Fourth Way

The Fourth Way of Georges I. Gurdjieff called a (1872-1949) founded spiritual system to the internal evolution of man in his daily life. An important symbol for this transformational process is the Enneagram.

Teachers and teaching

The founder Gurdjieff speaks of a Fourth Way as the synthesis and development of three traditional ways of the monk, and the yogi of the fakir. The Fourth Way Gurdjieff entails, according to a holistic development of man to his full potential or to the harmonious evolution of all parts or centers that make up the people: the thinking, feeling and movement of the body.

After the Gurdjieff Fourth Way runs in life - not behind monastery walls or in the distant Himalayas - and 3 lines under the guidance of an experienced teacher required:

  • The conscious confrontation with himself
  • The joint work of the conscious and exchange with like-minded
  • Work for the school or the teaching

Key elements of this work are:

  • The constant practice of mindfulness inner ( oneself of himself remember)
  • The non-identification, e.g. with likes and dislikes ( conscious suffering)
  • Common study and verification ( total experience ) universal laws, as they were presented in the Enneagram and the so-called Ray of Creation of Gurdjieff

In addition to many unknown sources of Gurdjieff system contains elements of Sufism ( Islamic mysticism ), some Buddhist and Hindu traditions and allegedly Essene - Christian mysticism. There is also evidence for a not insignificant Pythagorean influence. This is evident in the mathematical- systemic and musical teachings of Gurdjieff, such as in the law of the octave. Very important are the next together with Thomas de Hartmann recorded and rehearsed by Herbert Henck piano pieces. Among the shortest entitled Melody for the Enneagram.

His most famous pupil PD Ouspensky documented and published the first lectures Gurdjieff made ​​between 1915 and 1917 in Saint Petersburg. Later, however, there was a rift between him and Gurdjieff, so that from then on established two basic trends in the now widely branched supporters of the Fourth Way:

Ouspensky went to London, where he founded ( and later in America) own groups, while Gurdjieff near Paris, the " Institute for the Harmonious Development of Man " opened. After Gurdjieff's death in 1949 his close student Jeanne de Salzmann led the work with the establishment of various international Gurdjieff Foundations on.

Current situation

Today, around the world have numerous "schools" and groupings established that rely on the " Fourth Way " or Gurdjieff or Ouspensky. Of these, founded by Jeanne de Salzmann, Gurdjieff Foundations is the largest. In North America it is estimated 5000-15000 followers, but reliable figures are not known.

Criticism

The Fourth Way is nowadays sustainable discredited by some "schools" and groupings; although they lead him on behalf of, or claiming him, but in reality primarily a personality cult around a self-appointed and often recognizable by their own profit -oriented "teacher" and represent its questionable, often manipulative methods. Thus, the system of the Fourth Way apparently also owns a very dangerous potential if it falls into the wrong hands. Gurdjieff himself stressed this repeatedly and also warned of groups that believe his ideas and teachings actually follow, however, only deal with specific aspects of teaching and thus get a false positive and negative results thereby.

On the other hand, the ideas of Gurdjieff and Ouspensky must be lived and developed if they are not to fall into stagnation. For this reason, the Fourth Way attaches healthy because critical sense of particular importance and requires each to examine the quality of the school and to verify the results of the work on yourself.

Works (selection)

  • Beelzebub's Tales to his Grandson (1950 )
  • Meetings with Remarkable People (1963 )
  • From the real world ( Views from the Real World, 1973)
  • Life is real only when " I am" ( 1974)
  • The Herald of Coming Good ( 1988)

Further Reading

  • PD Ouspensky: In Search of the Miraculous (1949, dt: In Search of the Miraculous ).
  • PD Ouspensky: The Psychology of Man 's Possible Evolution ( 1978).
  • P. D. Ouspensky: The Fourth Way.
  • Maurice Nicoll: Psychological Commentaries on the Teachings of Gurdjieff and Ouspensky (1980, 6 volumes ).
Yogi (disambiguation) Buddhism
804147
de