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sinimat

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In Chapter 14 of the Wave Series, Laura talks about the four ways to know thyself through getting rid of the laws of confusion. The three ways she discusses here are that of the monk, the yogi and the fakir, who each work on the mind, the emotion and the physical, repectively. She alludes that the forth way works on all of these simultaneously. Is that correct? I am new to The Work, and would like to find detailed descriptions of the techniques involved in this forth way. Is this the same think as self-observation, which I have heard mentioned here on this forum, but do not really know what this invovles. Could someone please describe some concepts that I should start with? Thanks.

Namaste
 
If you want really detailed descriptions I recommend you to read the books by Gurdjieff, Nicoll, Ouspensky and Mouravieff.
This books will give you a better understanding about what the 4th way "Work" is, what it is not and some techniques and excersises to start with including self observation.
 
Hi Sinimat,
Technically speaking "The Fouth Way" is seperate than the other three and is not a "concatenation" of them. Ouspensky quotes Gurdjieff:

"...the fourth way affects simultaneously every side of man's being. It is work [on] the three rooms at once. The fakir works on the first room, the monk on the second, the yogi on the third. In reaching the fourth room the fakir, the monk, and the yogi leave behind them many things unfinished, and they cannot make use of what they have attained because they are not masters of all their functions. The fakir is master of his body but not of his emotions or his mind; the monk is master of his emotions but not of his body or his mind; the yogi is master of his mind but not of his body or his emotions.
"Then 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.
"The method of the fourth way consists in doing something in one room and simultaneously doing something corresponding to it in the two other rooms-that is to say, while working on the physical body to work simultaneously on the mind and the emotions; while working on the mind to work on the physical body and the emotions; while working on the emotions to work on the mind and the physical body. This can be achieved thanks to the fact that on the fourth way it is possible to make use of certain knowledge inaccessible to the ways of the fakir, the monk, and the yogi. This knowledge makes it possible to work in three directions simultaneously. A whole parallel series of physical, mental, and emotional exercises serves this purpose. In addition, on the fourth way it is possible to individualize the work of each separate person, that is to say, each person can do only what is necessary and not what is useless for him. This is due to the fact that the fourth way dispenses with a great the fourth way affects simultaneously every side of man's being. It is work ore the three rooms at once. The fakir works on the first room, the monk on the second, the yogi on the third. In reaching the fourth room the fakir, the monk, and the yogi leave behind them many things unfinished, and they cannot make use of what they have attained because they are not masters of all their functions. The fakir is master of his body but not of his emotions or his mind; the monk is master of his emotions but not of his body or his mind; the yogi is master of his mind but not of his body or his emotions.
"Then 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."
-In Search of the Miraculous pgs 55-57

Ouspensky writes in the "Fouth Way":

"Q. Does the Fourth Way embrace the three other ways?
A. No, this is a wrong description, because the Fourth Way does not have many of the things which enter into the first three ways, and it has many other things that do not enter into the three ways. The idea of the Fourth Way is that it discards from the three ways all that is unnecessary in them, because besides the necessary things the three ways have other things which have remained there purely through tradition, imitation and so on.
In the Fourth Way all the sides that can develop, develop at the same time, and this makes it different from other ways where you first develop one side and then go back and develop another, then again go back and develop a third side. In the Fourth Way all the four centres must be more or less alive, on the surface, open to receive impressions, otherwise long preliminary work to open them is necessary before one can begin.
Q. Is not the Fourth Way actually very much the most difficult, owing to the continual choice entailed under conditions of maximum outside distractions?
A. It depends what you call most difficult. The other three ways need a very big decision right at the beginning, when you really know nothing. You have to renounce everything absolutely. If you can do that, and if you have other qualities that are needed, you can go by the way of the Monk, or the way of the Yogi, if you can find a Monk or a Yogi school. But if you do not know such schools and if you find that you cannot give up even small things, then certainly this is the only way possible for you. It is not a question of more or less difficult; it is a question of which is most possible. Then, if you think, you will find that there is only one way that is possible."
(pg 107)

Don
 
Thanks for your responses. If the Forth Way is "the only one way", then why aren't there discussions about the techniques available for free on the internet? I would like to learn some of the principles without having to read through Gurdjieff, Nicoll, Ouspensky and Mouravieff. Any thoughts.
 
sinimat said:
Thanks for your responses. If the Forth Way is "the only one way", then why aren't there discussions about the techniques available for free on the internet? I would like to learn some of the principles without having to read through Gurdjieff, Nicoll, Ouspensky and Mouravieff. Any thoughts.
First, about your sylogism "If, .... then". The premise - "the Forth Way is 'the only one way'" - is false, therefore the sylogism , is valid but unsound.

Second, if you would like to have a short introduction to the traditional "Fourth Way", you may like to read The psychology of man's possible evolution, by P.D. Ouspensky - 128 pages.

Third, Gurdjieff, Nicoll, Ouspensky and Mouravieff are all lacking a very important element, without which their teachings simply "miss the mark". This element is the hyperdimensional factor. They all speak about humans being "food for the Moon", but they do not teach what this "Moon" is, and how to fight it.

If you would like to have an exposition that introduces this missing factor - you may like to read "The Wave" ... to start with.

One of the main principles we use and advocate is: do not believe anything and anybody, including Ouspensky. Question everything, research everything, take, as working hypotheses, only these parts of any teaching that you can estimate as "highly probable", based on all the knowledge and all the data that you have. Work on gaining more knowledge and more data, and adapt appropriately you working hypotheses.

I hope it helps.
 
The Ummites talked about that - how binary logic is incomplete at some higher level, and that you have to adopt decision trees that have more than two children per node. They said it was actually four per node - if(x) {} else1 {} else2 {} else3 {}, would be the equivalent statement. Whether that's actually 1(true) or 0(not) or (2 or 3 or 4 or ...), I don't know.
 
sinimat said:
Thanks for your responses. If the Forth Way is "the only one way", then why aren't there discussions about the techniques available for free on the internet? I would like to learn some of the principles without having to read through Gurdjieff, Nicoll, Ouspensky and Mouravieff. Any thoughts.
Hi Sinimat,
Arlk already touched on this but I wanted to add something. "The Work" as defined by "The Fourth Way" never claims to be the "only" way. In fact, Gudjieff tell us to follow nothing blindly and to examine/question everything.

He also says that the system is not for everyone.

And we can't tell you if it is for you or not. You have to decide for yourself.

Don
 
Hi Sinimat,
I would add that a great place to gain a bit more insight and general information can also be found in the cass Glossary http://glossary.cassiopaea.com/glossary.php which is full of various definitions of some of the concepts people use and discuss here on the forum.
Salutes!
 
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