Benjamin B, Author at Fourth Way Today

The Fluidity of Impressions

What do we mean by ‘impressions’ and the fluidity of impressions? Fourth Way authors describe the human machine as a chemical factory subsisting on three types of food: Food and drink, air, and impressions. We can survive about a month without eating, and a few minutes without air. However, should we lack impressions, whether internal […]

by Benjamin B

Stillness: Childhood & Maturity in Spiritual Evolution

Higher forces come to dispel our vaporous ordinary state into something extraordinary. This is the battle we must wage in order to attain the stillness of our soul.

by Benjamin B

Awakening: Presence as a Unifying Element

As long as we identify with each fleeting sensation of ‘I’, we cannot awaken. Awakening means a gradual increase of inner unity. At the same time, we must remember that awakening is not only possible, it is within reach.

by Benjamin B

The Tip of the Iceberg

What we see, be it Whitman’s ‘Leaves of Grass’, or Dante’s ‘Divine Comedy’, is but the tip of the iceberg. In these two masterpieces of world literature we see but a reflection of what an individual, such as these two authors, may invisibly attain.

by Benjamin B

Change

We need to construct our lives around the effort to increase consciousness, or presence. We do this through working to deconstruct, transform, and transcend whatever within us resists or distracts us from acceleration into higher worlds. We come to realize, with time, that every moment of presence is a triumph, and a reason to be grateful.

by Benjamin B

Created and Uncreated Light

Work in the Fourth Way requires efforts–but sometimes higher states come of themselves. We can term our efforts ‘Created Light,’ and those of presence coming on its own—‘Uncreated Light.’

by Benjamin B

World 12 and World 6

Fourth Way authors alert us to the fact that what we experience is, to a large degree, an illusion. There is a tangible reality—if we see a tree, or the wall of a house, we can touch and feel them. They are there. In a deeper sense, however, most of our perceptions stem from a […]

by Benjamin B

External Consideration–a tool for spiritual growth

There are aspects of presence that can play in our favor. One is battling imagination, the many I’s comprising our inner world. A major tool for this struggle is external consideration, the work of being present to another human being.

by Benjamin B

The Struggle of the Magicians in Spiritual Evolution

Struggle of the Magicians – the Battle for the Higher Self Many myths and spiritual traditions describe a struggle between competing inner entities in man or woman. Some term these entities the lower self and the higher self. Gurdjieff described this struggle as ‘the struggle of the magicians.’ Curiously, this struggle becomes apparent when the […]

by Benjamin B

Using Intellectual Parts of Centers

How do we use the highest parts of ourselves to work towards awakening, and rest when needed? Intellectual parts of centers need to work together for us to truly remember ourselves. The Four Lower Centers Fourth Way authors alert us to the fact that we have seven brains, rather than one. Two of them function in times […]