Through the Looking Glass

Dear Facebook Friend,

As I type this letter to you, I have no idea what your particular day today is like or what challenges or beauty you may have experienced in your life. But I suspect, since you have answered the questions that brought you to this private Fourth Way School Facebook page – that you have gone “Through the Looking Glass,” so to speak – and are a fellow companion on a journey to learn about yourself.

Perhaps you’ve observed, as I have, that even though we live inside one physical body with one name all our lives that we are not one, we are not unified. Ouspensky explains that: “In reality there is no oneness in [wo]man and there is no controlling center, no permanent “I.” Every thought, every feeling, every sensation, every desire, every like and every dislike is an “I” [and they are] not connected and are not coordinated in any way. Each of these “I’s” represents at every given moment a very small part of our “brain,” “mind,” or “intelligence,” but each of them means itself to represent the whole.”

One of the main concepts that attracted me to the Fourth Way was realizing that I did not need to be at the mercy of the conflicting many impulses that appeared uninvited in my mind. The idea of many “I’s” may seem disturbing at first, but seen in another way, it is a relief to step back from that chaos and begin to watch differently. To know that the many I’s are not real – not me – was a realization that liberated me from being controlled by the random inner chatter that goes on in my head. I began to watch and observe. Of course, I saw - and still see - many I’s, but the newborn observer started to gain strength and slowly began to separate from their persistence in capturing and depleting my energy. I noticed that just observing the “I’s” took away their sting and expanded my awareness of something higher.

For instance, as I write, a number of I’s in me, are now concerned with what you might think of me. They sound like this: “Do you like what I’ve written? Will you think it is weird to write in letter form on Facebook? Am I being condescending? Will you point out flaws in my logic? Will you like me? … etc.” These groups of “I’s” actually have a special name in the Fourth Way. They are called “inner-considering” and they are an exaggerated concern or identification with other people. When these “I’s” circulate and gain strength, I become identified and lose energy which is needed for consciousness. I go “Down the Rabbit Hole” and forget myself and forget a central key that my Teacher taught me, “You are what observes, not what you observe.” What a splendid thought!

So dear reader, I encourage you to reread Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and keep in mind the many “I’s” and you will be amazed. I leave you with this:

“Only a few find the way, some don’t recognize it when they do – some … don’t ever want to.” (Cheshire-Cat)