Blog Archives

February 27th, 2017

2/27/2017

Preparation: Conquering the physical machine
Part I

Self-observation is done for a reason. If one does not know why one goes through the exercise of self-observation then let it be simply said one simply observes self because others tell them self-observation is ‘the way’.

Unfortunately, the specifics of traveling the path called, ‘The Way’, are avoided as a topic of discussion by those having made the journey. The successful individual travelers of the way who have sought truth and found truth fear being labeled ‘arrogant’.

Level 4s fear being labeled arrogant, fear being called deceivers, fear being rejected, fear being ostracized, and fear taking a risk, fear the risk of sharing.

So it is many seeking answers to the forever haunting questions regarding life are condemned to remain in the dark because level 4s are afraid for themselves and mask their fears in the excuses: The seekers are not ready, the answers are meant for only a few and we will decide who they should be.

The first step to knowing one’s true essence lies in a haunting sense of a need to know. Self-observation, after sensing the need to know, after questioning the apparent meaninglessness of life, is the second step to finding truth, finding the truth regarding reality.

Self-observation is the initial step one takes to find one’s true essence for ‘the haunting need to know’ either exists within the individual or it does not. The need to know is not a conscious step one takes while self-observation on the other hand comes only through personal decision to do so.

Self-observation is the gateway to finding the knowledge and understanding regarding not only the purpose of one’s life but the very meaning of life itself.

Self-observation is a step preceding finding the silence, finding the void, finding the nothingness wherein one finds one’s true self, one’s true essence.

It is through self-observation that one can put one’s life in balance which then allows one to quiet the three levels affecting one’s life.

It is through quieting the three levels that one initiates entrance into the silence.

"Among other things, I said that the most important work for a man who has already cognized with his Reason his real significance – that is to say, who has cognized his error in the sense of the exaggerated importance given to his individuality … that is, to exercise what is called “self-observation.”
Live Is Real Only Then, When ‘I Am’, G. I. Gurdjieff, All and Everything,
Third Series, Penguin Arkana, 1978, p. 81 - 82.

"In order to see, I must learn to see. This is the first initiation into self-knowledge. …
… My effort is made with something that does not belong to my ordinary means. I need a certain will and desire unknown to my ordinary self. My ordinary “I” must give up its place.
The Reality of Being, The Fourth Way of Gurdjieff, Jeanne De Salzmann, Shambhala, 2010, p 17.

Some would have you believe one can’t find the meaning of life, can’t find truth/absolute truth/truth existing outside relative truth, can’t find any self other than the sensory, emotional and/or mental self. Such people would have you believe (again the doubter’s religion comes into play – their belief comes into play) nothing exists other than the physical universe.

Ridicule, ostracism and scorn are used as tools of the secularists as a means to divert the seeker’s energy from a journey they feel compelled to take but hesitate to risk.

1 Comment

February 23rd, 2017

2/23/2017

0 Comments

The Silence: The Void
Part VI

Region 4 is something altogether different from regions 1, 2 and 3.

Level/region 1 was the region of physical sensation experienced (for humans) through the five senses.

Level/region 2 was the region of emotions experienced (for humans) through feelings.

Level/region 3 was the region of mental thought experienced (for humans) through conscious reasoning, cerebral analysis, rationalization …

We examined what level 1 then level 2 and then level 3 were. Now we must examine what level 4 is.

Level/region 4 must be void all of the experiencing incorporated by levels 1, 2 and 3. If this were not so, then level 4 would simply be a continuation of levels 1, 2 and/or 3.

But just as levels 1, 2 and 3 are unique unto themselves level/region 4 is unique unto itself and thus is its own island, its own region.

We can diagram region 4 in relationship to regions 1, 2 and 3 in the following manner.

Some would say region 4 should be diagramed as:

At our present stage of understanding, Fig. 2.5 would be correct but as we progress in our knowledge and understanding of self this will prove to be incorrect.

Region 4 is a form of sensory, emotional and mental deprivation.

Here then lays the understanding regarding the previous statement as to the difficulty of entering region 4. Region/level 4 is, as stated previously, difficult to attain, seldom visited and frightening to experience initially, for region 4 is isolation in the truest sense.

Level/region 4 is the void itself, is the realm of the black endless abyss and is the suffocating blanket of nothingness. To enter region 4 is to release everything one holds dear, release the only reality with which one is familiar. Entering level/region 4 is to stare into the face of eternal death, eternal non-existence.

