Gurdjieff 4 way. Fourth way

Fourth Way - one of the spiritual ways of awakening consciousness brought to the West by Georgy Ivanovich Gurdjieff. For many years, Gurdjieff traveled to the countries of the East, learning from different teachers and drawing knowledge from different spiritual schools.

According to Gurdjieff, there are four paths of spiritual development in the world - the so-called Path of the Fakir, the Path of the Monk, the Path of the Yogi, and the fourth path - the Path of the "cunning man". This path of evolution differs from the other three in that it runs right in the thick of the events of human life, does not require special conditions and its practice can and should be used during an ordinary day. The only condition is the presence of a real practical School and an awakened teacher. 4th way - the fastest way of development, but also the most difficult.

Returning to the west after several years of study, Gurdjieff began to transmit knowledge to the disciples who gathered around him in Russia, and then in Europe and America. Gurdjieff adapted the ancient knowledge of Eastern teachers for a Western person in the early 20th century, determining which methods are effective through conversations with students and practice with groups. In Russia, the Russian philosopher and writer Pyotr Demyanovich Uspensky became his student; he described the 4th path in his books. With his help, knowledge took shape in harmonious system Fourth Wayas we know it now.

The main ideas of the Fourth Way system:

Sleep
Every person who does not make internal efforts to be aware of himself in the present is in a state of "waking sleep." In this position, the nourishment and development of his soul does not occur, and the person is a biological machine operating on the principle of "stimulus-response". At the same time, a person does not have will, consciousness and unity - he is a set of disparate “I”, rotating in a wheel of reactions and associations.

Awakening
Awakening of consciousness from sleep is possible by making constant efforts to be in the present - here and now, to stop the uncontrolled flow of associations and reactions, direct energy to nourish and develop the soul and be aware of oneself with divided attention. Outside assistance is needed to sustain and direct such efforts.

Attention
Attention is the main tool in the Fourth Way system. It requires constant input, concentration and division of attention. There are many ways to work with attention. Different traditions and teachers offer their own approaches to this, depending on the peculiarities of the place, time and person.

Gurdjieff's fourth path

So George Ivanovich Gurdjieff The Fourth Way put on the form of a dance. Having passed knowledge through his understanding and experience, he created the so-called "Gurdjieff Dances" - a group practice consisting of a sequence of complex combinations of movements. Through this, participants achieved a high degree of shared attention, prolonged thought stopping, and separation from the machine. His method was also "denial" - creating strong pressure on the student to see and transcend himself. Gurdjieff was always mysterious in his statements and unpredictable in actions, without explaining much to his students.

The fourth path at Uspensky

Peter Uspensky saw the Fourth Way, as a logical, scientific system. He followed the method of understanding. He suggested observing ourselves in order to become aware of the situation in which we are and to make a conscious decision to change. His ideas and explanations of the processes were so clear and inspiring that they attracted people to the work.

Any living knowledge does not remain long in one form. Remaining the same in essence, it continues to evolve and change in the methods and characteristics of the tools used. Passing from teachers to students, passing through time and spreading into different countriesThe Fourth Path provides an opportunity for seekers to ascend from dream to presence.

Foreword

The century has come, which has broken the familiar world.

The age of big machines, steam locomotives, steamboats, automobiles and airplanes ... civilization has made a huge leap forward, and people are surrounded by machines and mechanisms.

Where did this mysterious person come from, this George Gurdjieff, whose name was pronounced in a whisper, whose students or listeners were almost ALL famous figures of that time, including Joseph Stalin, Adolf Hitler, Sergei Yesenin, Mayakovsky, Blok and many others?

What is the secret of this man who called himself "just a dance teacher"? Did he really have some kind of secret knowledge or was he just a charismatic charlatan?

Did you give any secret knowledge to these people?

Maybe he correctly calculated that right now people want new knowledge about their nature, because it was at that time that thousands of discoveries, inventions, new theories were rapidly changing their lives. It was breathtaking from pride for humanity, from grandeur opportunities. And out of fear for the future.

New features give an advantage to whoever applies them first. And this competition cannot end peacefully.

Convenience and comfort came at a price: machines not only made life easier, but also killed more efficiently.

The deadly machine of the First World War was already rumbled, but in Russia no one could imagine that very soon everything would mix up where everything seemed to be comfortable, familiar and calm. Although calm - hardly. It was anxious and hectic.

