The Fourth Way and Esoteric Traditions
– 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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– Quotations on the necessity of inner simplicity, from writers, mystics, and artists. Leonardo da Vinci: Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication. Michel de Montaigne: Others study how to elevate their minds and hoist them up tight; I, how to humble mine and lay it to rest. Goethe: This is the most difficult thing of all, though it […]
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How can we use suffering and what is transformation of suffering? Stir up the fire and put the heart on the coals. ~ Mayan Texts As many teachings suggest, suffering is inevitable in human life. The Fourth Way teacher, Maurice Nicoll, once wrote, “Life is a pain factory.” Fourth Way writers speak of various forms of […]
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Suffering is a fact of human life. Some people suffer more than others, but no one completely avoids it. Have we any choice about suffering? Though a good amount of the suffering we experience is unnecessary –– the result of our identifications, our sleep, our vices— much is unavoidable, part of the human condition. Esoterically […]
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From Taoist master Liu Yiming (18th century), on the Phoenix and the Peacock, from Awakening the Tao A phoenix appears rarely, so it is an auspicious omen. Peacocks are always showing off their feathers, so they are taken captive. In this we observe the Tao of concealment and revelation, good and bad fortune. Those who are proud […]
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The Phoenix The Phoenix story has roots going back to earliest recorded history, in ancient Egypt and Arabia, then in ancient Greece and the centuries-old fairy tale of the Brothers Grimm. Legends from many countries include the Persian Simurgh, Chinese Feng Huang, and Russian firebird (Zharptitsa). The Chinese firebird Feng Huang dates back at least 7,000 […]
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Zhang Boduan was an 11th century Taoist alchemist of the Complete Reality Taoist school. Taoist alchemy aims to create the gold elixir (also called the golden pill, or the pill of immortality) through what is called a firing process. Basically, because the teaching is hidden in symbols, one needs to be taught the inner meaning. […]
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There was a wildfire recently where I live. In aftermath of the high velocity winds, over a hundred homes were destroyed. The California fire service called it the “Cascade Fire.” I finally drove through the burnt area a couple of weeks later. The top layer of the soil was black, the tree leaves burnt from […]
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The Christian tradition speaks of fire as a purification process. Other ancient traditions also speak of the heart on fire, with purification as a necessary step. In Dante’s Divine Comedy, fire and suffering are seen as a means of both purification and transformation. An angels speaks, in canto 27 of the Purgatorio: Holy souls, you […]
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