Next: Preparation: Conquering the physical machine

0 Comments

February 21st, 2017

2/21/2017

0 Comments

The Silence: The Void
Part V

Can or will all level 3s reach a level 4 state, step into region 4 in order to have a level 4 experience, in order to find their true essence, in order to find their true self and find their ‘I’?

Most level 3s will not find their level 4, but having said this one can also be fairly certain level 3s will never find their level 4, realize their true selves if they do not try to do so.

The potential to find one’s true essence increases with effort and further increases if one has a roadmap given to them by those who have traveled the journey before them.

This blog cannot replace the effort required of the individual seeking their true ‘I’, but this blog can provide ‘a’ roadmap for the seekers.

The initial map of the Cumberland Gap providing ‘a’ way through the Appalachian Mountains has, at this point of the twenty-first century, been expanded to include thousands of ‘ways’ to cross the Appalachian Mountains.

As time passes, the same will take place with regards to finding one’s true essence, the ‘a way’ will give way to several ways, which will give way to hundreds and then thousands of ways to attain level 4.

For now, however, let us stick to ‘a’ way in hopes that this will assist you in your journey just as the map of the Cumberland Gap assisted the early travelers.

The question becomes how does one find their true essence, find their ‘I’?

Gurdjieff, de Salzmann, Ouspensky and others have already addressed this question but they have done so in a general manner as opposed to a specific manner.

This blog lays out the specifics using Gurdjieff, de Salzmann and Ouspensky quotes as one means of attaining level 4 and at the same time simultaneously validating the process being presented. The most significant means of validation, of course, comes through personal experiencing of what is being professed.

To lay out the specifics regarding the means of finding one’s true essence requires specific instructions if the process of finding one’s true self is to become more accessible to others just as the Cumberland Gap laid out many trail markers to guide the travelers along the way.

The specifics guide the seeker of truth just as the trail markers on the Cumberland Gap guided those seeking a way through the Appalachian Mountains.

This blog is written in hopes of providing enough encouragement to a few in order to increase the numbers reaching their destination in the search for truth. Just as a deluge begins with the first drop of water, followed by a few more drops of water, followed by a torrent of rain, so to begins the deluge of understanding regarding the true essence of human individuals begins with the few leading to the many leading to a torrent of the number of individuals understanding/experiencing their true essence.

So again the question is presented: How does one enter level 4? In fact why would one even wish to enter level 4?

And again in terms of why enter region 4: Region 4 is where one finds one’s true essence, where one becomes ‘the master’ of one’s self as opposed to being ‘the slave’ of life. Entering region 4 is the key to understanding versus confusion and desperation.

0 Comments

February 20th, 2017

2/20/2017

0 Comments

The Silence: The Void
Part IV
Belief in the lack of truth, in the lack of absolute truth becomes, for many level 3s, becomes an excuse to avoid returning to the silence, becomes an excuse to avoid the quest, becomes an excuse to avoid the need to know.

Physical sensations, emotional obsessions and mental preoccupations dominate the individual’s life, cause the individual to react. Human existence is one of constantly reacting to stimuli, of being a slave to life, of existing in a state of sleep, of being reactive as opposed to being proactive.

If the physical, emotional and mental are regions where the true self is not found, the question is: Where is the true self to be found?

The fakirs, monks and yogis require one to dedicate their all to the quest of finding one’s true self, require one dedicate their life’s energy to the journey of mastering the silence. All three understand that esoteric knowledge and understanding comes only after mastering the silence.

All three methods offer the sleeping individual the means of awaking to reality and becoming the master as opposed to being the slave to life.

"Man has the possibility to awaken from this sleep, to awaken to the higher, to be. The means is the attention. In sleep the attention is taken. It must be freed and turned in another direction. This is the separation of “I” and “me.”
The Reality of Being, The Fourth Way of Gurdjieff, Jeanne De Salzmann, Shambhala, 2010, p22.

Level 3 individuals, the individuals reading this book, are capable of entering the region of silence and finding their true selves, finding their true ‘I’ while remaining within the realm of normal life. The fourth way offers Level 3s the opportunity of attaining a level 4 experience while remaining immersed in ordinary life.

