The Fourth Way is an approach to self-development described by George Gurdjieff that he developed over the years of his journey in the East (c.1890 - 1912). It combines and aligns what it sees as the established three "ways" of the traditional or "school": the mind, emotions, and body, or yogi, monks, and fakirs respectively. Students often refer to the Fourth Way as "Work", "Self-employed," or "System". The exact origins of some Gurdjieff teachings are unknown, but people have offered various sources.
The term "Fourth Street" was subsequently used by his student, P. D. Ouspensky in his lectures and writings. After the death of Ouspensky, his pupils published a book titled The Fourth Way based on his lecture.
According to this system, three traditional schools, or ways, "are permanent forms that have survived throughout history largely unchanged, and are based on religion.Where schools yogi, monks or fakirs exist, they are almost indistinguishable from religious schools.The fourth way is different in terms of "it is not a permanent way. It has no special form or institution and comes and is controlled by certain laws of its own. "
When this work is completed, that is to say, when the predetermined goal has been achieved, the fourth way disappears, that is, disappears from the given place, disappears in the given form, continues perhaps elsewhere in another form. Schools in the fourth way exist for the needs of the work being done in connection with the proposed business. They never existed as schools for educational and teaching purposes.
The Fourth Way addresses the question of the place of man in the Universe and the possibility of inner development. It emphasizes that people usually live in a state referred to as semi-hypnotic "sleep wake", while a level of consciousness, virtue, higher will is possible.
The Fourth Way teaches how to improve and focus attention and energy in various ways, and to minimize dreams and daily absences. This inner development of self is the beginning of the possibility of a further process of change, whose goal is to transform human beings into "what they should be."
Video Fourth Way
Overview
Gurdjieff's followers believe he is a spiritual teacher, a fully awakened or enlightened human being. He is also seen as an esoteric or occultist. He agrees that the teachings are esoteric but claim that there is nothing hidden in secrecy but many people have no interest or ability to understand them. Gurdjieff said, "The doctrine whose theories here are set fully self-supporting and not dependent on other lines and it is entirely unknown to date."
The Fourth Way teaches that people are not born with souls and are not really conscious, but only believe them. One must create the soul by following the teachings that can lead to this goal or "not going anywhere" after the death of his body. If someone can receive teaching and find school, after death their physical body will "go elsewhere." Humans are born asleep , living in sleep and dying in sleep , just imagining that they are awake with some exceptions. Human "consciousness" in general is not a consciousness at all but only a form of sleep. "
Gurdjieff teaches "holy dance" or "movement", now known as Gurdjieff movement, which they do together as a group. He left behind a collection of music, inspired by what he heard in remote monasteries and other places, written for piano work with one of his disciples, Thomas de Hartmann.
Maps Fourth Way
Three ways
Gurdjieff teaches that the traditional path to spiritual enlightenment follows one of three ways:
- Fakir Street
- The Fakir works to gain mastery of attention (self-control) through struggle by [controlling] the physical body that involves difficult physical exercises and postures.
- Jalan Biksu
- The Monk works to gain the same mastery of attention (self-control) through struggle with affection, in the domain, as we say, from the heart , which has been emphasized in the west, and came to be known as a way of faith because of its practice especially in Catholicism.
- Sang Yogi Street
- The Yogi works to gain equal mastery of attention (as before: 'self-control') through struggle with mental habits and abilities.
Gurdjieff insists that this path - though they may intend to produce fully developed people - tends to cultivate certain abilities at the expense of others. The purpose of religion or spirituality is, in fact, to produce balanced, responsive, and sane human beings capable of handling all possibilities that may exist in life. Therefore, Gurdjieff explains that cultivation needs an integrated way and is combined with three traditional ways.
Fourth Street
Gurdjieff says that the Fourth Way is way faster than the first three ways because it simultaneously combines work in all three centers rather than focusing on one. This can be followed by ordinary people in everyday life, no need to retire to the desert. The Fourth Way does involve certain conditions imposed by a teacher, but blind acceptance of them is not recommended. Each student is advised to only do what they understand and verify for themselves the teaching ideas.
Ouspensky documents Gurdjieff who says that "two or three thousand years ago there was another way that was not there anymore and the ways that there were no fragmented, they stood closer to each other.The fourth way is different from the old and the a new way with the fact that it has never been a permanent way, it has no definite form and no institution is connected to it. "
Ouspensky cites Gurdjieff that there is a fake school and that "It is impossible to recognize the wrong way without knowing the right way.This means that it is useless to trouble ourselves how to recognize the wrong way.We must think about how to find the right way."
