The Fourth Way and Esoteric Traditions
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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Editor’s Note: In the Fourth Way today, how do we untie the Gordian knot of sleep? How can lower centers convey messages from higher states? And what role does objective art or music play in awakening? Objective Art, Beauty and the King of Hearts How does an artist use the various lower centers—instinctive, moving, emotional and […]
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– What do we have of human knowledge and divine knowledge? “Chickens cackle and dogs bark — This is what men know. Although they may have great knowledge, They cannot explain whence they have evolved. Nor can they surmise with ideas what they will become.” – Chuang Tzu Such is human knowledge. For awakening, we need […]
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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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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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What is essence? – Essence is the real part of one and is often compared to a child within. While it is childlike, it is not childish. Young children have this state. Essence includes our type and center of gravity. Ouspensky says it includes the structure and capacities of the lower centers, while the contents […]
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– 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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How can we use suffering and what is transformation of suffering? Stir up the fire and put the heart on the coals. ~ Mayan Texts As many teachings suggest, suffering is inevitable in human life. The Fourth Way teacher, Maurice Nicoll, once wrote, “Life is a pain factory.” Fourth Way writers speak of various forms of […]
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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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