The Fourth Way and Esoteric Traditions
The third state of consciousness~ self-remembering, or self-consciousness, consciousness of one’s own being-constitutes the natural right of man as he is, and if a man does not possess it is only because of the wrong conditions of his life. In the fourth state of consciousness, objective consciousness, a man can see things as they are.
Read More…
Identification with our thoughts, emotions, pains and sufferings diminishes as the scope broadens. Acceptance and humility overtake any resentment and self-absorption. The manifestations of the lower self can actually serve as fuel to this state. Transforming these into presence can propel a higher state into even greater heights.
Read More…
We embody what is higher by being present. We can learn to hear if our hearts are in the temple or in the bazaar. When we identify for ourselves the flavor of those virtues–courage, prudence, humility and moderation–which Plato associates with the Ideal State, our work with others will be stronger: more direct and more compassionate as required.
Read More…
In the faces of men and women I see God and in my own face in the Glass. ~ Walt Whitman
Read More…
What do Fourth Way authors say about going beyond knowledge, going beyond the system, and changing the location of our sense of ‘I’? From Views from the Real World, Gurdjieff: Beyond this world, beyond the limits of our knowledge, there lies a world, incomprehensible for us, of noumena—a shadow, a reflection of which is the […]
Read More…
Is it fate or sin, what the steward undergoes? Sin Distances Us from the Whole In ancient Greek, the verb “αμαρτάνω”- “amartano” (I sin) means that I do not have a share; I am apart from the whole, a non-participant. While the opposite verb “μείρομαι” – “meiromai” means that I have a share. I am […]
Read More…
“The balance between knowledge and being is even more important than a separate development of either one or the other. And a separate development of knowledge or of being is not desirable in any way. Although it is precisely this one-sided development that often seems particularly attractive to people. “If knowledge outweighs being a man […]
Read More…
What is the function of the steward in work on ourselves? Both science and objective wisdom indicate that to restore balance to our shaken “being,” practical work on ourselves is necessary. Science informs us that our thymus gland is the first thing affected by our emotions. It is responsible for our immune system and the […]
Read More…
Who We Admire Any man can speak truly; but to speak with order, wisely, and competently, of that few men are capable. ~ Montaigne There is something ridiculous about a learned man who lacks the discipline to use knowledge in a way that benefits his soul. Nor would we glorify the ignorant who move from action […]
Read More…
In this work to awaken fully, we experience a changing sense of ‘I’. First, our sense of ‘I’ develops in childhood, as we grow away from the simple essence with which we are born. We develop personality, trying on aspects of new personas into adulthood. When we begin to seek a way out of the […]
Read More…