However, the idea that everything would collapse seemed so fantastic that the darkest skeptics did not hear the voice of the roaring disaster. It was at this time that someone was actively acting, some forces performed their work, some people sacrificed themselves in order for other active people to prepare a place for themselves in this new world.

The situation seemed unreal, temporary, and this illusion killed many.

It was at this time that a painful, passionate interest in the capabilities of the person himself as to the reserve, as to the factors of survival in this world arises among people. Theosophical and esoteric societies, attempts to expand the field of knowledge about human nature and the nature of the world, because this seems to be an essential factor in survival - all this has acquired enormous proportions.

How was this strange Gurdjieff different from other gurus?

He was different. He compared a man to a machine that must be learned to operate. He said: a man is a machine, he lives in a dream: look, this is actually so. Only by understanding the properties of this machine, you can get huge benefits, and become more than a machine.

The laws of the universe are similar to the laws of music harmony. You can make the machine work properly - in resonance with this harmony. And then you can learn to manage not only your life ...

He founded more than one school or group of students, in which he tried in various ways, as he said, to awaken a person.

He did this not only by lecturing or giving dynamic meditation lessons. Gurdjieff undoubtedly possessed abilities that could definitely be called supernormal.

His explanations of the structure of the world may seem strange, but surprisingly consonant with the most modern theories in physics and astronomy.

He studied his students and honed his teaching method on them.

Many do not even believe that he died, according to the official version, in a car accident. Some have suggested that he still teaches. What and to whom?

He was always in sight and always alone. In fact, no one knew anything about him.

Chapter 1

Return from India. - War and "the search for the miraculous." - Old thoughts. - The question of schools. - Plans for further travel. - East and Europe. - A note in a Moscow newspaper. - Lectures on India. - Meeting with Gurdjieff. - "Disguised". - First conversation. - Gurdjieff's opinion on schools. - Gurdjieff's group. - "Glimpses of Truth." - Further meetings and conversations. - Organization of the Moscow group of Gurdjieff. - The question of wages and funds for work. - The question of secrecy; commitments made by students. - Conversation about the East. - "Philosophy", "theory" and "practice". - How was this system found? - Ideas of Gurdjieff. - “Man is a machine”, controlled by external influences. - "Everything happens." - Nobody "does" anything. - To "do", you need to "be". - A man is responsible for his actions, but a machine is not. - Do you need psychology to study a car? - The promise of "facts". - Is it possible to end the wars? - Conversation: planets and the moon as living beings. - "Reason" of the Sun and the Earth. - "Subjective" and "objective" art.

I returned to Russia after a fairly long journey through Egypt, Ceylon and India. This happened in November 1914, that is, at the beginning of the First World War, which found me in Colombo. I returned from there via England.

Leaving St. Petersburg at the beginning of the trip, I said that I was going "to look for the miraculous." It is very difficult to establish what “miraculous” is, but for me this word had a very definite meaning. Long ago I came to the conclusion that there is no other way out of the labyrinth of contradictions in which we live, except for a completely new path, unlike any of those that were known to us and which we used.

But where this new or forgotten path began - I could not say. Then I already knew the undoubted fact that behind the thin shell of false reality there is another reality, from which, for some reason, something separates us. The "miraculous" is the penetration into this unknown reality. It seemed to me that the path to the unknown can be found in the East. Why exactly in the East? This is difficult to answer. Perhaps there was something of romance in this idea; and perhaps there was a conviction that in Europe, in any case, it was impossible to find anything.

On the way back, during those few weeks that I spent in London, all my thoughts about the results of the search came into complete disarray under the influence of the insane absurdity of the war and the emotions associated with it that filled the atmosphere, conversations and newspapers and against my will often captured and me.

But when I returned to Russia and relived the thoughts with which I left it, I felt that my searches and everything connected with them are more important than any things that happen and can happen in the world of “obvious absurdities”. I told myself that war should be viewed as one of those catastrophic conditions of life, among which one has to live, work and seek answers to his questions and doubts. This war, the great European war, in the possibility of which I did not want to believe and the reality of which I did not want to admit for a long time, became a fact. We found ourselves in a war and I saw that it must be considered a great memento mori, showing that one must hurry, that one cannot believe in "life" leading to nothing.

