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The Fourth Way: A Method of Transformation — Transcript

by Theodore Nottingham · 2,106 words · 376 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

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0:00foreign
0:05[Music]
0:16manuscript introduction to fragments of
0:20an unknown teaching pedus Penske a key
0:24teacher of the Fourth Way wrote
0:27the predominant emotion in Me Was Fear
0:31Fear To Lose Myself fear to disappear in
0:35something unknown
0:37I remember a phrase in a letter I wrote
0:40at the time
0:42I am writing this letter to you but who
0:44will write the next letter signing it
0:47with my name and what he will say I do
0:50not know
0:51this was the fear
0:55uspinsky a Russian philosopher was
0:58referring to the transformative impact
1:01of what is called the system
1:04the work or the fourth way
1:08this teaching is a method of intense
1:11personal effort performed on oneself for
1:14the purpose of knowing oneself
1:16objectively and evolving into a higher
1:20state of consciousness that awakens us
1:23to a whole new experience of reality
1:28George Ivanovich gerges brought these
1:31powerful ideas to the west from ancient
1:33and secret sources in the East this
1:36extraordinary system of thought ranges
1:39from the most intimate a psychological
1:42insights to a grandiose cosmology
1:45linking the individual with the universe
1:48it is a synthesis of practices and
1:52teachings formatted for the Western
1:54Scientific mind
1:57it is named the fourth way to
1:59differentiate it from the other ways of
2:02conscious evolution
2:03the way of the monk the way of the fakir
2:06the way of the yogi each of these
2:10classic methods of human transformation
2:12focus on different aspects of the
2:15individual
2:16emotional physical intellectual
2:21the Fourth Way deals with all of these
2:23Dimensions at once seeking to create a
2:26balanced individual whose inner work of
2:30transformation
2:31occurs in the midst of his or her daily
2:34activities
2:37it is not necessary to live in
2:40monasteries or ashrams in order to apply
2:43this spiritual concentration
2:46yet the efforts made are as intense and
2:50demanding as any of the practices that
2:53take place in those settings
2:56the work is entirely inner invisible and
3:00individual
3:04the evolution of human consciousness is
3:06a matter of personal efforts and is
3:09therefore a rare exception among the
3:12majority of human beings
3:16to those who would wander at the seeming
3:18unfairness of this assertion uspensky
3:21responds that most people simply do not
3:24want to awaken
3:27to become a different being we must want
3:30it greatly and over many years
3:33without the necessary efforts we will
3:36not evolve
3:38moreover we must acquire qualities that
3:41we believe we already possess but in
3:44fact to do not
3:46in the fourth way this Insight is the
3:50first step in the direction of inner
3:52evolution
3:54we do not know ourselves
3:59gurjev says man has invented many
4:02machines and he knows that a complicated
4:04machine needs sometimes years of careful
4:07study before one can use it or control
4:10it
4:11but he does not apply this knowledge to
4:13himself although he himself is a much
4:17more complicated machine than any
4:19machine he has invented
4:21this machine is brought into motion by
4:25external influences
4:27all actions ideas and emotions or
4:30responses to the stimulus of external
4:33events
4:35for gurjev such mechanical persons are
4:38asleep to their true condition and
4:41virtually incapable of change
4:45he tells us by himself he is just an
4:48automaton with a certain store of
4:50memories of previous experiences and a
4:54certain amount of Reserve energy human
4:57beings therefore cannot do
5:00everything happens to us as to puppets
5:04pulled by invisible strings
5:06uspensky believed that if we could
5:08perceive this phenomenon then things
5:11would begin to change for us
5:14we human beings are not merely stimulus
5:17response machines but machines that can
5:20know that we are machines
5:23realizing this we may find ways to cease
5:27being simply reactive organisms
5:32another central idea in the fourth way
5:34is that the individual is not one
5:38we have no permanent eye or ego
5:42every thought feeling sensation desire
5:45is an eye which believes that it is the
5:48whole person
5:50yet none of these eyes are connected and
5:53each depends on the change of external
5:56circumstances
5:58to make matters worse there are often
6:01impenetrable defenses between each eye
6:04which the work calls buffers separating
6:08these sub-personalities from one another
6:13kurgev stated that one of our most
