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{{Short description|Approach to self-development developed by George Gurdjieff}}
:''This is an article about the 'system' of G.I. Gurdjieff. For P.D. Ouspensky's book about on the subject, see ].
{{other uses}}
{{more citations needed|date=September 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2023}}
], developer of the Fourth Way practice]]
The '''Fourth Way''' is an approach to self-development developed by ] over years of travel in the ] (c. 1890 – 1912). Students often refer to the Fourth Way as "The Work", "Work on oneself", or "The System". The exact origins of some of Gurdjieff's teachings are unknown, but various sources have been suggested.<ref>], ''Feet of Clay'', p. 26, Simon & Schuster, 1997 {{ISBN|978-0-684-83495-5}}</ref>


The term "Fourth Way" was further used by his student ] in his lectures and writings. After Ouspensky's death, his students published a book entitled '']'' based on his lectures. According to this system, the three traditional schools, or ways, "are permanent forms which have survived throughout history mostly unchanged, and are based on religion. Where schools of ], ] and ] exist, they are barely distinguishable from religious schools. The fourth way differs in that "it is not a permanent way. It has no specific forms or institutions and comes and goes controlled by some particular laws of its own."<ref name=":0">"In Search of the Miraculous" by P.D. Ouspensky p. 312</ref>
'''''The Fourth Way''''' has come to be used as a general descriptive term for the body of ideas and teachings of ], which are also sometimes called "The Work" or "The Gurdjieff Work".


{{blockquote|When this work is finished, that is to say, when the aim set before it has been accomplished, the fourth way disappears, that is, it disappears from the given place, disappears in its given form, continuing perhaps in another place in another form. Schools of the fourth way exist for the needs of the work which is being carried out in connection with the proposed undertaking. They never exist by themselves as schools for the purpose of education and instruction.<ref>] (1949), '']'', Chapter 15</ref>}}
==The Teachings==


The Fourth Way addresses the question of humanity's place in the Universe and the possibilities of inner development. It emphasizes that people ordinarily live in a state referred to as a semi-hypnotic "waking sleep," while higher levels of consciousness, virtue, and unity of will are possible.
When asked about the teaching he was setting forth, Gurdjieff said, "The teaching whose theory is here being set out is completely self supporting and independent of other lines and it has been completely unknown up to the present time." However, as with so much of what Gurdjieff said, the critical reader should take notice that, even amongst his closest students (Bennett, for example), much of the Work appeared derived from Sufic (Nashqbandi in particular)thought, neoplatonism, hermeticism, and Tibetan Buddhism. This is not to take away from the remarkable process by which Gurdjieff amalgamated these teachings into a form at once coherent and cohesive unto itself. In other places, Gurdjieff himself alludes to receipt of teachings from a variety of sources.


The Fourth Way teaches how to increase and focus attention and energy in various ways, and to minimize day-dreaming and absent-mindedness. This inner development in oneself is the beginning of a possible further process of change, whose aim is to transform man into "what he ought to be."
The teaching he brought centers on the struggle of working on oneself for the purpose of awakening ]. Gurdjieff taught that man has no ]. Rather, man must, while ], create a soul whose substance could withstand the shock of death. Without a soul, Gurdjieff taught, man will "die like a dog."


==Overview==
He taught that the ordinary waking consciousness of human beings was a form of sleep and that higher levels of consciousness were possible, namely subjective consciousness and objective consciousness.


Gurdjieff's followers believed he was a spiritual master,<ref>''Meetings with Remarkable Men'', translator's note</ref> a human being who is fully awake or ]. He was also seen as an ] or ]ist.<ref> by ]</ref> He agreed that the teaching was esoteric but claimed that none of it was veiled in secrecy but that many people lack the interest or the capability to understand it.<ref>P.D. Ouspensky, ''In Search of the Miraculous'', p.38.</ref> Gurdjieff said, "The teaching whose theory is here being set out is completely self supporting and independent of other lines and it has been completely unknown up to the present time."<ref>In Search of The Miraculous (Chapter 14)</ref>
The development of these levels of consciousness corresponds with the development of the higher being-bodies (i.e. the ], ], and causal bodies). These could be developed within the physical body in which ordinary consciousness was found, id done under the supervision and guidance of a teacher. That is, under one who has himself been trained in the science and practice of the teaching.


