Why the Fourth Way?

Why the Fourth Way?

“It is possible to work and to follow this way while remaining in the usual conditions of life. The conditions of life in which a man is placed at the beginning of his work, are the best possible for him. The Fourth Way has no definite forms like the [other three] ways of the fakir [who masters the body], the monk [who masters emotions], and the yogi [who masters the mind]. At the same time the beginning of the Fourth Way is easier than the beginning of the ways of the fakir, the monk, and the yogi.” ─ P.D. Ouspensky

In the Fourth Way, the knowledge which leads a person to understanding makes it possible to work on the other three ways simultaneously. The first test of someone seeking the Way – someone with a magnetic center – is that the Fourth Way must be found, and is not as well known or as visible as the other three ways. If a magnetic center is fully and rightly developed and has sufficient force, it begins to search for the Way. This search could take many years, but when a person encounters influences emanating from a direct conscious source and has a prepared magnetic center, the magnetic center recognizes what it has found. Contact with higher influence (C Influence or Celestial Influence) which acts on magnetic center, frees a person from the Law of Accident. Perhaps the certainty of having found the Way comes from a sense of freedom from this law through contact and guidance from C Influence.

Ouspensky describes someone who has the possibility to change his or her level of being, as a person who must be a “Householder.” In other words, an ordinary person leading an ordinary life. “To begin with he is a practical man; he is not formatory; he must have a certain amount of discipline. So practical thinking and self-discipline are characteristics" of a Householder. "The Householder has at least certain values from which he can start and a certain practical attitude towards things. This man, given favourable conditions, has the possibility of development."

In the Fourth Way, a student through self-observation reveals deeper levels of sleep and works at removing what is false can borrow the conscious will of the Teacher until they can rebuild and develop their own will. The Teacher gives direct guidance and exercises that target the body (fakir) the emotions (monk) and the mind (yogi). Many of these exercises, such as opening doors or brushing your teeth with the opposite hand, keeping your feet flat on the floor when dining, setting aside the first bite of food, greeting someone warmly without saying "how are you," resisting formatory thinking and not expressing associative thoughts, etc., may seem trivial at first, but become very important reminders to bring presence to mundane moments of which much of our lives are filled. No effort is too small when the consequences of sleep are so great.

Join the discussion

Four Canopic Jars of Tutankhamun, c. 1324 BCE