The Fourth Way and Esoteric Traditions
How do we create being, and what is will? P. D. Ouspensky said, Only when one is conscious does one have unity, will, and the ability to love. In my own experience, working with the Fourth Way for half a lifetime, moments of will come from outside of our normal sense of self. They come […]
Read More…
The Story of Pinocchio The tale of the puppet Pinocchio who becomes a real boy begins in Tuscany. A carpenter named Master Antonio has found a block of pinewood to carve into a leg for his table. When he begins, however, the log shouts out. Frightened by the talking log, he gives it to his […]
Read More…
Rumi on the Transformation of a Soul through the Story of the Chickpea In the collected sayings of Rumi from the Mathnawi III, 4159-421, he describes how a chickpea is consumed by fire to become another kind of food altogether. Look at a chickpea boiling in the pot, leaping up when it feels the fire. […]
Read More…
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 […]
Read More…
The Christian tradition speaks of fire as a purification process. Other ancient traditions also speak of the heart on fire, with purification as a necessary step. In Dante’s Divine Comedy, fire and suffering are seen as a means of both purification and transformation. An angels speaks, in canto 27 of the Purgatorio: Holy souls, you […]
Read More…
Legends of the Firebird The Firebird is a magical bird in legends from Russia, Armenia, and the Brothers Grimm fairy tale, The Golden Bird. The mystical bird is often the object of a difficult quest. Some tales describe how, when it flies, its eyes sparkle and pearls fall from its beak. In the Russian tale, […]
Read More…