The Fourth Way teaches that the ] a human individual is born with gets trapped and encapsulated by personality, and stays dormant, leaving one not really conscious, despite ''believing'' one is. A person must free the soul by following a teaching which can lead to this aim or "go nowhere" upon death of his body. Should a person be able to receive the teaching and find a school, upon the death of the physical body they will "go elsewhere." Humans are born ''asleep'', live in ''sleep'', and die in ''sleep'', only ''imagining'' that they are awake with few exceptions.<ref>P. D. Ouspensky ''In Search of the Miraculous'', p. 66, Harcourt Brace & Co., 1977 {{ISBN|0-15-644508-5}}</ref> The ordinary waking "consciousness" of human beings is not consciousness at all but merely a form of sleep."
==The Ways==


Gurdjieff taught "sacred dances" or "movements", now known as ], which were performed together as a group.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.gurdjieff-heritage-society.org/excerptsbook.htm |title=Gurdjieff Heritage Society Book Excerpts <!-- Bot generated title --> |access-date=5 October 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071030182608/http://www.gurdjieff-heritage-society.org/excerptsbook.htm |archive-date=30 October 2007 |url-status=dead }}</ref> He left a body of music, inspired by that which he had heard in remote monasteries and other places, which was written for piano in collaboration with one of his pupils, ].<ref>{{dead link|date=December 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} by John Mangan</ref>
Gurdjieff sometimes referred to his methods as the "Fourth Way."


Ouspensky documented Gurdjieff as saying that "two or three thousand years ago there were yet other ways which no longer exist and the ways then in existence were not so divided, they stood much closer to one another. The fourth way differs from the old and the new ways by the fact that it is never a permanent way. It has no definite forms and there are no institutions connected with it."<ref>"In Search of the Miraculous" by P.D. Ouspensky p. 312</ref> Ouspensky quotes Gurdjieff that there are fake schools and that "It is impossible to recognize a wrong way without knowing the right way. This means that it is no use troubling oneself how to recognize a wrong way. One must think of how to find the right way."<ref>In Search of The Miraculous (Chapter 10)</ref>
The first three ways were


The Fourth way was influenced by ], according to Jose Tirado,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Gurdjieff-internet |url=http://www.gurdjieff-internet.com/article_details.php?ID=251&W=39 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071029052050/http://www.gurdjieff-internet.com/article_details.php?ID=251&W=39 |archive-date=29 October 2007 |access-date=11 May 2007}}</ref> and ] alleged that Gurdjieff spent several years in a Buddhist monastery in the ].<ref></ref>
* the way of the ]
* the way of the ]
* the way of the ]


After Gurdjieff's death in 1949 a variety of groups around the world have attempted to continue The Gurdjieff Work. The Gurdjieff Foundation, was established in 1953 in New York City by ] in cooperation with other direct pupils.<ref></ref>
The fakir struggles with the physical body, devoting himself to mastering incredibly difficult physical exercises and postures.


==Teachings and teaching methods==
The way of the monk represents the way of faith, the cultivation of religious feelings, and self-sacrifice.


===Basis of teachings===
The yogi's approach is through knowledge and the mind.


* '''Present here now'''<ref>Exchanges Within; p 18; John Pentland</ref>
===The Fourth Way===
* '''We do not remember ourselves'''<ref>In Search of the Miraculous; p 117; P. D. Ouspensky</ref>
* '''Conscious labour''' – is an action where the person who is performing the act is present to what he is doing; not absentminded. At the same time he is striving to perform the act more efficiently.
* '''Intentional suffering''' – is the act of struggling against automatism such as daydreaming, pleasure, food (eating for reasons other than real hunger), etc. In Gurdjieff's book '']'' he states that "the greatest 'intentional suffering' can be obtained in our presences by compelling ourselves to endure the displeasing manifestations of others toward ourselves"<ref>] (1950). ], pg 242</ref> According to Gurdjieff, conscious labour and intentional suffering were the basis of all evolution of man.
* '''Self-Observation''' – observation of one's behavior and habits. To observe thoughts, feelings, and sensations without judging or analyzing what is observed.<ref>, an article by ]</ref>
* '''The Need for Effort''' – Gurdjieff emphasized that awakening results from consistent, prolonged effort. Such efforts may be made as an act of will after one is already exhausted.
* '''The Many 'I's''' – this indicates fragmentation of the psyche, the different feelings and thoughts of 'I' in a person: I think, I want, I know best, I prefer, I am happy, I am hungry, I am tired, etc. These have nothing in common with one another and are unaware of each other, arising and vanishing for short periods of time. Hence man usually has no unity in himself, wanting one thing now and another, perhaps contradictory, thing later.


