The Fourth Way

I have never, and will never, be part of a Gurdjieff group. I do not believe Gurdjieff or Ouspensky were connected with any ancient, esoteric schools, despite their occasional claims to the contrary. They were merely men who had certain psychological and spiritual insights which seem significant to many of us today. This book presents certain concepts: some of them you will find revealing, others you may not. The prose is not difficult, but the large number of ideas and sheer largeness of the teachings presented in the 420 or so pages can be tough-going. 'The Psychology of Man's Evolution' is a better primer, and the best way to see whether it's worth pursuing the ideas further. If you swallow the entire Gurdjieff/Ouspensky teaching as a whole, you are violating one of the tenets expressed in this book: to never accept any concepts that you cannot prove to yourself through psychological demonstration. The concepts that many appear to find disagreeable are (1) the emphasis on group work as a 'necessity' (most of the concepts presented here are self-revealing, if you have true discipline you don't need a school) and (2) the bizarre cosmological scheme presented about mid-way into the book (yes, there is talk about humans being 'food for the moon'). However, despite these missteps, the majority of this book works extremely well as a relentless attack on our complacent, half-waking state. It is not merely a rehash of pieces of oriental philosophy, it is a genuine and serious attempt to wipe away the illusions we live with every day of our lives. The powerful ideas and metaphors presented in this book, such as self-remembering, recognition of multiple I's, and non-identification, can improve your understanding of yourself if you engage in the necessary struggle against the smug impotence of our present state.

After coming across this book a number of interesting developments coincided in my life, leading to enormous growth that was helped greatly by reading "The Fourth Way"... appropriately enough, one of Ouspensky's ideas is that we create a "permanent center of gravity", meaning that when we focus on esoteric knowledge events will happen in our life (e.g. meeting particular people, going through particular circumstances) that facilitate our growth. This book is an incredible guide for people who desire self-knowledge, and are willing to put in the effort necessary to learn about their own psychology. The book is concerned with how we think, and ways to observe our self. An interesting entry point into this book is to simply observe your thoughts for a day... how does one thought lead to another? Where do they seem to arise from? When you are distracted, how much of your surroundings are you aware of? When you become distracted, do you tap your feet or unconsciously move your fingers or hands? If you aim to observe your self for one day, you will likely notice that your attention is swayed from one thing to another, and you have many unconscious habits and patterns of acting/reacting. The scope of this book is absolutely enormous. I refer back to it all the time, and always find new wisdoms in it. Having recommended it to many friends, I've found it consistently blows away people who put the effort into reading it and observing themselves. This book is useful, interesting and in-depth, whether you have been practicing self-observation (e.g. meditation or self-analysis, body awareness through yoga or tai-chi or other disciplines) for years or just starting now. This book is an excellent introduction to the ideas of Gurdjieff, and is written in a style that clearly elucidates the concepts of esoteric psychology (which I won't go into here, because other reviewers have and there is plenty of information floating through the internet). While Gurdjieff writes in a very challenging style that resembles that of Sufi parables (demonstrating his ideas through metaphor, storytelling or analogy) Ouspensky comes from a scientific background and approaches mysticism in a more rational and straightforward way... everything is outlined concisely and precisely, though there is still plenty of room for readers to interpret and apply in their own unique ways. The question/answer format of the book really helps guide the reader through that are covered. This book is excellent for anybody interested in practical esotericism, psychology, mysticism and magic, or self-improvement and self-observation. The book is an immense source of information that provides foundation for self-knowledge, and its many meanings unravel more and more with every read. It is definitely the type of book that can enrich your life and make everything around you more interesting, helping you develop immensely. [A note for people already familiar with the book... my personal opinion is that

This book is much more accessible if you read Ouspensky's masterpiece In Search of the Miraculous first. Without doing so it will likely seem tedious and obscure, since the concepts necessary to appreciate it will be lacking.

One aspect of this book, The Fourth Way, that affects some negatively is it can seem to present an avalanche of separate ideas that can seem to overwhelm. Learning to awaken and practicing to awaken shouldn't seem like an act of trying to hold a thousand different ideas in your mind at the same time. Yet, as you study the ideas that are presented in this book (and the Psychology of Man's Possible Evolution and In Search of the Miraculous, to name two of the other more famous ones by Ouspensky...) you find that there are a handful of central ideas presented that have more weight and that act as a center-of-gravity of the entire language. When these central ideas are identified (Self-Remembering, Non-Identifying, Separation, External-Considering and the subtle practice of Transforming Negative Emotion are five of the most central ideas of the entire Work language...) you can then sort out all the rest of the seemingly vast array of things to observe or do or not do or ponder, etc...and see where they fall and where their place is relative to the central ideas and practices. Always re-orienting yourself by the light of the central ideas and practices. This book, the Fourth Way, also presents the cosmological side of the Work. Five of the central ideas of the cosmological side are the Ray of Creation, the Law of 3, the Law of 7, Scale (or, 'Degree') and Relativity. These ideas are used as metaphor and as models to understand the psychological side. This book is not dry and 'overly' (choose your own word) intellectual (nor is it boring if you are truly enthusiastic about learning rare ideas of a high order, ideas, by the way, that may indeed be found in various religious writings and schools but are hardly presented in such practical and precise and, yes, poetic and mysterious language). These ideas ARE poetic and mysterious and your understanding of their inner meanings and connections (not to mention your ability in actually practicing them) can increase as far as you can climb with your effort and your inspiration.

I consider THE FOURTH WAY to be one of the top 100 spiritual books I have ever read. It describes a practice called Self-Remembering which makes us present-in-life and lifts us out of our robotic habits. It describes the emotional and chemical changes which happen in our body and mind when we do this practice. It talks about the two most important places to apply this willed effort (when we remember and when we are under an negative emotion which makes us not want to do it). The book gives a comprehensive advanced psychology which allows us to make deep sense of this practice. The only reservation about the book is that it makes the practice seem harder than it needs to be and it makes the theory feel overintellectual at times. This detracts from its practical value.