By the way, about the expression “obvious absurdities”. It refers to a book I had as a child. The book was called “Obvious absurdities”, belonged to the Stupa “library” and consisted of such, for example, pictures as images of a man with a house on his back, carriages with square wheels and the like. At that time, the book made a very strong impression on me - there were many pictures in it, about which I could not understand what was absurd in them.

They looked exactly like ordinary things. And later I began to think that the book actually gave pictures from real life, because as I grew up I became more and more convinced that all life consists of "obvious absurdities", and my subsequent experiences only strengthened this conviction.

The war could not touch me personally, at least until the final catastrophe, which, as it seemed to me, would inevitably break out in Russia, and perhaps in all of Europe; but the near future did not promise her yet. Although, of course, at that time this approaching catastrophe looked only temporary, and no one could imagine all that internal and external decay and destruction that we would have to endure.

Summing up all my impressions about the East and especially about India, I had to admit that on my return my problem turned out to be even more difficult and complex than at the time of my departure. India and the East not only did not lose their charm as a country of "miraculous" for me, but, on the contrary, this charm acquired new shades that were not noticeable before.

I clearly saw that something could be found there that had long disappeared in Europe, and I thought that the direction I had taken was the right one. But at the same time I became convinced that the secret was hidden better deeper than I could have guessed until then.

Going on the road I knew I was going to look for school or school. I have long since come to the conviction of the necessity of the school. I realized that personal, individual efforts are not enough, that it is necessary to get in touch with a real and living thought, which should exist somewhere, but with which we have lost touch.

I understood this; but the very idea of \u200b\u200bschools has changed a lot during my travels and in one respect it has become simpler and more concrete, and in another it is colder and more distant. I want to say that schools have lost much of their wonderful character for me.

By the time I left, I was still allowing many fantastic opportunities in relation to schools. “Allowed” is perhaps too strong. It is better to say that I also dreamed of the possibility of a superphysical connection with schools, so to speak, on a "different plane." I could not express this clearly, but it seemed to me that even the first contact with the school could be of a wonderful nature. For example, I imagined that it was possible to establish contact with schools of the distant past, with the schools of Pythagoras. Egypt, the builders of Notre Dame and so on. It seemed to me that with such a contact, the barriers of time and space should disappear. The very idea of \u200b\u200bschools was fantastic, and nothing related to it struck me as too fantastic. I saw no contradiction between these ideas and my attempts to find schools in India. It seemed to me that it was in India that some kind of contact could be established, which would later become permanent and independent of external obstacles.

During the return trip, after a series of meetings and impressions, the idea of \u200b\u200bthe school became more tangible and real for me, losing its fantastic character. This probably happened because, as I understood it, “school” requires not only search, but also “selection” or choice - I mean the choice on our part.

I had no doubt that schools existed, but at the same time I came to the conclusion that the schools that I had heard about and with which I managed to get in touch were not for me. These schools of an overtly religious or semi-religious character were definitely confessional in tone. I was not attracted to these schools mainly because if I were looking for a religious path, I could find it in Russia. Other schools were of a slightly sentimental moral-religious type with a touch of asceticism, such as the schools of students or followers of Ramakrishna. There were wonderful people associated with these schools: but I felt that they did not possess true knowledge. The so-called "schools of yoga" were based on the attainment of the trance state; in my opinion, by their nature they approached "spiritualism", and I could not trust them: all their achievements were either self-deception, or what "Orthodox mystics (I mean Russian monastic literature) call" delight "or" temptation ".

There was another type of school with which I could not establish contact, but which I had heard of. These schools promised a lot, but they also demanded a lot. They demanded everything at once. I would have to stay in India and discard the thoughts of returning to Europe, abandon my own ideas and plans, follow the road that I could not know anything about in advance. These schools interested me a lot, and the people who came into contact with them and told me about them were clearly different from the ordinary people. But nevertheless it seemed to me that there should be schools of a more rational kind, that a person has the right - at least up to a certain point - to know where he is going.

At the same time, I came to the conclusion that whatever name the school bears - occult, esoteric or yoga school - it should be on the usual physicallylike any other school, be it a school of painting, dance or medicine. I realized that the thought of schools on the "other plane" is just a sign of weakness, evidence that dreams have taken the place of genuine seeking. And I realized then that such dreams are one of the main obstacles on our way to the miraculous.

On the way to India, I made plans for further travel. This time I wanted to start from the Muslim East, mainly from Russian Central Asia and Persia. But none of this was destined to happen.

