The Fourth Way and Esoteric Traditions
Learning to play music: Does “raising up” the lower centers lead to higher centers? Some decades ago, after I began to work in a Fourth Way school, I returned to music. I needed to study the cello to play in a nascent community orchestra. I had stopped playing in my teens and my beautiful instrument […]
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These quotations chosen by the editors of the Fourth Way Today illustrate how our lower functions relate to our higher parts. Basically, the lower functions, or four lower centers, are part of our being. But how do they serve consciousness? Are they our servant or our master? Ouspensky and others on Using the Lower Functions […]
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Forging the Sword – Quotations A sword is something to protect the body; here it means the tool of wisdom to become enlightened and immortal, the means to become a sage. This is what is called the restored elixir; there is no “sword” other than the restored elixir. This means restoration of the original innate […]
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How to deal with contradictions on the path to awakening? The Fourth Way describes the lack of unity of man, and his many contradictions. What challenge does this fact pose on the path to awakening? “Do I contradict myself? Very well then I contradict myself.” – Walt Whitman These words from Walt Whitman have long […]
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Essence and Presence – What is presence, and how does it relate to essence? How do the Fourth Way and other traditions use these terms? From the Sufi Tradition – Zikar In Sufism, the word zikar means “remembrance of the Presence of God while losing oneself in a sacred experience.” Truly, it is the remembrance of a […]
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