0 Comments

February 11th, 2017

2/11/2017

1 Comment

The Silence: The Void
Part III

In Chapter One we examined three levels, three categories constantly inundating the individual:

We then reconfigured the two dimensional depiction to a three dimensional depiction representing three regions, three locations …

We moved the two dimensional graphic into a three dimensional graphic to better grasp our three dimensional form taken while traveling within the physical universe which in turn helps us better comprehend what it is we are doing as we seek our true selves.

Invertebrates exist in level 1 and are incapable of rising to a ‘higher’ level, are incapable of moving into the second level known as the emotional/astral plane.

Animals such as dogs and cats exist in level 2 and, as far as we understand, are incapable of rising to a ‘higher’ level, incapable of moving into the third region/level 3, incapable of asking metaphysical questions.

Most humans live their lives in region 2, live their life asleep and function in a reactive manner as they walk through life.

The process of level 2s attaining level 3, stepping into region 3 is long, tedious, and time consuming. Most level 2s have no motivation to expend the effort necessary to step into level 3 for they cannot comprehend what it means to live in region three, cannot comprehend what it means to exist as thinkers let alone understand what possible rewards comes in expending the effort to become level 3s..

Level 3 humans are capable of various levels of deep analysis, dialectic reasoning, processing thesis/antithesis/synthesis investigations … are individuals capable of asking various levels of metaphysical questions regarding life. Most level 3s, however, turn away from the haunting questions regarding the interaction of God, the Cosmos and self. Most level 3s view the expenditure of energy needed to find truth to be a waste and an impossible task since they believe there is no such thing as objective, absolute truth.

A few level 3s have stepped into the silence and upon returning to the physical refused to go back. Viewing the purity of the silence is enough to give some individuals attacks of anxiety and can be traumatic to the point of generating nightmares.

1 Comment

February 09th, 2017

2/9/2017

1 Comment

The Silence: The Void
Part II

The journey has been traversed by others and they can assist in shortening the passage by marking the route, describing the obstacles one will encounter and sharing how it is they, the explorers of the silence, have overcome the obstacles.

This is not to say those that have come before you have all the answers or have the only answers regarding how to make the journey for they do not. But they do have some answers and as more individuals make the journey more solutions will begin to circulate through the sparse population of those haunted by the questions of life.

So it is we are ready to examine the silence from afar in preparation for stepping into the silence.

So it is our journey is about to take on a new dimension as we prepare to awaken from the deep sleep of being a slave to life.

Next: The Silence: The realm of one’s true essence
Part I

1 Comment

February 08th, 2017

2/8/2017

1 Comment

The Silence: The Void
Part I

The void is where one’s true self can initially be found.

If one’s true self is not the physical, emotional or mental aspects of the individual, if the true self is not found in the region of physical sensations, emotions or mental thinking, then what exactly is the true self and why is the true self to be found in the silence?

One can find one’s true self through the process of sensory, emotional and thinking deprivation. Sensory, emotional and mental deprivation mutes the demands, desires and questions presented by the physical, emotional and mental and leaves one with what many believe does not exist, namely the void, the nothingness, and pure silence.

Using the terms physical, emotional and mental provides us with a classification system, provides us with a means of categorizing the thousands of demands, desires and questions which inundate use as we go through life.

By quieting the three categories we are presented with a state of existence wherein, after much practice and patience, we are able to first familiarize ourselves and then eventually expose our true self, befriend our true selves, establish our true self as a permanent fully revealed factor accompanying ourselves as we traverse the physical universe.

There are many steps leading to our finding our true essence, finding our “I’. Some of the major steps include:

1.     Recognize the three categories of stimulation inundating and overpowering our daily consciousness

2.     Recognize, through self-examination, our true motives regarding our interactions within life

3.     Examine the silence from afar

4.     Step into the silence

5.     Become comfortable with the silence

6.     Master the silence

7.     Let the real self emerge

8.     Allow the real self to become a part of one’s physical journey as the master of the other three selves.

There is no doubt the list appears daunting.

No one is suggesting the journey is easy. No one is suggesting the journey is short, clearly marked, safe, secure, simple, a tunnel with a light at the end always shining. The journey is none of these. The journey is filled with constantly emerging abysses and filled with ladders missing their rungs and filled with long stretches of dry spells demanding the individual abandon the quest.

The quest is not for the faint of heart but I can tell you this, the quest is filled with many rewards for those who are tenacious in their efforts.

