Triads, Girard Haven, About Triads, Law of Three, Fourth Way Today, Ouspensky, Robert Earl Burton, Fellowship of Friends

About Triads

Ordinarily—that is, in the second state—our machines function on the basis of stimulus and response. This means that some stimulus is the first force for our actions. The stimulus initiates the action, while our reactions to it are the second force. The third force determining the nature of the reaction comes from our mechanicality: chief feature, type, and so on.
When we we are observing ourselves, however, our work introduces a new triad. In this triad, the work is the first force and mechanicality is the second force. The observer (and eventually the steward and then higher centers) is the third force. This represents the process of regeneration, in which the form provided by the Work acts on the matter of the machine with a third force stemming from consciousness.

Read More…
Lighting the very light, uncreated light, Fellowship of Friends, Robert Earl Burton, FourthWayToday

Lighting the Very Light

What does the medieval Christian concept of uncreated light show us about reaching higher states? Efforts are the “work” of the Fourth Way, but “uncreated light” comes when it will.

Read More…
objective reality, FourthWayToday

Objective Reality – Inviting Us In

Objective Reality – Beyond World Twelve to World Six The natural world is more clearly inviting us into its mysteries, these days. I’m spending an hour each morning raking leaves. The distractions of ordinary life seem muted by the pandemic. Energies more rare, more refined, appear outdoors. And this natural world speaks to something higher […]

Read More…

Reality as Higher Centers

The inner work that leads to a connection to higher centers is individual and takes patience, struggle, and time. There are no shortcuts in this work because it follows natural laws. It is not a way that ends with a single revelatory experience. The achievement of this system is a regular connection with higher centers, and that requires a buildup of a particular energy, and that energy is subject to organic laws.

Read More…
We Always Make a Profit, Plato's Ideal State, the Fellowship of Friends, Robert Earl Burton

We Always Make a Profit

Can we always make a profit? Toward the end of In Search of the Miraculous, Ouspensky describes a newspaper reporter’s  conversation with Gurdjieff at a train station. Gurdjieff made a number of enigmatic statements about business and the Russian Revolution. The reporter asked, “Don’t you make profits, too?” [Gurdjieff] smiled… and said with gravity: “We always make a […]

Read More…
Intellectual parts of centers, Fellowship of Friends

Using Intellectual Parts of Centers

How do we use the highest parts of ourselves to work towards awakening, and rest when needed? Intellectual parts of centers need to work together for us to truly remember ourselves. The Four Lower Centers Fourth Way authors alert us to the fact that we have seven brains, rather than one. Two of them function in times […]

Read More…
Movement and rest, Fellowship of Friends

Fourth Way Authors on Movement and Sleep

How do our patterns of movement and sleep interact? Seminal Fourth Way authors G. Gurdjieff and P.D. Ouspensky describe how unnecessary movement and sleep–our old patterns–pose obstacles for one seeking consciousness.  P.D. Ouspensky, from A Record of Meetings:  The Role of the Moon in Mechanical Movement and Sleep At present all our movements depend on […]

Read More…
Sharing the Light with Others

Sharing the Light in our Work with Others

How do we work with sharing the light with others? The Wish to Prolong Presence The human machine is a wonderful invention. It is a machine that can produce consciousness. That consciousness has degrees. It can be closer or further away from what Gurdjieff and Ouspensky called the second state, or day-dream state. Some higher […]

Read More…