From London, via Norway, Sweden and Finland, I arrived in St. Petersburg, already renamed Petrograd and full of speculation and patriotism. Soon I left for Moscow and started an editorial job at a newspaper for which I wrote articles from India. I stayed there for about a month and a half, and a small episode related to many things that happened later belongs to this time.

Once, while preparing another issue in the editorial office, I found a note (it seems, in the Voice of Moscow), which mentioned the script for the ballet The Struggle of the Magicians, which, according to the newspaper, belonged to a certain “Indian”. The ballet should take place in India and give a complete picture of Eastern magic, including the miracles of fakirs, sacred dances and the like. I did not like the overly self-confident tone of the note, but since Indian ballet writers were rare for Moscow, I cut it out and placed it in my newspaper, adding the words that the ballet will contain everything that cannot be found in real India, but that travelers crave there. see.

Soon after that, due to various circumstances, I left my job at the newspaper and went to Petersburg.

There, in February and March 1915, I gave public lectures on my travels in India entitled In Search of the Miraculous and The Problem of Death. The lectures were supposed to serve as an introduction to the book that I was going to write about my travels, I said in them that in India the "miraculous" is sought in the wrong place, that all the usual paths are useless here, that India guards its treasures much better than we assume that. However, the "miraculous" really exists there, as indicated by many things that people pass by, not understanding their hidden meaning, not knowing how to approach them. Here again, I mean "schools."

Despite the war, my lectures generated considerable interest. More than a thousand people gathered at each of them in the Alexander Hall of the St. Petersburg City Duma. I received many letters, people came to see me, and I felt that on the basis of the "search for the miraculous" many people could be united who were no longer able to share the generally accepted forms of lies and live in lies.

After Easter I went to Moscow to read my lectures there too. Among the people I met at the readings there were two, a musician and a sculptor, who soon informed me that there is a group in Moscow where they are engaged in various "occult" research and experiments under the guidance of a certain Gurdjieff, a Caucasian Greek; as I understood it, it was the same "Indian" who wrote the ballet script mentioned in the newspaper that came into my hands three or four months ago. I must admit that all the stories of these two people about the group and what is happening there - all kinds of self-perceived miracles - almost did not interest me. I have already heard such stories many times, so in relation to them I have formed a very definite opinion.

So, some women suddenly see in the room someone's "eyes" that soar in the air and charm them, women follow them from street to street, until they finally come to the house " oriental man", To which the eyes belong. Or other people in the presence of the same "Eastern person" suddenly feel that he looks through them, sees all their feelings, thoughts and desires; they experience an unusual sensation in their legs and are unable to move, and then fall under his influence to such an extent that he can make them do whatever he wants, even from a distance. These and many other similar stories have always seemed to me just bad fiction. People invent miracles for themselves - and they are exactly the same ones that they themselves expect. This is some kind of mixture of superstition, self-suggestion and underdeveloped thinking; According to my observations, such stories never arise without some assistance from the persons to whom they relate.

So, bearing in mind my past experience, I agreed to meet and talk with Gurdjieff only after the persistent efforts of a certain M., one of my new acquaintances.

The first meeting with Gurdjieff completely turned my opinion about him and about what I could expect from him.

I remember this meeting very well. We entered a small cafe on a noisy, though not the main street. I saw a man of the Oriental type, no longer young, with a black mustache and piercing eyes: most of all, he surprised me by the fact that he gave the impression of a man in disguise, completely inconsistent with this place and its atmosphere. I was still full of impressions of the East; and this man with the face of an Indian rajah or an Arab sheikh, whom I immediately imagined in a white burnus or in a turban with gold embroidery, was sitting here in this tiny cafe where petty businessmen and agents-commissioners met. In his black coat with a velvet collar and a black bowler hat, he made a strange, unexpected and almost frightening impression of a badly dressed man, whose appearance embarrasses you, because you understand that he is not who he claims to be, but meanwhile you have to communicate with him and behave as if you did not notice it. He spoke Russian incorrectly, with a strong Caucasian accent; and this very accent, with which we are accustomed to associate anything but philosophical ideas, further enhanced the unusual and unexpected impression.

