A noted Fourth Way author describes the essential qualities required for teaching conscious evolution.
The Need for Both Knowledge and Being
Spiritual understanding is not solely based on studying religious concepts. It is the combination of comprehending the ideas that make up a religion and the capacity to put those ideas into practice. It is a combination of knowledge and being. In many religious traditions being can be understood in relation to ethics or being good. For instance, a professor of religious studies may or may not practice the religions he teaches. He may teach ethics and not be ethical in his personal or professional life. Knowledge of what is good does not necessarily make him good. In ethics his being is his ability to be good, not his ability to explain why certain actions are ethical and others are not.
Understanding as a Result of Knowledge and Being
In relation to conscious evolution the same principle holds true. If you combine knowledge of conscious evolution with self-remembering, being present, and transforming suffering, your understanding will be greater. Greater than if you only study the knowledge or if you try to practice self-remembering, being present, and transforming suffering without studying the knowledge. Understanding is result of the two. One without the other results in less understanding. “Drown the book” was the mandate that Shams gave to Rumi. It made all the difference.
Teaching Conscious Evolution through Higher Centers
In theory, anybody who has a basic understanding of the laws and principles that govern conscious evolution can teach it. But, generally, the best teachers of it are those who can depend on being able to act for higher centers, through self-remembering and other methods, at will. That is, teachers who can be conscious when they need to be.
Conscious evolution is a way a living. It is a way of using your life to transcend physical existence and pass consciously from this world to another. It is very simple: if you want to exist in another world, you must exist in this world first. You must remember yourself. Strive to be present and not look backward or forward. Divert your energy away from your desires, your opinions, your negativity. Separate from all the identifications that keep you stranded in the future and the past. Then take that energy and transform yourself.
Sacrificing the Old Way
You know that I have long since looked upon all of us without exception as people who have suffered shipwreck and have been cast upon an uninhabited island, but who do not yet know of it. But these people here know it. The others, there, in life, still think that a steamer will come for them tomorrow. And that everything will go on in the old way. These already know that there will be no more of the old way. I am so glad that I can be here. ~ Katherine Mansfield (spoken to P. D. Ouspensky about Gurdjieff’s students at Prieuré.)
Teaching Conscious Evolution, Consciously
To teach this work is not easy. It requires some sacrifice and a real capacity for external considering. Without external consideration, a teacher will not be able to give his students what they need. He will instead give them what he thinks they need, which is something entirely different. At the same time, all students must pass on what they have learned to be able to move on.
There is nothing quite like the relationships that grow from a connection to inner work. Differences in nationality, languages, and religious tradition can be overcome. Two people who have a sincere wish to communicate the practices and principles of conscious evolution can transcend such obstacles. The people you meet along the way are the people who understand not only the rigors of the path but also the rewards of connecting to higher centers. These rewards are invisible to anybody who has not yet realized the necessity of effort. And that, in a work that requires great endurance and courage, is a comfort and a help.
–William Page is the author of the blog BePresentFirst. See the complete article at https://bepresentfirst.com/teaching-conscious-evolution/. Another recent article is https://fourthwaytoday.org/memory-and-higher-states/.