Lost to the World

I quite enjoy one of Mahler’s songs, set to a poem by Friedrich Rückert, “Ich bin von die Welt abhanden gekommen,” or “I am lost to the world.” The piece begins with a beautiful and haunting English horn solo against a background of woodwind and harp, followed by strings.  Lost to the world – an […]

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Walt Whitman, sharing the light, Fellowship of Friends, Robert Earl Burton, What is it then between us?

What is it then between us?

A Fourth Way author muses on this work of sharing the light and the creation of a new foundation for our presence. What is it then between us?What is the count of the scores or hundreds of years between us?Whatever it is, it avails not—distance avails not, and place avails not…. – Walt Whitman Yes, what […]

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Demons and Elephant, Fourth Way Today, Fellowship of Friends, Robert Burton

Multiplicity and Unity: Personality and Essence

What are the differences between personality and essence in terms of unity? The Fourth Way advises us that the study of man (or woman) must go hand-in-hand with study of the world. That man is a microcosmos[1], with traits identical to those of a higher cosmos. Therefore, man can be compared to the higher cosmos […]

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Personality of pie

Essence and Personality in the Fourth Way

– The way of dividing man into three parts, personality, essence, and consciousness is from the Gurdjieff / Ouspensky system. In reality personality and consciousness can be further divided. Personality can be divided into false and true personality and consciousness can be divided into higher emotional center and higher intellectual center. These five levels can […]

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