I don't remember how our conversation began; we are probably talking about India, esotericism and yoga schools. I realized that Gurdjieff traveled a lot and visited places that I had only heard of and that I would very much like to see. My questions did not embarrass him at all, and it even seemed to me that he was investing in his answers much more than I was ready to hear. I liked his manner of expression, thorough and precise. Soon M. left us. Gurdjieff told me about his work in Moscow, but I did not quite understand him. From what he said, it was clear that in this work - mainly of a psychological nature - an important role was played by chemistry. Listening to him for the first time, I, of course, took his words literally.

“What you say,” I said, “reminds me of a school in southern India. A brahmana, an exceptional man in many ways, once told a young Englishman in Travancore about a school that studies chemistry human body; by introducing or removing various substances from the body, it is possible to change the moral and psychological nature of a person. This is very similar to what you are saying.

“Perhaps so, or perhaps something completely different,” replied Gurdjieff. - There are schools that use the same methods, but understand them in completely different ways. The similarity of methods or ideas does not prove anything yet.

- I am very interested in another question, - I continued. - There are substances that yogis use to induce special states of consciousness. Could it be drugs in some cases? I myself have conducted many experiments in this direction, and everything that I read about magic convincingly proves to me that schools of all times and peoples have widely used drugs, creating such states of consciousness that make "magic" possible.

“Yes,” said Gurdjieff, “in many cases these substances are what you call“ drugs ”. But they can be applied in completely different ways. There are schools that use drugs correctly. In these schools, people use them for self-study, in order to look ahead, to better know their capabilities, to know in advance, “in advance,” what they will be able to achieve in the future, after long work. When a person sees and is convinced that what he has learned theoretically exists and in reality, then he works consciously; he knows where he is going. Sometimes this is the easiest way to be convinced of the real existence of those possibilities that a person only suspects of himself. This is done by special chemistry: for each function there are special substances, and it can be strengthened or weakened, awakened or put to sleep. But a great knowledge of the human machine and this special chemistry is needed here. In all schools that use this method, experiments are carried out only when they are really necessary, and only under the guidance of experienced and knowledgeable people who are able to foresee all the results and take measures against unwanted consequences. The substances used in these schools are not at all "drugs" as you call them, although many of them are prepared from opium, hashish, etc. In addition to the schools where such experiments are conducted, there are others who use these and similar substances. not for experiments, not for study, but to achieve certain results at least for a short time... Thanks to the skillful use of such substances, a person can be made very smart or incredibly strong for a while. However, then he dies or loses his mind; but this is not taken into account. There are also such schools.

George Gurdjieff was one of the most enigmatic figures of the first half of the 20th century. Some saw in him the bearer of ancient knowledge and a prophet, others - "the enslaver of men" and "the seducer of women." His life is one of the most curious pages of the turbulent era of wars and revolutions.

George Ivanovich Gurdjieff appeared in Russia between 1911 and 1913. By this time he was about forty years old. Behind his back he had a difficult life, which many biographers tried to figure out. He himself did everything possible to cover up all traces, to mix facts with legends, and sometimes just with absurdity and anecdotes.

For the famous Russian writer, traveler and researcher, the "wonderful" Pyotr Demianovich Uspensky, who met with Gurdjieff in 1914, and for his numerous Russian, Western European and American followers, he was a source of higher knowledge. To others, he was a "seducer of women," a "enslaver of men," a false prophet and the devil himself.

Gurdjieff did a lot of his own work to create this double image. He signed his letters to his disciples as "Black Greek", "Tiger of Turkestan" and "Nephew of Prince Mukhransky". However, what do we really know about him?

The beginning of time

He was born in the 1870s. in the city of Alexandropol (present-day Gyumri), his father was Greek and his mother was Armenian. My father was an Ashok, a collector and performer of the ancient epic, as well as a wise man who humbly and with dignity endured his failures.

Gurdjieff's interest in mystical Orthodoxy was formed under the influence of the Russian and Armenian Churches. Subsequently, Gurdjieff would call his teaching "esoteric Christianity", thereby separating it from "official" Christianity, the attitude towards which Gurdjieff had was quite typical for most intellectuals of that time.

He traveled a lot, and if you believe his stories about the reasons for these journeys, then their main motive was undoubtedly the desire to find the truth in the form of ancient knowledge, possibly preserved and extant to our time.

In 1915, Gurdjieff spoke with Uspensky in Moscow about "Tibetan monasteries, Chitral, Mount Athos, Sufi schools in Persia, Bukhara, eastern Turkestan, as well as about dervishes of various orders, but all this was said very vaguely." In conversations with other students who asked him about the places where he got his teachings, Gurdjieff most often mentioned Tibet, eastern Persia and Outer Mongolia. His teachings undoubtedly contain elements of Tibetan Buddhism, but also elements of Sufism, yoga and other traditions unknown to anyone.