Origins
In his works, Gurdjieff credited his teachings to a number of more or less mysterious sources: -
- Small sects of 'authentic' Christians in Asia and the Middle East. Gurdjieff believes that mainstream Christian teaching has become corrupted.
- Various dervishes (he does not use the term 'Sufi')
- Gurdjieff mentions practicing Yoga in his youth but his later comments about indigent Indians and yogis are dismissive.
- The mysterious monastery Sarmoung in a remote part of Central Asia, where Gurdjieff is fitted with a blindfold.
- The "Universal Brotherhood" is non-denominational.
- Elaboration of Gurdjieff's myth and image.
Attempts to fill in their account have been shown:
- Technical vocabulary first appeared in the early 19th century Russian freemasonry, derived from Robert Fludd (P. D. Ouspensky)
- Eastern Christianity as detailed in the works of Robin Amis and fr: Boris Mouravieff
- Caucasian Ahmsta Kebzeh (Murat Yagan)
- Tibetan Buddhism, according to Jose Tirado.
- Chatral Rinpoche believes that Gurdjieff spent several years in a monastery in the Swat valley.
- James George theorises that Surmang, the Tibetan Buddhist monastery now in China, is the real Sarmoung monastery.
- The "quit" exercise is similar to Uqufi Zamani's exercise in Omar Ali-Shah's book on Rules or Secrets of the Naqshbandi Order.
Teaching and teaching methods
Basic doctrine
The Fourth Way focuses on "conscious work" and "deliberate suffering".
Aware of Labor is the action by which the person acting on the action is present for what he or she is doing; not dazed. At the same time he was trying to take that action more efficiently.
Intentional Suffering is the struggle against automatisms such as daydreaming, pleasure, food (eating for reasons other than actual hunger), etc... In Gurdjieff The Beelzebub Story that "the suffering" of the greatest misery 'can be obtained before us by forcing ourselves to withstand the manifestations of others that are unpleasant to ourselves. "
For Gurdjieff they are the basis of all human evolution.
Self Observation
It seeks to observe in oneself the behaviors and habits are usually only observed in others, and as without feeling as one can observe them in others, to observe thoughts, feelings, and sensations without assessing or analyzing what is observed.
Needs for Business
Gurdjieff emphasizes that the resurgence results from consistent and prolonged effort. Such efforts may be performed as an act after one is exhausted.
The Many 'I's
It shows the fragmentation of the soul, feelings and thoughts that are different from the 'I' in a person: I think, I want, I know the best, I prefer, I am happy, I am hungry, I am tired, in common with each other and unaware of each other, arise and disappear for a short period of time. Therefore humans usually have no unity within themselves, wanting one thing now and another, maybe the opposite, then.
Central
- Main article Center (Fourth Way)
Gurdjieff classifies plants as having one center, two animals and three humans. Centers refer to apparati in a creature that dictates certain organic functions. There are three main centers in a man: intellectual , emotional and physical , and two higher centers: higher emotional and higher intellectuals .
Body, Essence, and Personality
Gurdjieff divides people into Essence and Personality .
- Essence - is "the natural part of a person" or "what he or she was born"; this is part of the creature that is said to have the ability to evolve.
- Personality - is all the stuff he "learns" and "sees".
The Cosmos Law
Gurdjieff focuses on two major cosmic laws, the Law of Three Laws and the Law of Seven Persons.
- The Law of Seven is described by Gurdjieff as "the first fundamental cosmic law". This law is used to describe the process. The basic use of the seven laws is to explain why nothing in nature and in life always happens in a straight line, that is to say that there are always ups and downs in life that happen legitimately. This example can be seen in athletic shows, where high-ranking athletes always experience periodic collapse, and in almost all graphs plotting topics that occur over time, such as economic charts, population charts, mortality graphs, and so on. in. All indicate a continuing up and down parabolic period. Gurdjieff claims that since this period occurred legally under the law of seven that it is possible to store the process in a straight line if the necessary shocks are introduced at the right time. The piano keyboard is an example of the seven laws, because seven notes of the major scale match exactly that.
- The Law of Three is described by Gurdjieff as "the second fundamental cosmic law". This law states that every phenomenon consists of three separate sources, namely Active, Passive and Reconciliation or Neutral. This law applies to everything in the universe and humanity, as well as all structures and processes. The three centers within man, which Gurdjieff says are the Intellectual Center, the Emotion Center and the Move Center, are expressions of the three laws. Gurdjieff teaches his students to think of the laws of the three powers as important for changing human energy. The transformation process requires three actions of affirmation, rejection, and reconciliation.