6:16important mistakes is our illusion about
6:20our Unity
6:22it tells us
6:24his eye changes as quickly as his
6:27thoughts feelings and moods and he makes
6:29the profound mistake in considering
6:32himself always one and the same person
6:36in reality he is always a different
6:39person not the one he was a moment ago
6:43are every thought and desire lives
6:46separately and independently from the
6:49whole
6:50according to gerjev we are made of
6:52thousands of separate eyes often unknown
6:55to one another in some time mutually
6:58exclusive and hostile to each other
7:02man is a plurality man's name is a
7:06legion he writes
7:09the alternation of eyes is controlled by
7:12accidental external influences
7:16there is nothing in US able to control
7:18the change of eyes mainly because we do
7:22not notice it
7:24each separate eye calls itself I and
7:28acts in the name of the whole person
7:31this explains why people so often make
7:34decisions and so seldom carry them out
7:38a little self-observation will prove
7:40that we usually think feel move and
7:43respond without our being aware of what
7:46is happening within us
7:49this self-observation is in fact the
7:52first practical effort required in the
7:55fourth way
7:56the student is to create an observing
7:59eye which observes with objectivity his
8:03or her interactivity
8:06to develop an objective space within
8:09which can see without judging is
8:12extremely difficult but is also the
8:15first breakthrough out of our mechanical
8:18Behavior and the state of sleep in which
8:21it keeps us
8:24Consciousness is a particular kind of
8:27awareness concerning who we are where we
8:30are in the moment and what we know in
8:33the deepest dimension of our being
8:36it never Remains the Same but can be
8:39made continuous and controllable through
8:42special efforts and study
8:45the Fourth Way points to four states of
8:47Consciousness sleep waking state
8:52self-consciousness and objective
8:54consciousness
8:56most everyone lives only in the first
8:59two states
9:01the third state self-consciousness is
9:04one that we believe we possess even
9:07though we are conscious of ourselves
9:09only in rare flashes
9:13such flashes come in exceptional moments
9:16in highly emotional states in times of
9:19danger or in new and unexpected
9:22circumstances
9:24we have no control over their coming and
9:27going
9:28good of Rights if we knew the quantity
9:31of wrong observations wrong theories
9:34wrong deductions and conclusions made in
9:37the state are ordinary consciousness
9:40we should cease to believe ourselves all
9:44together
9:47Dr Catherine Spieth in her book the
9:50gerges work observes that anyone who has
9:53a difficult time accepting the notion
9:55that as we are we have but few moments
9:58of true self-consciousness
10:01ought to make a study of the loose jaws
10:04and vacant stares of people in public
10:07places and in situations where they do
10:10not think that they are being observed
10:13according to the fourth way the central
10:16obstacle to higher levels of
10:17consciousness is a phenomenon known as
10:20identification
10:23uspensky described it in this manner
10:27in this state man has no separate
10:30awareness
10:31he is lost in whatever he happens to be
10:34doing feeling thinking
10:37because he has lost immersed not present
10:41to himself this condition is known as a
10:45state of waking sleep
10:49when we are identified our attention is
10:52directed outward and we are lost to
10:55ourselves
10:57self-consciousness is then a state in
10:59which we become aware of ourselves and
11:01are no longer hypnotized by the external
11:04event before us
11:07in order to see clearly the roots of our
11:09psychological distortions the Fourth Way
11:12defines two aspects of the individual
11:15Essence and personality
11:18Essence is what a person is born with
11:21personality is that which is acquired
11:25all that is learned both unconsciously
11:28through imitation and through acquired
11:30likes and dislikes constitutes the outer
11:33part of the person that which is changed
11:36by outer circumstances
11:40though personality is necessary it must
11:42not be left to dominate essence or it
11:45will produce artificial persons cut off
11:48from their true natures
11:50according to Rodney Carlin one of us
11:53penske's Primary students who started
11:55his own fourth-way School in South
11:57America
11:58the fundamental abnormality in human
12:01beings lies precisely in the Divergence
12:04between personality and Essence the more
12:07nearly we know ourselves for what we are
12:11more we approach wisdom
12:14the more our imagination about ourselves
12:17diverges from what we actually are the
12:20more insane we become
12:24through the practices of