===Centers===
Gurdjieff said of his Fourth Way that it simultaneously combined work on the body, emotions, and mind, and that it could be followed by ordinary people in everyday life, requiring no ].
{{main|Centers (Fourth Way)}}


Gurdjieff classified plants as having one center, animals two and humans three. Centers refer to apparatuses within a being that dictate specific organic functions. There are three main centers in a man: '''intellectual''', '''emotional''' and '''physical''', and two higher centers: '''higher emotional''' and '''higher intellectual'''.
The Fourth Way did involve whole-hearted acceptance of certain conditions imposed by a teacher. The Way required supreme effort to devote oneself continuously to inner work, even though one's outward worldly roles might not change that much. In spite of his insistence that work without a teacher was impossible, Gurdjieff stressed each individual's responsibility:


'''Body, Essence and Personality'''
:"The fourth way differs from the other ways in that the principal demand made upon a man is the demand for understanding. A man must do nothing that he does not understand, except as an experiment under the supervision and direction of his teacher. The more a man understands what he is doing, the greater will be the results of his efforts. This is a fundamental principle of the fourth way. The results of work are in proportion to the consciousness of the work. No "faith" is required on the fourth way; on the contrary, faith of any kind is opposed to the fourth way. On the fourth way a man must satisfy himself of the truth of what he is told. And until he is satisfied he must do nothing."


Gurdjieff divided people's being into ''Essence'' and ''Personality''.
By its very nature, the Fourth Way is not for everyone. Knowledge is not deliberately hidden, Gurdjieff would say, but most people simply are not interested. Gurdjieff referred to those capable of receiving the work as "five of twenty of twenty" - only twenty per cent of all people ever think seriously about higher realities. Of these, only twenty per cent ever decide to do anything about it. And of these, only five per cent ever actually get anywhere.


*'''Essence''' – is a "natural part of a person" or "what he is born with"; this is the part of a being which is said to have the ability to evolve.
By bringing together the way of the Fakir (] tradition), the way of the Yogi (] and ] traditions) and the way of the Monk (] and ] traditions, amongst others) Gurdjieff clearly places the Fourth Way at a crossroads of differing beliefs.
*'''Personality''' – is everything artificial that he has "learned" and "seen".


'''Cosmic Laws'''
===Teaching Methods===


Gurdjieff focused on two main cosmic laws, the ''Law of Three'' and the ''Law of Seven'' {{Citation needed|date=February 2011}}.
Gurdjieff said that students of his methods would find themselves "unable to transmit correctly what is said in the groups. very soon begin to learn from their own personal experience how much effort, how much time, and how much explaining is necessary in order to grasp what is said in groups. It becomes clear to them that they are unable to give their friends a right idea of what they have learned themselves." ] relates that in the early work with Gurdjieff in ] and ], it was strictly forbidden for students to write down, much less publish, anything at all connected with Gurdjieff and his ideas. Somewhat later, Gurdjieff relaxed this rule, accepting as students many who subsequently published accounts of their experiences in the work.


*The '''Law of Seven''' is described by Gurdjieff as "the first fundamental cosmic law". This law is used to explain processes. The basic use of the law of seven is to explain why nothing in nature and in life constantly occurs in a straight line, that is to say that there are always ups and downs in life which occur lawfully. Examples of this can be noticed in athletic performances, where a high ranked athlete always has periodic downfalls, as well as in nearly all graphs that plot topics that occur over time, such as the economic graphs, population graphs, death-rate graphs and so on. All show parabolic periods that keep rising and falling. Gurdjieff claimed that since these periods occur lawfully based on the law of seven that it is possible to keep a process in a straight line if the necessary shocks were introduced at the right time. A piano keyboard is an example of the law of seven, as the seven notes of the major scale correspond exactly to it.
A brief outsider's summary of what was involved in the work of Gurdjieff's groups:
*The '''Law of Three''' is described by Gurdjieff as "the second fundamental cosmic law". This law states that every whole phenomenon is composed of three separate sources, which are ], ] and Reconciling or ]. This law applies to everything in the ] and ]ity, as well as all the ]s and processes. The ] in a human, which Gurdjieff said were the Intellectual Centre, the Emotional Centre and the Moving Centre, are an expression of the law of three. Gurdjieff taught his students to think of the law of three forces as essential to transforming the ] of the ]. The process of transformation requires the three actions of ], ] and ]. This law of three separate sources can be considered modern ''interpretation'' of early Hindu Philosophy of ], We can see this as Chapters 3, 7, 13, 14, 17 and 18 of ] discuss ''Guna in their verses.''<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Bhagavad Gita|date=2009|publisher=State University of New York Press|others=Sargeant, Winthrop, 1903-1986., Chapple, Christopher Key, 1954-|isbn=978-1-4416-0873-4|edition=25th anniversary|location=Albany, N.Y.|oclc=334515703}}</ref>