How The Seven Laws and The Three Laws work together are said to be illustrated on the Fourth Way Enneagram, a nine-point symbol that is the central engine of the Gurdjieff system.
Symbol use
In his explanation, Gurdjieff often uses different symbols such as Enneagram and Ray of Creation. Gurdjieff says that "the enneagram is a universal symbol.All knowledge can be included in the enneagram and with the help of the enneagram it can be interpreted... A man may be alone in the desert and he can trace the enneagram in the sand and in it read the eternal laws of the universe. he can learn something new, something he did not know before. "The rays of creation are diagrams that represent the Earth's place in the Universe. This diagram has eight levels, each corresponding to Gurdjieff octave law.
Through the elaboration of octave law and enneagram meaning, Gurdjieff offers his students an alternative way to conceptualize the world and their place in it.
Working conditions and sacred dances
To give a condition where attention can be intensified, Gurdjieff also teaches his students the "sacred dance" or "movement" they do together as a group, and he leaves the body of music inspired by what he hears during visits to monasteries, remote monasteries and other places, written for piano work with one of his disciples, Thomas de Hartmann.
Gurdjieff emphasizes the idea that the seeker should do his own search. Teachers can not do student work for students, but rather a guide on the path to self-discovery. As a teacher, Gurdjieff specializes in creating conditions for students - conditions where growth is possible, where efficient progress can be made by desire. To find yourself in a set of conditions that have been arranged by a gifted teacher have other benefits. As Gurdjieff says, "You have to realize that every man has a definite repertoire of roles he plays in ordinary circumstances... but puts him in a slightly different situation and he can not find a suitable role and for a short time he becomes herself. "
The Harmonious Human Development Institute
After migrating for four years after fleeing the Russian Revolution with dozens of followers and family members, Gurdjieff settled in France and founded the Institute for Harmonious Human Development at ChÃÆ' Â ¢ teau Le PrieurÃÆ' Â © at Fontainebleau-Avon in October 1922. The Institute is a school esoteric based on the teachings of the Fourth Gurdjieff. After nearly dying in a car accident in 1924, he recovered and closed the Institute. He started writing All and Everything . From 1930, Gurdjieff made a visit to North America where he continued his teachings.
Ouspensky relates that in his early work with Gurdjieff in Moscow and Saint Petersburg, Gurdjieff forbade students to write or publish anything related to Gurdjieff and his ideas. Gurdjieff said that students of his method would find themselves unable to properly transmit what was said in the group. Then, Gurdjieff relaxes this rule, accepting students who then publish their experience reports on Gurdjieff's work.
After Gurdjieff
After Gurdjieff's death in 1949 various groups around the world have attempted to continue The Gurdjieff Work. The Gurdjieff Foundation, founded in 1953 in New York City by Jeanne de Salzmann in collaboration with other direct students. J. G. Bennett runs the groups and also makes contact with Subud and Sufi schools to develop The Work in various directions. Maurice Nicoll, a Jungian psychologist, also manages his own group based on the ideas of Gurdjieff and Ouspensky. The French institution has been headed for several years by Madam de Salzmann - Gurdjieff's direct student. Under his leadership, Gurdjieff Society in London and New York was established and developed.
There is a debate about the ability to use Gurdjieff's ideas through groups. Some critics believe that no Gurdjieff student is able to elevate himself to his level of understanding. Gurdjieff himself seems to have formed this impression about ten years before his death, which led him to divert his efforts from the Institute and into writing. Supporters of the continued survival of the Gurdjieff system, and his research through the use of groups, however, showed Gurdjieff's insistence on the initiates' training in interpreting and spreading the ideas he expressed vaguely in Tales Beelzebub for His Grandson . This, combined with Gurdjieff's almost fanatical dedication to the completion of this text ( Tales Beelzebub ), suggests that Gurdjieff himself intended his ideas to continue to be practiced and taught shortly after his death. Other supporters of the Continuing Work are not concerned with external factors, but focus on the inner results achieved through the sincere practice of the Gurdjieff system.
"There is only a special school, no public school.Each teacher, or teacher, is a specialist in one thing.First is an astronomer, the other is a sculptor, a third of a musician.And all pupils of each teacher must first of all learn the subject in which he specializes. "
In contrast, some former Gurdjieffians join other movements, and there are a number of branches, and syntheses that incorporate elements of the Fourth Way, such as:
- Teachings of Claudio Naranjo.