12:26self-remembering we can separate
12:29ourselves from the pretenses and
12:31imitations that have enslaved us since
12:34childhood and returned to who we
12:37actually are
12:39such a return to our essential nature is
12:42accompanied by a sense of Liberation
12:45unlike any other
12:48to thyself be true is the first
12:50commandment on the way of
12:52self-development Maurice Nicole States
12:56in his psychological commentaries on the
12:58teachings of gerdafen uspinsky that as
13:01you make progress in the work what you
13:04took as yourself
13:06begins to look like a little prison
13:08house far away in the valley beneath you
13:14this is a vivid expression of the third
13:18state of consciousness or
13:20self-remembering as it is called
13:23these flashes of Greater Consciousness
13:25are the unexpected results of the
13:28strenuous efforts made in order to not
13:31lose ourselves in the rush of outer
13:34circumstances
13:35to be cleansed from the acids of
13:38negativity and to maintain a heightened
13:41awareness grounded in the present
13:45the student is to reach a point where he
13:47or she can make the choice not to react
13:50automatically to external stimuli
13:53this requires going against the grain
13:55resisting long-established habits and
13:58self-indulgences the question is as
14:01basic as can you find The Willpower to
14:05choose not to react angrily to something
14:08that makes you angry
14:10rather than being wasted in such an
14:13outburst the energy accumulated through
14:15this effort can be available for a
14:17moment of intensified consciousness
14:20this moment will flood you with peace
14:24and quiet Joy or a sense of profound
14:27liberation
14:30oddly enough these rare and Precious
14:33Moments often come in very paradoxical
14:35events when night is darkest a shaft of
14:39light can suddenly break through
14:41[Music]
14:43self-remembering combined with the
14:45insights of objective self-observation
14:48assists in the creation of a balanced
14:51individual who is not completely under
14:54the sway of his or her inborn nature and
14:57acquired habits
15:00it is not possible to experience a vast
15:03sense of reality if we are entirely
15:06under the dominance of the intellect to
15:09the exclusion of the emotional or the
15:12instinctive part of our nature
15:14and vice versa
15:17in attempting to make the machine work
15:19right it is necessary to change
15:22attitudes and behavior developed over
15:24years of wrong functioning
15:27Maurice Nicole gives us a hint of these
15:30first stages of real change in his
15:32psychological commentaries
15:35he writes this gradual withdrawal of
15:39energy from the customary easily
15:42resentful and brittle feeling of I is
15:46accompanied by a gradual new and broader
15:49feeling of I
15:51as if one were living in a larger place
15:54it is like being introduced to a new
15:57civilization to another form of life
16:02he points out that by using the inner
16:04camera of self-observation we begin to
16:07open a mind above the level of the
16:10central mind
16:11here is where the psychological
16:14experiences of the Fourth Way begin to
16:17reveal their numinous and religious or
16:21spiritual character
16:23of remembering then is a process of
16:27being lifted out of our ordinary sense
16:30of self into a purified
16:32detached space well known to those long
16:36practiced in meditation
16:39but in the fourth way this birth of new
16:42awareness can be accomplished while one
16:45crosses a city street or takes out the
16:48trash
16:49nevertheless despite the Practical
16:52approach of the work self-remembering
16:55remains as intangible and paradoxical as
16:58any spiritual exercise
17:01reminiscent of the Zen koan Rodney
17:03Collin told his students that we cannot
17:06remember ourselves
17:08until we forget ourselves
17:12at the height of his powers of
17:14understanding he United the fourth way
17:16with the wisdom of all times and places
17:20he wrote to feel beauty to feel truth
17:24that is self-remembering
17:27self-remembering is the awareness of the
17:30presence of God
17:35the idea that we are not awake but live
17:38in a partial dream state from which we
17:40can awaken opens radically New Horizons
17:45the Illusions we Foster concerning
17:47ourselves melt under the light of
17:50increased Consciousness and we awaken to
17:53New Dimensions of reality that set us
17:56free
17:58we are then able to relate to the world
18:01around us without the usual defenses
18:04masks and confusion that constitute much
18:07of human interaction
18:10we become capable of a new kind of
18:13compassion
18:20[Music]
18:28foreign
18:30[Music]

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