I have left that dark cave forever. I have become that flame that needs no fuel. – Hafiz

A Flash of Light

What is transcendence? That night it just happened. In a single and very quick movement, I turned the gaze of my consciousness inward. And saw, yes, saw a burst of energy in my chest that was followed by a deafening inner silence, very typical of moments of shock, the entry of World 6.

Somehow, I felt like I had prepared for this. Every effort to remember myself in everyday situations – washing the dishes, looking at the starry sky, driving the car, talking to my son, had been training a certain muscle that I had just used, unexpectedly, in that moment of intense suffering. And later I would see it was a point of transcendence.

A New Spiritual Muscle

In the Fourth Way, the figure of the steward is like the trainer of this muscle. Through its work, we begin to develop will and establish the foundations so that our machine can receive a finer higher energy. Through the steward, we work on the first conscious shock, self-remembering. When this work has been mastered, the second conscious shock, transformation of suffering, becomes possible. Without careful preparation of the steward, following the basics of work on the Fourth Way, this transformation will remain a step removed from us. 

Who has become both Spectator and spectacle, Himself of himself, is a complete Living Cosmos. – Plotinus

That night, after receiving difficult news, not only did I see this unexpectedly well-prepared muscle, I also observed that something in me was watching. What part of me had been able to step out of my inner landscape and observe not only itself, but also the other part of me that had before been observing this landscape? Was this ultimate observer always there? I had not seen it before. Had it come from my accumulated efforts? Or was it revealing itself for the first time? 

This perspective brought a new dimension to my consciousness: I am not this. I’m not even the one watching this. I am that which is behind everything, watching impassively. Present.

Luminous mind, inexpressible, beyond ideation. – Tibetan Buddhism

Towards Gratitude

When this new dimension appears in us, all that has to do with the concerns of the machine ceases to be important. On the one hand a vast and silent inner emptiness, on the other, a state beyond all words, thoughts, sensations, and feelings. A new possibility arises, towards a transcendence we did not glimpse before.

When in a moment of intense suffering, the soul manifests through being present, the empty space that self-pity used to fill now emerges into a new kind of acceptance.

This formula of Being becomes possible only in certain circumstances. When they occur, a new sense of ‘I’ emerges – an ‘I’ that does not take any internal space because it is simply observing. And then and only then, we can establish a strong connection with something higher. We reach transcendence. If we consider the means that were necessary for this sublime experience, we can feel only gratitude for the suffering itself. And this gratitude allows the presence of a still higher world, far beyond the confines of the four lower centers. For an instant, we become truly free of our machine. Our being is released. Passing the borders of our ordinary human experience, it now touches something that is deathless and infinite. 

Transcendence

When we experience the transformation of suffering, the system has been transcended.

Nothing makes a man so much like God as transforming suffering into divine presence. – Robert Earl Burton

Elisa Eidner is a practicing transpersonal therapist and has been a student of the Fourth Way for many years. For other articles by Elisa, see: https://fourthwaytoday.org/author/elisa-eidner/.

See also: https://www.facebook.com/groups/gurdjieffouspenskyenlapractica.