- Arica Oscar Ichazo School
- Samael Aun Weor
- Diamond Approach A. Almaas.
Enneagram is often studied in a context that does not include other elements of the Fourth Path.
Books
- In Magic Search by P. D. Ouspensky, 1949 (a number of editions)
- The Fourth Way by P. D. Ouspensky, 1957
- Gurdjieff Teachings: Journal of Students by C. S. Nott, 1962
- We live with Mr. Gurdjieff by Thomas and Olga de Hartmann, the definitive edition, 1964, the definitive edition [3], 1992
- Human Possible Evolutionary Psychology by P. D. Ouspensky, 1978
- The Harmonious Circle by James Webb, 1980
- Gurdjieff: Anatomy of Myths by James Moore, 1991
- Idiot in Paris by J.G. Bennett and Elizabeth Bennett, 1991
- Gurdjieff and Orage: Brothers at Elysium , by Paul Beekman Taylor
- Gurdjieff's America: Mediating the Miraculous by Paul Beekman Taylor, 2004
- Gurdjieffian Confessions: Self Remembered by James Moore, 2005
- G. I. Gurdjieff: New Life by Paul Beekman Taylor, 2008
- Psychological Comments on Gurdjieff and Ouspensky Teachings by Maurice Nicoll (1952)
- The Gurdjieff Teaching Study by Kenneth Walker (1957)
- Gurdjieff Teach: A Pupil's Journal by C. S. Nott (1961)
- Unknown Gurdjieff by Margaret Anderson (1962)
- Living with Mr. Gurdjieff by Thomas and Olga de Hartmann (1964)
- Gurdjieff by Louis Pauwels (1964)
- Small time with Gurdjieff by Fritz Peters (1964)
- Gurdjieff Remembered by Fritz Peters (1965)
- Undiscovered Country by Kathryn Hulme (1966)
- Gurdjieff: Enigma is Great by J.G. Bennett (1969)
- Views from the Real World gathers talks about G.I. Gurdjieff by his student Olga de Hartmann (1973)
- Gurdjieff: Create a New World by J.G. Bennett (1973)
- Harmonious Circles: Life and Work G. I. Gurdjieff, P. D. Ouspensky, and Their Followers by James Webb (1980)
- Who are you, Monsieur Gurdjieff? by Renà © Zuber (1980)
- Gurdjieff: An Approach to Ideas by Michel Waldberg (1981)
- The Gurdjieff Work by Kathleen Speeth (1988)
- Gurdjieff: Anatomy of Myths by James Moore (1991)
- Eat The "I": Account of The Fourth Way: How to Transform in the Common Life by William Patrick Patterson (1992)
- The Witch's Struggle: Explore the Teachers' Connections by William Patrick Patterson (1996)
- Ladies of the Rope: The Gurdjieff Bank's Left Special Woman Group by William Patrick Patterson (1999)
- Take with Left Hand: Enneagram Craze, Fellowship Friends, and Mouravieff Phenomenon by William Patrick Patterson (1998)
- Gurdjieff: The Key Concept by Sophia Wellbeloved (2003)
- Gurdjieff: An Introduction to Life and Ideas by John Shirley (2004)
- Gurdjieff's America: Mediating the Miraculous by Paul Beekman Taylor (2004)
- Gurdjieff Inaugurated by Seymour Ginsburg (2005)
- Gurdjieff: A Master in Life by Tcheslaw Tchekhovitch (2006)
- G. I. Gurdjieff: A New Life by Paul Beekman Taylor (2008)
- It's Up to You, A Mother, A Daughter and Gurdjieff, Joint Memo and Family Photos by Jessmin and Dushka Howarth (2009)
- Gurdjieff and Hypnosis: Hermeneutics Study, by Mohammad H. Tamdgidi (2009)
- Myself and I: The identity and question "Who am I" in Gurdjieff Work by Dimitri Peretzi (2011)
- The Gurdjieff Years 1929-1949: Recordings of Louise March by Annabeth McCorkle (2012)
- Georgi Ivanovitch Gurdjieff - The Man, The Teaching, His Mission by William Patrick Patterson (2014)
- Center ~ Influence From Within: The Fourth Important Note of Attention and Fourth Street by Cheryl Shrode-Noble (2017) ISBN: 1974034062
Video and DVD
- A few moments with Mr. Gurdjieff and others, France 1949
Reference
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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