How the ''Law of Seven'' and ''Law of Three'' function together is said to be illustrated on the ], a nine-pointed symbol which is the central glyph of Gurdjieff's system.
* '''Relaxation.''' Many of Gurdjieff's exercises involved or began with some sort of gradual relaxation of the muscles, starting with the muscles of the face and working downward through the body. Along with relaxation goes a type of exercise for sensing the different parts of the body "from the inside." This might have involved, for instance, lying on one's back and concentrating all of one's awareness first on one's nose, then on one's right foot, and so on.
* '''Other Exercises; The Movements.''' Ouspensky relates a series of what he found to be "unbelievably difficult" physical/mental exercises that Gurdjieff had picked up in various esoteric schools during his travels. In general, these involved some precise and exact combination of counting, breathing, sensing of body parts, and movements, to be done in some coordinated sequence. The famous "movements," often done to music Gurdjieff had composed himself, were dances based on those Gurdjieff had observed and participated in, notably among ] and ], and in ancient hidden ]. Gurdjieff taught that the movements were not merely ], exercises in concentration, and displays of bodily coordination and ]: on the contrary, in the movements was embedded real, concrete knowledge, passed from generation to generation of initiates - each posture and gesture representing some cosmic ] that the informed observer could read like a book.
* '''Division of Attention.''' Gurdjieff encouraged his students to cultivate the ability to divide their attention, that is, the ability to remain fully focussed on two or more things at the same time. One might, for instance, let half of one's attention dwell in one's little finger, while the other half is devoted to an intellectual discussion. In the division of attention, it is not a matter of going back and forth between one thing and another, but experiencing them both fully and simultaneously. Beyond the division of attention lies "remembering oneself" - a frame of mind, permanent in the hypothetical perfected person, fleeting and temporary in the rest of us, in which we see what is seen without ever losing sight of ourselves seeing. Ordinarily, when concentrating on something, we lose our sense of "I," although we may as it were passively react to the stimulus we are concentrating on. In self-remembering the "I" is not lost, and only when we maintain that sense of "I," according to Gurdjieff, are we really awake. Like mastery on a musical instrument, such forms of heightened self-awareness can be developed only with years of practice.
* '''Hands, Head, and Heart.''' With many variations and complications over the years, Gurdjieff's theoretical picture of the human organism boils down to a ] model consisting of three "centers": the moving, the emotional, and the thinking. Becoming a genuine person involves coordinating the three centers and becoming capable of conscious labor and intentional suffering.
* '''Abstract Symbolism.''' Gurdjieff was fond of elaborate theorizing - the construction of intricate symbolic systems embodying or representing the relationships between phenomena at all levels of existence from the atom to the universe. Ouspensky described Gurdjieff's concept of "]" - the ] ] taken as a sort of universal yardstick for determining the measurements and proportions of all of nature's parts.


===Symbolism=== ===Use of symbols===
In his explanations Gurdjieff often used different symbols such as the ] and the ]. Gurdjieff said 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 quite alone in the desert and he can trace the enneagram in the sand and in it read the eternal laws of the universe. And every time he can learn something new, something he did not know before."<ref></ref> The Enneagram is often studied in ].


==Institute for the Harmonious Development of Man==
Another symbolic thought-form with which Gurdjieff worked was the ], a circle with nine points around its circumference. Said Gurdjieff, "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 quite alone in the desert and he can trace the enneagram in the sand and in it read the ]. And every time he can learn something new, something he did not know before."
Having migrated for four years after escaping the ] with dozens of followers and family members, Gurdjieff settled in France and established his Institute for the Harmonious Development of Man at the Château Le Prieuré at Fontainebleau-Avon in October 1922.<ref></ref> The institute was an esoteric school based on Gurdjieff's Fourth Way teaching. After nearly dying in a car crash in 1924, he recovered and closed down the institute. He began writing ''All and Everything''. From 1930, Gurdjieff made visits to North America where he resumed his teachings.


