See also our
previous basic materials, posted online.
Most of the below is taken from several
Fourth Way sources based upon the work of Gurdjieff and Ouspensky.
Recapitulation
of the fundamental ideas of the Work according to Ouspensky:
1 A human is not a
completed being. Nature develops us only up to a certain point, then
leaves us either to develop further by our own efforts, or to live
and die as we were born.
2 We ascribe to
ourselves powers and faculties which we do not possess, and which we
will never possess unless we can develop into completed beings.
3 We do not realize
that we are actually machines, with no independent movements, brought
into motion by external influences. The most important quality
which we ascribe to ourselves but do not possess is consciousness.
*
“Consciousness”
refers to a state of greater awareness than our ordinary waking
state. It is a particular kind of awareness of ourselves, of where
we are at the moment, and in the broader context of the cosmos.
We must have an aim,
otherwise no study can have any result. If we realize that we are
asleep, the aim is to awaken. If we realize that we are machines, the
aim is to cease to be machines.
If we want to be more
conscious, we must study what prevents us from remembering ourselves.
The main obstacles
for most students are imagination, self-deception, preconceptions,
and expectations. These are all negative emotions, based on
identification.
You cannot struggle
with these obstacles without remembering yourself more, and you
cannot remember yourself more without struggling with these
obstacles.
The causes of
negative emotions are not in external reasons, they are in ourselves.
Suffering, in itself,
is not negative emotion. It can produce negative emotion only if you
identify with it.
Imagination consists
in ascribing to oneself some knowledge, power, or quality which one
does not possess. Just letting things come into the mind may be
harmless as long as it is free from identification.
********
NOTES ON WORK (published in Ouspensky's “The Psychology of Man's Possible Evolution”)
1 Notes on Decision
to Work
Think very seriously
before you decide to work on yourself with the idea of changing
yourself, to work with the aim of becoming more conscious and of
developing connection with higher centers.
If you begin the
journey and then go back, all that you acquired may crystallize into
something negative in you.
If you do this work
sincerely and remember the principles, it will bring you to the
realization of your state and your needs.
You have to do
gigantic work if you want to transform. If you want to work seriously
you have to conquer many things in yourself.
Try to understand the
necessity for deliberate suffering and conscious effort. These are
the only two things that can change you and bring you to your aim.
Deliberate suffering
means attitude toward suffering. It becomes deliberate if you do not
rebel against it, if you do not try to avoid it, if you do not accuse
anyone, if you accept it as a necessary part of your work at the
moment and as a means for attaining your aim.
*************
2
Notes on Work on Oneself
Need to work on four
lines:
mind (the various
“I”s)
consciousness (self-observation,
self-remembering)
emotions (negative
emotion, identification)
will (mechanical
self-will vs. real will)
Try to understand the
meaning of silence in the work, the meaning of sincerity and the
meaning of truth. (See “Four (or five) Powers of the Sphinx”)
to know
to will
to dare
to endure
to transcend
You must understand
the necessity for being careful when saying “I.” Try to
understand which part of you is speaking or thinking, and name it
accordingly.
You must always
return to the idea of Permanent “I” and realize how far you are
from it, and how many efforts are necessary in order to reach it.
You must clearly
understand the necessity of self-observation for self study.
Work on consciousness
can give results only when it becomes as near to permanent as
possible. Spasmodic, interrupted work cannot give results.
Realize that mind can
only prepare you for this work, and only guide you a certain
distance. You can go further only with the help of will and emotions.
Work on emotions must
be practical from the beginning; it begins with the struggle against
imagination and mechanical talk. Next, work on identification and
self-deception.
Try to understand
that suffering is the only active principle in us which can be
converted to higher feeling, higher thought and higher understanding.
These efforts will
lead you to the awakening of conscience, which is the simultaneous
feeling of all contradictory emotions. This is a necessary step for
transferring yourself to the higher level of consciousness.
Think about yourself,
realize how many opportunities you had and how many you have already
lost and continue to lose daily.
Use the concept of
deaths and rebirths to help you remember. You do not know how much
time remains to you in this form. If you do not transform,
everything will be repeated again, all mistakes and all loss of
opportunity. You will have to look for your chance to work on
consciousness again next time.
*************
3
Additional Points (from Ouspensky's book Conscience)
One
beginning condition is that you must believe nothing. Belief will not
help; belief is deadening. It has not sufficient power.
The
chief feature of our being is that we are many, not one. If we want
to work on our being, to make it correspond better to our aim, we
must try to become one. The first step is to create a permanent
center of gravity.
When
a student begins this course of study, the magnetic center brings the
observing “I” into being. This “I” has to educate the rest of
personality and essence.
The
more you understand false personality the more you will remember
yourself. “You” is what really is, and you must learn to
distinguish it from the many false “yous.”
One
of the misfortunes of our uninitiated state is that we are full of
non-existent things. One of our advantages is that none of these
things is permanent yet.
Fals
personality is imaginary “I.” It acts as a center for negative
emotions, imagination, deception, and identification.
If
for a long time one goes on without making sufficient efforts or
doing anything seriously, then instead of becoming one, one becomes
divided into two, so that all features are divided into two groups:
one part useful to the work and another part opposed.
To
struggle with false personality, always do something that false
personality does not like and you will very soon find out what it
does not like.
*************
4
Will
Life is not long enough for changing our being if we work on it as we do at everything else in life. Enormous effort is necessary to change even one small thng.
Life is not long enough for changing our being if we work on it as we do at everything else in life. Enormous effort is necessary to change even one small thng.
Self-remembering
is of no use without remembering the aims of the work and the
original fundamental aim. If aims are not remembered emotionally,
years may pass and one will remain in the same state.
Without
spiritual work, we live under the law of accident, cause-effect, and
fate.
It
is not enough to educate the mind; it is necessary to educate the
will and emotions. Struggle must be by will, by intention. You must
be aware of your intention.
Will
can be seen at moments when there is strong desire to do or not to do
something. Only those moments are important.
In
this work you must work beyond your forces. Only then can you change.
If you do only what is possible, you will remain where you are.
It
is necessary to forget less and remember more. It is necessary to
keep certain realizations, certain things you have already
understood, always with you.
Definite
aims to work on:
To
be one
To
be free (how? when one acquires control of machine)
To
have will
To
be awake
Knowledge
and understanding cannot help if one does not work on being. One can
understand and not be able to do anything.
Self-remembering
is not an intellectual or abstract thing; it is moments of will. It
is not thought, it is action. If it were just dreaming “I am,” it
would not be anything of value.
One
must realize one's position and be prepared to pay. The more one is
prepared to pay, the more one acquires. Payment is a most important
principle in the work.