Gurdjieff told Ouspensky that his journey to the East was undertaken with a group of friends who called themselves "seekers of truth." Among them were people who specialized in various fields of knowledge and studied different aspects of the tradition. "Later," writes Gurdjieff, "when we got together, we put together everything we found."

Great heart expert

In the Russian capital, he was greeted with distrust, primarily as a person from the provinces. Gurdjieff fell under this stereotype, which was not easy for him to overcome. Indeed, his task was to gather under his wing sophisticated and demanding representatives of the intelligentsia and bohemians, who have authority and influence in both capitals.

In order to attract the attention of these circles, at the request of Gurdjieff, one of his first students wrote a small program opus entitled Glimpses of Truth. For the same purpose, one of the Moscow newspapers published a note about the upcoming ballet "The Battle of the Magicians". It was her that Ouspensky read and in connection with it he first drew attention to the name of Gurdjieff.

George Gurdjieff, at the very first meeting with a man, knew how to touch the very nerve of his aspirations, fears and hopes. He spoke with musicians about the "law of the octave", with artists about objective art, with doctors about oriental medicine, with businessmen about business. During their first meeting with Ouspensky, he spoke on topics that were of interest to Ouspensky at that time: about travel and drugs, and in both areas he appeared to him as a more experienced person than his interlocutor.

Another line of behavior played out by Gurdjieff led to the creation of a sharply negative impression. He never missed an opportunity to create a situation of tension, tests, checks for the interlocutor. The breaking of expectations, the shock of meeting the unexpected and the unusual, according to Gurdjieff, should have led to the awakening of conscience and consciousness in a person - two most important elements of truly human nature.

Avoiding conceptual crystallization of his teaching, Gurdjieff invented various ways to lead a person away from the superficial mechanical grasp of his ideas and direct him to their deep comprehension. This comprehension was associated with a change in the system of values \u200b\u200band guidelines of a person and was supposed to lead to a renewal of life, which was the main meaning and goal of Gurdjieff's efforts.

Gradually, Gurdjieff's efforts began to be rewarded with the attention of the creative intelligentsia of the Russian capitals, the right people began to gather around him. And when, finally, conditions appeared for the implementation of his grandiose plans, the revolution of 1917 took place and the Civil War that followed. Gurdjieff leaves for the Caucasus.

After Gurdjieff's departure, Ouspensky gathered a group from St. Petersburg and invited them to emigrate abroad, but the reaction of the majority was hesitant. Many still hoped for a miracle. In May, a short telegram came from Gurdjieff: "If you want to rest, come to me."

Ouspensky was the first to respond to Gurdjieff's appeal. Soon other disciples began to come to Gurdjieff from Moscow and Petrograd. By August 1917, thirteen people gathered around him in Essentuki. Some lived with Gurdjieff, others came to him early in the morning and stayed late into the night. We slept for four hours. The students did all the homework, the rest of the time was filled with conversation and exercises.

Wanderers of God

In 1918, Gurdjieff and his companions leave for Tiflis, where the fire of the revolution has not yet reached. Here he met Alexander and Jeanne de Salzman (Alexander de Salzman was a talented theater artist, and his wife Jeanne was a dance teacher according to the system of the famous choreographer Jean Dalcroze) and began work on staging the ballet The Struggle of the Magicians.

In the fall of 1919, Gurdjieff proposed to the de Salzmans to formalize their joint activity as the Institute of Harmonious Man. Ballet was now central to Gurdjieff's work, which, in his opinion, was to become a "school." The ballet participants had to learn to control their bodies, moving in this way towards the disclosure of higher forms of consciousness.

Meanwhile, the political situation in Tiflis became more and more turbulent, and although the Bolsheviks came to Georgia only in January 1921, Gurdjieff decided to leave this city in the summer of 1920. On a passing steamboat, the company, consisting of Gurdjieff and his many companions, sailed from Batum to Constantinople.

However, in August 1921, Gurdjieff and his companions were forced to leave for Germany, which in the early 1920s was the Mecca of mysticism.

