Blog - Page 27 of 32 - Fourth Way Today

Rekindling the Light of Awareness

How do we go about rekindling the light of awareness? In Taoist texts, the ‘light of awareness’ must return to its root. How can we recognize its loss and return to this light? The Magic of the Monkey King The Fourth Way teaching is clear in stating that man doesn’t have will, unity, or self-awareness. […]

by Ruth Atkins

The Master and His Pupil – A Fairy Tale

[In this English fairy tale of a master and his pupil, aspects of multiplicity and unity are shown to be a matter of life and death.] A Wizard of the North Country THERE was once a very learned man in the north country who knew all the languages under the sun, and who was acquainted […]

by The Editors

Quotes on Unity and Multiplicity

Quotations from Fourth Way authors Gurdjieff and Ouspensky on unity–and our innate multiplicity. Acknowledging Plurality Man has no individual I. But there are, instead, hundreds and thousands of separate small I’s, very often entirely unknown to one another, never coming into contact, or, on the contrary, hostile to each other, mutually exclusive and incompatible. Each […]

by Benjamin B

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 […]

by John Stubbs

THE PROCESS OF THE FOURTH WAY PART VI – Dying and Being Reborn

In this concluding part, we shall touch on the meaning of ‘dying’ and ‘being reborn’. This cannot be a very deep description because this writer has hardly any experience of it. By ‘dying’, Gurdjieff explained that it was dying to your old self, to recognise your own nothingness, and to abandon completely any notion of […]

by John Stubbs

THE PROCESS OF THE FOURTH WAY PART V – Awakening

The main part of the process of the Fourth Way is the slow work on Awakening and it seems to be the heaviest of the four phases. One first has to work with the physical manifestations of one’s features. For example, working on negative emotions includes work on relaxing one’s facial expressions and tensions in […]

by John Stubbs

THE PROCESS OF THE FOURTH WAY PART IV – More on the “Good Soil”

Part III mentioned that Good Soil is needed in order for the Seed to germinate and grow. One starts with what one already has: personal moral principles and understandings, together with some knowledge of the system. This is a start, but it is all mixed up with bad habits, laziness, useless reactions, misunderstandings and basically, […]

by John Stubbs

THE PROCESS OF THE FOURTH WAY PART III – The Good Soil and the Seed

The previous article talked about the “seed”, which can, in the end, be brought to the level of a fully fledged “soul”, provided that it is nurtured in “good soil”. As was said in that article, the seed is nothing more than a principle in the beginning. Nearly all humans contain this seed. It is, […]

by John Stubbs

THE PROCESS OF THE FOURTH WAY – PART II

As was described in the first part, Gurdjieff said that the aim of the Fourth Way is the birth and growth of a new individuality and real ‘I’. But what is this new birth actually? The system also uses other terms for this birth, such as one’s “soul”, or one’s “astral body”. Gurdjieff said that […]

by John Stubbs

THE PROCESS OF THE FOURTH WAY – PART I

Gurdjieff said that the Fourth Way is a process of personal evolution which consists of four recognisable stages. The aim, he said, is to be ‘born’, which is a rediscovery of essence, and its growth into an individuality and the beginning of real ‘I’. But he explained that, in order to be ‘born’, one must […]