] relates that in the early work with Gurdjieff in ] and ], Gurdjieff forbade students from writing down or publishing anything connected with Gurdjieff and his ideas.<ref name=":0" /> Gurdjieff said that students of his methods would find themselves unable to transmit correctly what was said in the groups. Later, Gurdjieff relaxed this rule, accepting students who subsequently published accounts of their experiences in the Gurdjieff work.<ref name=":0" />
Through the elaboration of the law of octaves and the meaning of the enneagram, Gurdjieff offered his students alternative means of conceptualizing the world and their place in it. Gurdjieff's ideas could be only partially expounded in ordinary words and sentences; to go beyond language he drew on music (he played several instruments and ] tells of him improvising unearthly melodies on a small organ late at night), dance, and visual symbols such as the enneagram.


===Conditions=== ==References==
{{Reflist}}


==External links==
Gurdjieff laid emphasis on the idea that the seeker must conduct his or her own search The teacher cannot do the student's work for the student, but is more of a guide on the path to self-discovery. As a teacher, Gurdjieff specialized in creating conditions for students - conditions in which growth was possible, in which efficient progress could be made by the willing. To find oneself in a set of conditions a gifted teacher has arranged has another benefit. As Gurdjieff put it, "You must realize that each man has a definite repertoire of roles which he plays in ordinary circumstances ... but put him into even only slightly different circumstances and he is unable to find a suitable role and for a short time he becomes himself."
*{{Wikiquote inline}}
*{{Commonscat inline|Fourth Way}}


===After Gurdjieff=== {{George Gurdjieff}}

After Gurdjieff's death in ] a variety of groups around the world have continued, or attempted to continue, The Work. J. G. Bennett ran groups and also made contact with the ] and ] schools to develop The Work in different directions. ], a ]ian psychologist also ran his own groups based on Gurdjieff and Ouspensky's ideas.

==See also==

* ]
* ]
* ]

==External links==
* - articles about Fourth Way and interviews with Fourth Way teachers and practitioners


] ]
] ]
] ]
]

Latest revision as of 22:41, 7 October 2024

Approach to self-development developed by George Gurdjieff For other uses, see Fourth Way (disambiguation).
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George Gurdjieff, developer of the Fourth Way practice

The Fourth Way is an approach to self-development developed by George Gurdjieff over years of travel in the East (c. 1890 – 1912). Students often refer to the Fourth Way as "The Work", "Work on oneself", or "The System". The exact origins of some of Gurdjieff's teachings are unknown, but various sources have been suggested.

The term "Fourth Way" was further used by his student P. D. Ouspensky in his lectures and writings. After Ouspensky's death, his students published a book entitled The Fourth Way based on his lectures. According to this system, the three traditional schools, or ways, "are permanent forms which have survived throughout history mostly unchanged, and are based on religion. Where schools of Fakirs, Monks and Yogis exist, they are barely distinguishable from religious schools. The fourth way differs in that "it is not a permanent way. It has no specific forms or institutions and comes and goes controlled by some particular laws of its own."

When this work is finished, that is to say, when the aim set before it has been accomplished, the fourth way disappears, that is, it disappears from the given place, disappears in its given form, continuing perhaps in another place in another form. Schools of the fourth way exist for the needs of the work which is being carried out in connection with the proposed undertaking. They never exist by themselves as schools for the purpose of education and instruction.

The Fourth Way addresses the question of humanity's place in the Universe and the possibilities of inner development. It emphasizes that people ordinarily live in a state referred to as a semi-hypnotic "waking sleep," while higher levels of consciousness, virtue, and unity of will are possible.

The Fourth Way teaches how to increase and focus attention and energy in various ways, and to minimize day-dreaming and absent-mindedness. This inner development in oneself is the beginning of a possible further process of change, whose aim is to transform man into "what he ought to be."

Overview

Gurdjieff's followers believed he was a spiritual master, a human being who is fully awake or enlightened. He was also seen as an esotericist or occultist. He agreed that the teaching was esoteric but claimed that none of it was veiled in secrecy but that many people lack the interest or the capability to understand it. Gurdjieff said, "The teaching whose theory is here being set out is completely self supporting and independent of other lines and it has been completely unknown up to the present time."

