freedom of the real, Leonardo, Portrait of a Girl, Fellowship of Friends, Robert Earl Burton, FourthWayToday

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 […]

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Octaves and Intervals, Apollo with Lyre, William Page, Robert Earl Burton, Fellowship of Friends

Octaves and Intervals

How does the study of octaves and intervals help us understand our own efforts to be more present, more awake? The Natural Law of Octaves and Intervals The Law of Seven can be observed everywhere in the natural world and in everything we do internally and externally. If we understood the law of octaves, we […]

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Rumi Meeting Shams, Fellowship of Friends

Teaching Conscious Evolution

A noted Fourth Way author describes the essential qualities required for teaching conscious evolution. The Need for Both Knowledge and Being Spiritual understanding is not solely based on studying religious concepts. It is the combination of comprehending the ideas that make up a religion and the capacity to put those ideas into practice. It is […]

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Choosing to Believe One Can Awaken

Remembering to Remember Oneself This may seem strange, but when I wake up in the morning and sit up in bed and begin to remember myself, I find that the best attitude I can take is to believe that I can do it. Choosing to believe I can remember myself, without long lapses, for the […]

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Fourth Way Today - Gurdjieff

Memory and Higher States

Editor’s Note: How does our experience of memory expand in higher states? This writer explores the traces of higher states upon lower centers in the  Fourth Way today. And here also is God!!! Again God!… I am man, and such as I am, in contrast to all other outer forms of animal life, created by […]

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Many 'I's

Observing the Many I’s – the Lack of Unity

Are we unified?  Or are we a multiplicity? It is the greatest mistake to think that man is always one and the same. A man is never the same for long. He is continually changing. He seldom remains the same even for half an hour.  ~ G. I. Gurdjieff, writing on the multiplicity of man […]

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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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The Nature of Suffering

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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