William Page, Author at Fourth Way Today

When We Talk about Freedom

When we talk about freedom, we’re speaking about the work an individual to achieve freedom from unnecessary laws. In order to understand this, it is first necessary to see man as a microcosmos. Man is a microcosmos because, like the universe, he has within him layers of realities. What this means is that man’s inner life […]

by William Page

Recurrence, Higher Dimensions, and Time Travel

If reincarnation and recurrence exist, which seems likely to me, then we will be able to travel to the future and the past. Only first we have to do the work of the moment; we have to be present and use our attention and focus to fashion a lighter and more durable vehicle.

Really, we are all time travelers, and our physical bodies are the time machines that we so badly want to invent.

by William Page

Philosophy, Theory, and Practice

If you study only the philosophical side of Gurdjieff’s ideas—its history, its cosmology, or its connection to the major religions—you may never connect to higher centers. This isn’t wrong. It’s fine to be a scholar. But the primary purpose of the system is to teach people to awaken. You cannot awaken unless you are willing to make inner efforts and take a practical approach to the knowledge.

by William Page

On the Faculty of Judgment

Who We Admire Any man can speak truly; but to speak with order, wisely, and competently, of that few men are capable. ~ Montaigne There is something ridiculous about a learned man who lacks the discipline to use knowledge in a way that benefits his soul. Nor would we glorify the ignorant who move from action […]

by William Page

On Finding Oneself

The very idea of finding one’s self is problematic because we are the never the same. If you think you have found yourself—a solid, unchanging self—wouldn’t that imply that you’ve stopped growing?

by William Page

The Law of Seven

If we understood the law of octaves, we could see more clearly how the universe unfolds, or how a tree grows, or how learning requires special efforts at certain, very specific, points.

by William Page

Reality as Higher Centers

The inner work that leads to a connection to higher centers is individual and takes patience, struggle, and time. There are no shortcuts in this work because it follows natural laws. It is not a way that ends with a single revelatory experience. The achievement of this system is a regular connection with higher centers, and that requires a buildup of a particular energy, and that energy is subject to organic laws.

by William Page

We Always Make a Profit

Can we always make a profit? Toward the end of In Search of the Miraculous, Ouspensky describes a newspaper reporter’s conversation with Gurdjieff at a train station. Gurdjieff made a number of enigmatic statements about business and the Russian Revolution. The reporter asked, “Don’t you make profits, too?” [Gurdjieff] smiled… and said with gravity: “We always make a […]

by William Page

Ideal Conditions in Difficult Times

Do we allow the reality of what is happening to force us into in a state of fear and instinctive desperation? Or do we use these difficult times to better understand that we are, in essence, spiritual beings?

by William Page

The Freedom of the Real

When we talk about freedom, we’re speaking about the work an individual does to become free of unnecessary laws. Man as a Microcosmos of the Universe In order to understand this, it is first necessary to see man as a microcosmos. Man is a microcosmos because, like the universe, he has within him layers of […]