The Fourth Way teaches that the soul a human individual is born with gets trapped and encapsulated by personality, and stays dormant, leaving one not really conscious, despite believing one is. A person must free the soul by following a teaching which can lead to this aim or "go nowhere" upon death of his body. Should a person be able to receive the teaching and find a school, upon the death of the physical body they will "go elsewhere." Humans are born asleep, live in sleep, and die in sleep, only imagining that they are awake with few exceptions. The ordinary waking "consciousness" of human beings is not consciousness at all but merely a form of sleep."

Gurdjieff taught "sacred dances" or "movements", now known as Gurdjieff movements, which were performed together as a group. He left a body of music, inspired by that which he had heard in remote monasteries and other places, which was written for piano in collaboration with one of his pupils, Thomas de Hartmann.

Ouspensky documented Gurdjieff as saying that "two or three thousand years ago there were yet other ways which no longer exist and the ways then in existence were not so divided, they stood much closer to one another. The fourth way differs from the old and the new ways by the fact that it is never a permanent way. It has no definite forms and there are no institutions connected with it." Ouspensky quotes Gurdjieff that there are fake schools and that "It is impossible to recognize a wrong way without knowing the right way. This means that it is no use troubling oneself how to recognize a wrong way. One must think of how to find the right way."

The Fourth way was influenced by Tibetan Buddhism, according to Jose Tirado, and Chatral Rinpoche alleged that Gurdjieff spent several years in a Buddhist monastery in the Swat valley.

After Gurdjieff's death in 1949 a variety of groups around the world have attempted to continue The Gurdjieff Work. The Gurdjieff Foundation, was established in 1953 in New York City by Jeanne de Salzmann in cooperation with other direct pupils.

Teachings and teaching methods

Basis of teachings

  • Present here now
  • We do not remember ourselves
  • Conscious labour – is an action where the person who is performing the act is present to what he is doing; not absentminded. At the same time he is striving to perform the act more efficiently.
  • Intentional suffering – is the act of struggling against automatism such as daydreaming, pleasure, food (eating for reasons other than real hunger), etc. In Gurdjieff's book Beelzebub's Tales he states that "the greatest 'intentional suffering' can be obtained in our presences by compelling ourselves to endure the displeasing manifestations of others toward ourselves" According to Gurdjieff, conscious labour and intentional suffering were the basis of all evolution of man.
  • Self-Observation – observation of one's behavior and habits. To observe thoughts, feelings, and sensations without judging or analyzing what is observed.
  • The Need for Effort – Gurdjieff emphasized that awakening results from consistent, prolonged effort. Such efforts may be made as an act of will after one is already exhausted.
  • The Many 'I's – this indicates fragmentation of the psyche, the different feelings and thoughts of 'I' in a person: I think, I want, I know best, I prefer, I am happy, I am hungry, I am tired, etc. These have nothing in common with one another and are unaware of each other, arising and vanishing for short periods of time. Hence man usually has no unity in himself, wanting one thing now and another, perhaps contradictory, thing later.

Centers

Main article: Centers (Fourth Way)

Gurdjieff classified plants as having one center, animals two and humans three. Centers refer to apparatuses within a being that dictate specific organic functions. There are three main centers in a man: intellectual, emotional and physical, and two higher centers: higher emotional and higher intellectual.

Body, Essence and Personality

Gurdjieff divided people's being into Essence and Personality.

  • Essence – is a "natural part of a person" or "what he is born with"; this is the part of a being which is said to have the ability to evolve.
  • Personality – is everything artificial that he has "learned" and "seen".

Cosmic Laws

Gurdjieff focused on two main cosmic laws, the Law of Three and the Law of Seven .