After a series of unsuccessful attempts to settle with his institute in Germany, Gurdjieff began to prepare for a trip to England to Ouspensky. He arrived in London in February 1922 and met with his students. But to settle in England, as well as in Germany, Gurdjieff failed. Despite the efforts of his English friends, the visa was not received. However, Gurdjieff was given a condition that he did not accept: he could get a visa alone, without companions who came with him from Tiflis and Constantinople.

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George Gurdjieff. The fourth way and its creator

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Peter Demianovich Uspensky

In search of the miraculous. The fourth path of George Gurdjieff

Foreword

The century has come, which has broken the familiar world.

The age of big machines, steam locomotives, steamboats, automobiles and airplanes ... civilization has made a huge leap forward, and people are surrounded by machines and mechanisms.

What is the secret of this man who called himself "just a dance teacher"? Did he really have some kind of secret knowledge or was he just a charismatic charlatan?

Did you give any secret knowledge to these people?

New features give an advantage to whoever applies them first. And this competition cannot end peacefully.

Convenience and comfort came at a price: machines not only made life easier, but also killed more efficiently.

The situation seemed unreal, temporary, and this illusion killed many.

How was this strange Gurdjieff different from other gurus?

The laws of the universe are similar to the laws of music harmony. You can make the machine work properly - in resonance with this harmony. And then you can learn to manage not only your life ...

He founded more than one school or group of students, in which he tried in various ways, as he said, to awaken a person. He did this not only by lecturing or giving dynamic meditation lessons. Gurdjieff undoubtedly possessed abilities that could definitely be called supernormal.

His explanations of the structure of the world may seem strange, but surprisingly consonant with the most modern theories in physics and astronomy.

He studied his students and honed his teaching method on them.

Many do not even believe that he died, according to the official version, in a car accident. Some have suggested that he still teaches. What and to whom?

He was always in sight and always alone. In fact, no one knew anything about him.

Return from India. - War and "the search for the miraculous." - Old thoughts. - The question of schools. - Plans for further travel. - East and Europe. - A note in a Moscow newspaper. - Lectures on India. - Meeting with Gurdjieff. - "Disguised". - First conversation. - Gurdjieff's opinion on schools. - Gurdjieff's group. - "Glimpses of Truth." - Further meetings and conversations. - Organization of the Moscow group of Gurdjieff. - The question of wages and funds for work. - The question of secrecy; commitments made by students. - Conversation about the East. - "Philosophy", "theory" and "practice". - How was this system found? - Ideas of Gurdjieff. - “Man is a machine”, controlled by external influences. - "Everything happens." - Nobody "does" anything. - To "do", you need to "be". - A man is responsible for his actions, but a machine is not. - Do you need psychology to study a car? - The promise of "facts". - Is it possible to end the wars? - Conversation: planets and the moon as living beings. - "Reason" of the Sun and the Earth. - "Subjective" and "objective" art.

In the early 20th century, the mysticism movement was aimed at bridging the gap between Western and Eastern philosophies with theosophy, esotericism, and a growing interest in the occult. This spiritual time inspired George Gurdjieff to create the Fourth Way - the practice of exercise complexes for the harmonious development of a person. All of these tools can be used in everyday life to get rid of hypnotic sleep states.

Meticulous spiritual practices often focus on either detachment from the physical or strict mastery over it. George Gurdjieff did not consider such practical methods of accepting one's higher self, believing that enlightenment can be achieved without asceticism.

Born in 1866 in Alexandropol, Armenia, Gurdjieff was inspired by the Theosophical movement and decided to travel to Central Asia and the Middle East in search of esoteric spiritual leaders and seekers of truth. Upon his return, he wrote a series of books that will form the basis of his spiritual practice - The Fourth Way. The second book in this series, Meetings with Remarkable People, detailed the meetings with spiritual leaders on his journey, who were rather fictional characters symbolizing the three previous "paths."

The paths of the fakir, monk, yogi and the fourth path

During his travels, he was inspired by the spiritual paths of the fakir, monk and yogi, although he believed that their methods were much less successful than the more practical methods of their practices lost in antiquity. At the same time, he believed that the consequences modern technologies and modern society make everyone fall into a hypnotic sleep.

The fakir, who lives exclusively on charity, gives his life mastery over the physical body, demanding endurance and pain, the monk focuses on emotions through faith, religious zeal and sacrifice, while the yogi gives his life to the mind, developing his inner essence at the cost of neglecting his body and emotions. Gurdjieff considered these three methods to be overly extreme paths to enlightenment and that there must be a more alternative fourth path that can be followed without sacrificing some aspects of life.

