Absorbing and emitting light are aspects of spiritual growth. What are some of the steps along this path?

The Alchemical Process of Containing Fine Energy

Fourth Way authors speak of spiritual growth as analogous to the ancient practice of alchemy; that is, the transformation of base metals to more refined ones. The human machine is able to produce fine energies, but through imagination^[1], identification^[2], and the expression of negative emotions, the energy is lost. Non-expression of negative emotions is the first necessary step in conserving these finer energies. 

“The root of suffering is attachment.” — Buddha

In this Rembrandt etching, we see the moment in which the alchemist, or spiritual aspirant, faces an effulgent apparition that symbolizes a higher energy.

The lower self resists the attempts one makes to preserve energy from the very beginning, as the machine would rather stay behind the veil indefinitely. The veil is imagination. 

With time, consistent efforts do begin to bear fruit. One is increasingly able to be aware of one’s internal and external environments, to be more present, to self-remember. After an intensely difficult period, when one is internally doing one’s best, new understandings come. With this comes a higher state of consciousness that one could probably not gain in any other way.

“If negative emotions did not exist, they would have to be invented.” 
— George Gurdjieff

The Fine Energy of the Sex Center

The source of the energy one can experience is that of the sex center, or brain. This center is part of the human machine, together with the other lower centers^[3]. The sex center, however, is unique in the sense that the copious higher energy it produces, when not wasted, can be used to fuel presence, or the awareness of higher centers^[4], or third eye. When higher centers begin to appear, they quite literally produce light. We must, however, learn to observe and recognize this light, both in ourselves and in others.

In this Cordero painting, we see a sorcerer conjuring an apparition of a higher being. In reality, however, higher states of consciousness are invisible and cannot be perceived by lower centers. 

Absorbing and Emitting Light Along the Path to Awakening

In the first steps on the path of awakening, one inevitably absorbs light. One needs all the help one can get from a conscious teacher and from fellow students. With time, one is more and more able to partake in higher states, and consequently able to illumine one’s friends on the path.

In the language of the Fourth Way, men number 1, 2, 3, (ordinary people in life^[5]), hardly ever emit light. Man number 4, who is a product of school work, does emit light, but it comes and goes, depending on the law of accident^[6]. Man number 5 can emit light, at will. It is only men number 6^[7], 7, and 8, however, who constantly emit light, to varying degrees. 

The Root Factor of the Ability to Love

The ability to love is at the root of these successive levels of development. Indeed, when one is in a higher state of consciousness, one cannot save love for some people and not for others. One would not wish to do so, anyway. It issues forth from an infinite source to an infinite receiver.

Only higher forces can put one under the pressure required for spiritual growth, shaping and reshaping one. It is only when one stops resenting this suffering, or friction, that it nears its end. Such acceptance reinforces the understanding that only through (internal) change can one create a higher self. And we achieve this by changing our attitude towards the friction applied. Absorbing and emitting light becomes our aim.

“You have to keep breaking your heart until it opens.”
— Rumi

Benjamin B is a long-time student of the Fourth Way. See also: https://fourthwaytoday.org/personality-and-essence/ by this author.

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^[1] The constant flow of inattentive thoughts, or ‘I’s, in the mind.

^[2] Known in Buddhism as ‘attachment,’ being mechanically focused on one of the ‘I’s mentioned above.

^[3] That is, the instinctive, moving, emotional, and intellectual brains.  

^[4] The higher emotional and higher mental centers.

^[5] The term Men numbers 1, 2, 3, denote ordinary humans in whom the predominant brain, or center, is moving-instinctive (man #1), emotional (man #2), and intellectual (#3). They are all on the same relative level of development.

^[6] Man number 4 can sometimes, however, possess will, which is a dimension of presence, a source of inner light.

^[7] The level of development of a man number 6 indicates someone in whom the higher emotional and higher mental center have crystallized.