1 Comment

The Silence: The void

2/7/2017

1 Comment

The silence: The void

1 Comment

February 06th, 2017

2/6/2017

1 Comment

Diversity: Degrees, variations and bridges
Part VI

This blog is a way of sharing ‘how.’ This blog is a guide but this information cannot ‘teach’ one the experience.

It is up to each individual to make their own journey, exert their own effort.

The journey is long, arduous, filled with fear, failure, and self-doubt, but from personal experience I can tell you the journey, if successful, is well worth the struggle.

There will be many along the way who will tell you to ‘just accept’ this or that, who will tell you to be at peace and not question.

I will tell you quite the opposite. Question, question and question yet again. Question even more deeply with each question.

"The teaching is the guide, and only he who questions more deeply can be responsible to serve."
The Reality of Being,The Fourth Way of Gurdjieff, Jeanne De Salzmann, Shambhala, 2010, p. xvi

Understanding cannot come without knowledge but knowledge can come without understanding. So it is one must experience personally if one is to understand the knowledge which others can provide them.

"You have to see for yourself.” For her the idea alone, the concept without experience, was not enough – truth could not be thought. Indeed, the knowledge of the thinking mind, especially thoughts about “who we are,” was an obstacle, a veil hiding reality."
The Reality of Being, The Fourth Way of Gurdjieff, Jeanne De Salzmann, Shambhala, 2010, p. xvii

Every journey begins with the first step and knowing and understanding our physical, astral (emotional) and mental selves is the first step to finding our true selves. The next step emerges in understanding The Silence: The Void.

1 Comment

February 04th, 2017

2/4/2017

1 Comment

Diversity: Degrees, variations and bridges
Part V

So it is I bring you what it is I have been given. So it is I expose myself to the potential of ridicule, skepticism and ostracism.

It is said when it comes to ‘teaching’ how to experience that there are no teachers.

"Indeed, there are no teachers."
The Reality of Being,The Fourth Way of Gurdjieff, Jeanne De Salzmann Shambhala, 2010, p. xv

There is no doubt one cannot ‘teach’ an experience. Only through personal experiencing can one experience.

It is also true, however, that those that have experienced can share the experience and share the means by which they came to experience.

In fact, those who have experienced, those who have found the path, those who have journeyed into the silence, have an obligation to cut a verbal trail for others to follow, for others to build upon and for future generations of our species to advance themselves up the spiral of evolutionary development so as to make the journey for future generations less difficult allowing a flood of humanity, as opposed to a trickle of humanity, to know both worlds, the world of the physical as well as the world of the spiritual.

Many have come before and attempted to teach.

"Regarding the book The Reality of Being, de Salzmann said: I am writing a book on how to be in life, on the path to take in order to live on two levels. It will show how to find a balance, to go from one to the other, or rather to find the way in between. We have to see beyond, and through, our ordinary thinking in order to open to another mind. Otherwise, we remain at the threshold in front of the door, and the door does not open. "
The Reality of Being, The Fourth Way of Gurdjieff, Jeanne De Salzmann, Shambhala, 2010, p. xvi

Not all teachers are ‘great’ teachers but all teachers, be they ‘great’ teachers or ‘ordinary’ teachers, have one thing in common, namely, they all ‘share’ what it is they know and understand.

Thus one who wishes to share is by definition a teacher

Previously we examined the physical machine we call ‘man’, now it is time to begin our examination of level 4 as we begin our journey to know and understand the ethereal, spiritual aspect of one’s self.

1 Comment

primer_for_the_fourth_way_minus_most_of_gs_quotes.pdf
File Size:	4904 kb
File Type:	pdf

Download File

Part I: For the novice
Intro & General Comments
10/16/16 - 12/31/16
The work begins:
Reality 1: World One: The physical
1/1/17 - 2/6/17
The Silence: The Void
2/7/17 - 2/23/17
Preparation: Conquering the Physical Machine
2/24/17 - 3/11/17
Taking a Peek: Viewing the void
3/12/17 - 3/17/17
Stepping into the silence:
Walking over the abyss of fear
3/2o/17
The silence: The region between two worlds
3/21/17
The void is not a reality: The void is nothingness
3/22/17 - 3/26/17
Entering the void: A regionless region
3/27/17 - ...

RSS Feed