Gurdjieff noted that most paths to enlightenment require some degree of asceticism, but he did not want to accept asceticism as the only way and his life became a testament to this, albeit sometimes paradoxical.

Despite his commitment to spiritual development, he was known to be a bit of a hedonist, loved Armagnac and opium. His philosophy was strict despite its denial of religious rigidity. He professed an ethereal worldview based on pragmatism and human desires. But this, apparently, is only a small part of the Fourth Way, an intermediate point of constant search, always calling into question any path based on reality, but trying to connect with the otherworldly.

Features of the concept of human development in Gurdjieff

So what is Gurdjieff's method for reconciling humanity with spirituality? All of this relates to the exercises of the Fourth Way, known as "Labor." In fact, it is a method of constant objective introspection to erase social constructions and attributes that have penetrated a person. Gurdjieff gave two main exercises in addition to some fundamental laws and concepts.

Introspection

Through the daily ritual of self-observation, one should strive to observe one's behavior and habits, especially those that are negatively perceived by others, but do so without judgment or analysis.
This inner observation is performed simultaneously with awareness of the external environment of your stay.
Introspection must be taken without criticism and must be appreciated in the following way: you are not who you see yourself.
What you are seeing is a façade of a false personality, a product of modern society.

Self-remembering

Self-remembering is a slightly abstract concept of remembering yourself in the past, not just remembering the past.
Much of our past is lost due to our ineffective memory. We can feel something absolute and swear that we will never forget about it, but after a few years it fades from our memory. If a person actively and regularly engages in self-remembering, he can make wise discoveries.
Self-remembering leads to a state of wise mind, free from all negative.

Before self-remembering, one should know self-observation.

These processes of self-observation and self-remembering are designed to destroy many “I's” or the fragmentation of the psyche through personal desires that separate us from others. Gurdjieff said that we have two parts: essence and personality. Our essence is the natural part with which we are born, and the personality is everything that has been artificially transferred from society. Our essence also consists of three centers: intellectual, emotional and physical, and we should "work" in order to achieve higher intellectual and higher emotional development.

There are two conceptual teachings of Gurdjieff that summarize his philosophy of the Fourth Way: the Law of Three and the Law of Seven. The Law of Seven, also known as the Law of Octaves, is a fundamental cosmic law that states that nothing in nature moves in a straight line all the time, everything eventually deviates. This overarching law alludes to his belief in an inherent connection between music and nature, the idea that more energy is required between certain musical intervals to maintain the original purpose. This also applies to the unpredictability of human nature, its goals and attempts, which also require additional energy to continue on its original course.

The Law of Three is another fundamental cosmic law that states that every phenomenon has three components: active, passive, and neutral. It can be seen as a law of transformation that always requires affirmation, denial and reconciliation. This triad of action creates an upward or downward octave and symbolizes every structure and action in the universe and man.

These laws are depicted in Gurdjieff's most recognizable symbol of the Fourth Way - the enneagram - a 9-pointed figure in a circle.

This connection between music and philosophy was repeated throughout Gurdjieff's philosophy when he became known as a musician. He spoke of music as some kind of objective force that could be felt in the same way a snake reacts to the music of a snake charmer.

Gurdjieff's ideas did not become widely popular in the New Era and the self-help field, although they are often classified there. The fourth way is a concept that is not reaching the masses. Honest self-observation can be painful and cause anxiety for those who are not ready for it. Removing your personality mask and countering negative personality traits takes hard work and can cause feelings of confusion or confusion.

This is why it is necessary not only to resist the urge to judge what you see, but simply to see things as they are. In the end, this spiritual practice will impart wisdom and redemption to you, perhaps even lead to a higher state of consciousness.

Video recordings about the life and path of G. Gurdjieff, his followers, practical aspects of the Fourth Way, heritage - the Institute for Harmonious Development.

Books and publications

Eight meetings in Paris
All and All Stories
Everything and everyone. Beelzebub's Tales to His Grandson (original version)
Views from the real world
Questions and answers
Meeting wonderful people
Life is only real when I am
The last hour of life
Man is a polysyllabic creature "

You can download the books of George Gurdjieff for free by clicking on the link

Gurdjieff - De Hartmann Piano Music

George Gurdjieff on the spiritual development of man