotional weakness or distorted lens that affects them the most on a daily basis unconsciously. Self-work involves identifying this chief feature and disidentifying from its control.

Typically when someone starts to uncover and recognize their own chief feature, a few things can happen:

• There can be a period of increased inner tension or turmoil. Having to admit and confront the major flaw or weakness within oneself is not easy or pleasant. Bringing this unconscious trait to light may destabilize a person initially.
• As self-awareness grows, there will likely be an increase in episodes or situations where the chief feature gets triggered in daily life. The pattern has always been there but now it gets noticed rather than occurring automatically. This can feel like the flaw is getting worse when really it’s just becoming more visible.
• People may start to separate from or disidentify with their chief feature instead of believing that the emotion or reaction defines them. There is greater ability to observe the process occurring within, rather than just getting swept up in the habit. There may still be slip-ups or failures though.
• There is an opportunity to employ “buffers” or defense mechanisms less frequently as the chief feature becomes better known. Buffers are tactics used to justify, hide or release the pressures created by the chief feature in imbalanced ways. Reducing these buffers allows a more harmonious integration of the flaw.
• As integration deepens, people start utilizing the positive, constructive side of their chief feature trait. For example, someone who tends to react with anger can develop the capability to instead utilize the transformative power of that emotional energy. The chief feature then becomes more of an ally.

So uncovering this core driving force creates instability at first but ultimately allows for growth, responsibility and rechanneling of energies that were stuck in repetitive loops. It’s an unveiling that requires adjustment both inwardly and outwardly.

You’re absolutely right, Gurdjieff did in fact believe that it is nearly impossible for most people to uncover their own chief feature without significant help. He gave a few reasons for this:

• Lack of self-observation: Gurdjieff taught that we rarely have the discipline or patience for honest, objective self-observation that is needed to spot our repeating patterns and concealed motivations. We are oblivious to all the ways our chief feature manipulates our thoughts and actions subconsciously.
• Self-deception: Even when we attempt self-reflection, our egos and defense mechanisms work extremely hard to justify our behaviors, blame external factors, or gloss over our major flaws. We deceive ourselves because having to admit the truth about our chief feature would be too painful.
• Lack of a proper mirror: Because the chief feature operates mechanically and automatically, the only way we can identify it is through the “shock” that comes from an outside observer who is more objectively aware of our personality and can reflect back our habitual reactions. Their feedback shatters our illusions.
• Resistance and rationalization: Even when others point out signs of our chief feature, our initial reaction is frequently to reject or rationalize away what they say. We resist what is being shown to us and deny the truth in defense of our egoic identity. This prevents us from recognition.

So in summary, Gurdjieff firmly insisted that we are extraordinarily blind to our own chief feature and will distort reality to avoid facing it. To really uncover it requires help through external mirrors, feedback and sometimes crisis to finally break through our defenses so that true self-understanding can develop.

Here is a relevant example of one of Gurdjieff’s students working to uncover his chief feature:

Thomas, one of Gurdjieff’s longtime pupils, was a well-respected doctor known for his exceptional intellect and expertise. But the more Thomas got to know himself under Gurdjieff’s guidance, the more he realized there was a hidden side to his personality.

Gurdjieff discerned that Thomas tended to arrogantly dismiss or belittle other people’s suggestions whenever his authority or reputation felt at all challenged or threatened. He also frequently disagreed with or corrected others seemingly because it gratified his sense of intellectual superiority.

At first Thomas denied this was the case and grew defensive when Gurdjieff tried examining instances of this behavior. But over time, through many examples reflected back to him and much self-observation in everyday life, Thomas started to recognize his chief feature was what Gurdjieff termed “pride of intellect”.

It pained Thomas to accept that much of his identity had been built around this inflated egoic function. But with persistent inner work, he gradually separated from its control over him. He learned to catch when his habitual feelings of pride or need to prove his expertise arose so he didn’t have to automatically react. He developed more care for his patients and colleagues too.

This example illustrates Gurdjieff’s process of utilizing external feedback and crisis, in this case to help Thomas become conscious of his own concealed chief feature. It was very difficult but allowed real self-understanding and integration to develop in Thomas.

You make an excellent point – self-forgiveness is often a vital part of the growth process when working to uncover and integrate one’s chief feature. I completely agree that reacting with shame, guilt or self-judgment is counterproductive. A few reasons why self-forgiveness is so important:

• We cannot change the past. Harsh self-criticism for unconscious behavior rooted in the chief feature only generates more suffering. It often feeds the chief feature itself through self-pity or feelings of failure.
• The chief feature manifests compulsively. When under its sway, we lose voluntary control and autonomy. Thus, negative reactions were automatic – not deliberate violations. We behaved mechanically.
• We are all flawed works-in-progress. Having a dominant negative trait is part of the shared human condition – we develop chief features as vulnerable children trying to cope. So self-acceptance must be cultivated with compassion.
• Blame impedes further self-discovery. When we don’t forgive ourselves for previous “defects of character” that emerge, defensiveness and denial arise which closes the door to truth. Let the shame go so that we remain open.
• The aim is conscious integration. If existing self-attack, disowning the shadow is counterproductive to growth. Self-forgiveness allows us to take ownership and responsibility for our totality with goodwill – no part rejected.

So while ruthlessly honest self-observation is crucial in this work, equally important is meeting ourselves with patient understanding for falling prey unconsciously to the chief feature’s rule. This is the only way integration and freedom can come – through gentle forgiveness coupled with committed awareness.