  • The Law of Seven is described by Gurdjieff as "the first fundamental cosmic law". This law is used to explain processes. The basic use of the law of seven is to explain why nothing in nature and in life constantly occurs in a straight line, that is to say that there are always ups and downs in life which occur lawfully. Examples of this can be noticed in athletic performances, where a high ranked athlete always has periodic downfalls, as well as in nearly all graphs that plot topics that occur over time, such as the economic graphs, population graphs, death-rate graphs and so on. All show parabolic periods that keep rising and falling. Gurdjieff claimed that since these periods occur lawfully based on the law of seven that it is possible to keep a process in a straight line if the necessary shocks were introduced at the right time. A piano keyboard is an example of the law of seven, as the seven notes of the major scale correspond exactly to it.
  • The Law of Three is described by Gurdjieff as "the second fundamental cosmic law". This law states that every whole phenomenon is composed of three separate sources, which are Active, Passive and Reconciling or Neutral. This law applies to everything in the universe and humanity, as well as all the structures and processes. The Three Centers in a human, which Gurdjieff said were the Intellectual Centre, the Emotional Centre and the Moving Centre, are an expression of the law of three. Gurdjieff taught his students to think of the law of three forces as essential to transforming the energy of the human being. The process of transformation requires the three actions of affirmation, denial and reconciliation. This law of three separate sources can be considered modern interpretation of early Hindu Philosophy of Gunas, We can see this as Chapters 3, 7, 13, 14, 17 and 18 of Bhagavad Gita discuss Guna in their verses.

How the Law of Seven and Law of Three function together is said to be illustrated on the Fourth Way Enneagram, a nine-pointed symbol which is the central glyph of Gurdjieff's system.

Use of symbols

In his explanations Gurdjieff often used different symbols such as the Enneagram and the Ray of Creation. Gurdjieff said 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 quite alone in the desert and he can trace the enneagram in the sand and in it read the eternal laws of the universe. And every time he can learn something new, something he did not know before." The Enneagram is often studied in contexts that do not include other elements of Fourth Way teaching.

Institute for the Harmonious Development of Man

Having migrated for four years after escaping the Russian Revolution with dozens of followers and family members, Gurdjieff settled in France and established his Institute for the Harmonious Development of Man at the Château Le Prieuré at Fontainebleau-Avon in October 1922. The institute was an esoteric school based on Gurdjieff's Fourth Way teaching. After nearly dying in a car crash in 1924, he recovered and closed down the institute. He began writing All and Everything. From 1930, Gurdjieff made visits to North America where he resumed his teachings.

Ouspensky relates that in the early work with Gurdjieff in Moscow and Saint Petersburg, Gurdjieff forbade students from writing down or publishing anything connected with Gurdjieff and his ideas. Gurdjieff said that students of his methods would find themselves unable to transmit correctly what was said in the groups. Later, Gurdjieff relaxed this rule, accepting students who subsequently published accounts of their experiences in the Gurdjieff work.

References

  1. Anthony Storr, Feet of Clay, p. 26, Simon & Schuster, 1997 ISBN 978-0-684-83495-5
  2. ^ "In Search of the Miraculous" by P.D. Ouspensky p. 312
  3. P.D. Ouspensky (1949), In Search of the Miraculous, Chapter 15
  4. Meetings with Remarkable Men, translator's note
  5. Gurdjieff article in The Skeptic's dictionary by Robert Todd Carroll
  6. P.D. Ouspensky, In Search of the Miraculous, p.38.
  7. In Search of The Miraculous (Chapter 14)
  8. P. D. Ouspensky In Search of the Miraculous, p. 66, Harcourt Brace & Co., 1977 ISBN 0-15-644508-5
  9. "Gurdjieff Heritage Society Book Excerpts". Archived from the original on 30 October 2007. Retrieved 5 October 2007.
  10. Thomas de Hartmann: A Composer’s Life by John Mangan
  11. "In Search of the Miraculous" by P.D. Ouspensky p. 312
  12. In Search of The Miraculous (Chapter 10)
  13. "Gurdjieff-internet". Archived from the original on 29 October 2007. Retrieved 11 May 2007.
  14. Meetings with Three Tibetan Masters
  15. The Gurdjieff Foundation
  16. Exchanges Within; p 18; John Pentland
  17. In Search of the Miraculous; p 117; P. D. Ouspensky
  18. G.I. Gurdjieff (1950). Beelzebub's Tales to His Grandson, pg 242
  19. Gurdjieff & the Further Reaches of Self-Observation, an article by Dennis Lewis
  20. The Bhagavad Gita. Sargeant, Winthrop, 1903-1986., Chapple, Christopher Key, 1954- (25th anniversary ed.). Albany, N.Y.: State University of New York Press. 2009. ISBN 978-1-4416-0873-4. OCLC 334515703.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  21. A Lecture by G.I. Gurdjieff
  22. Institute for the Harmonious Development of Man

External links

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