Evoke Presence with Impressions Dear friends, Use the following quote, image, and musical selection as a reminder to be present. Symphony No. 2 by Jean Sibelius is often associated with struggle and triumph and Sibelius even described this symphony as “a confession of the soul.” As you listen, have the courage to be present. Symphony No. 2, Finale by Jean Sibelius: https://youtu.be/rVzJDgDnKLI?si=WoSbhvfkhiLt2EFa “Being present to your life is real courage—conscious courage.

From our friend Astha in Toronto Weekly Topic: Courage As students, it is courage that opens us to learning and understanding through the exercises, self observation, self-remembering, transformation of suffering, payment, acceptance, gratitude, humility, love, and so many other experiences. With courage we are able to grow and be present to the conscious being within. Undoubtedly, it takes courage to begin the walk and commitment on this path to awakening. Later it takes cou

Evoke Presence with Impressions Dear friends, Below is a quote, image, and a musical selection to bring presence into your day. Concerto for Lute in D Major by Antonio Vivaldi: https://youtu.be/S9Edi7MZjTI?si=o_Q9CnfR67LXiE6e “The beauty of music lies in its power to transcend words and touch the soul directly.” —Antonio Vivaldi Join the discussion Image: Damsel with Lute by Wilhelm Nerenz

From our friend Astha in Toronto Weekly Topic Enlightened Men and Women G.I. Gurdjieff, the person most responsible for bringing the Fourth Way to the West, is considered an enlightened Conscious Being. His teachings of Self-Remembering and other exercises have brought students down the path to higher consciousness. As Gurdjieff’s teachings rippled through the Western world, we still see man a century later, as a machine that needs to be awakened to a state of Presence. A pho

Evoke Presence with Impressions Dear friends, Use the following quote, image, and musical selection to create presence. Hold the state as you listen to Prelude in C Major by J.S. Bach: https://youtu.be/iWoI8vmE8bI?si=Nip29AtkmjPrF4Mu “The aim and final end of all music should be none other than the glory of God and the refreshment of the soul.” J.S. Bach Join the discussion Image: San Giobbe Altarpiece (detail) by Giovanni Bellini

The Grammar of Awakening: A B C Influences Man is a machine. We are like puppets governed and operated by influences in the universe. P.D. Ouspensky categorizes these as A, B, and C Influences. A Influence is created in life like interest in entertainment, cars, fashion, money, politics, career. B Influence is when one is tired of all the desires of life and becomes interested in philosophy or religion. C Influence is a conscious influence and comes from a conscious teacher w

Dear friends, Use the following quote, image, and musical selection to create presence. Let the music take you to a higher state. Etude Op. 25, No. 1 “Aeolian Harp” by Frederic Chopin: https://youtu.be/rrNE9aHJlzw?si=NvuKsG16r3SpjHYS “The soul has been given its own ears to hear things the mind does not understand.” —Rumi Join the discussion Image: La Scapigliata by Leonardo da Vinci

Weekly Topic : Rising Above External Chaos Everyday we are exposed to the noise of external chaos which stirs within us imagination and so many I’s. A maelstrom of negativity, judgment, anger, intolerance… so many emotions of the Lower Self. It is only when we disengage and rise above the noise that our reactions come from a world of Presence. “A man should eliminate not only useless actions, but also useless thoughts” Marcus Aurelio “Be clever and Remember yourself in a univ

From our friend, Jean, in Canada Dear friends, listen to Handel’s beautiful Harp Concerto in B flat major with presence: https://youtu.be/N0ApD6p6IaU?si=Q61OAY3oNMIUW6td Beauty is for the eyes and fades in a while, But goodness is a beauty that lasts forever. — Sappho Join the discussion Personifications of Music and Painting, Andrea Casali

From our friend Astha in Toronto Weekly Topic: Payment On the spiritual journey, payment is first-Later the reward. Payment is accepting what life has brought you in any given moment for the purpose of being present to it and not lost in it. Suffering is a form of payment and the transformation of that suffering in Higher Centers is the reward. “Not all storms come to destroy your life, some come to clean your path.” Seneca “We do not suppress suffering, we appear, transformi

Dear friends, listen to the following music with presence. Impromptu Op. 90, No. 3 by Franz Schubert: https://youtu.be/LUp2u9wI1fY?si=vD9F2f-IcZpynQmd If you understand, things are just as they are. If you do not understand, things are just as they are. —Zen Master From our friend Jean Z of the Toronto Center. Join the discussion Six Persimmons, Muqi

From our friend Astha in Toronto Center Weekly Topic: Knowledge and Being Knowledge and Being are like two parallel lines. It is Knowledge that we amass but it is Self-Remembrance that raises our level of consciousness and level of Being. Understanding emerges as a result of Knowledge and Being. Our teacher, through his knowledge and Presence, shares understanding and Being. “Knowledge is the food of the soul.” Plato "Working with esoteric knowledge little by little every day

From our friend, Jean Z. Dear friends, use the following music to raise your state and bring you to presence. Concerto for Oboe and Violin in C Minor by J.S. Bach: https://youtu.be/ZIaiB9X2LGs?si=mJcllDPA4WB8ZnYN “The higher one’s state, the sweeter and simpler it is.” -The Teacher Join the discussion Image: Spring (detail) by Botticelli

From our friend Astha in Toronto Center Weekly Topic: Functions vs State All our life, the Lower Self is lost in functions. Each of the four centers execute movement, emotion and thought. A State is consciousness that is not impeded by the mechanics of our self and its functions. It is an experience that transcends the Lower Self and is higher and unique to each of us. “Our Higher Centers are not our lower functions. Surprisingly, they make their way because they are real and

From our friend, Jean Z. Dear friends, be present as you listen to An die Musik by Franz Schubert: https://youtu.be/0wn5xM4II7M?si=APKKdibl1w6AnCwa Text of An die Musik (To Music): Beloved art, in how many a bleak hour, when I am enmeshed in life’s tumultuous round, have you kindled my heart to the warmth of love, and borne me away to a better world! Often a sigh, escaping from your harp, a sweet, celestial chord has revealed to me a heaven of happier times. Beloved art, for

From our friend Astha in Toronto Center Weekly Topic: Moving Center The movements of our body, instinctual in nature, are in fact learned behaviors beginning in infancy. In any given moment, it is nearly impossible to be aware of the mechanicality of the Moving Center. Can we be intentional in our movements? Do we actually notice our steps; our arms gestures (gesticulation); the use of so many of our motor skills? Do we go through our daily activities asleep to what we do and

From our friend, Jean Z. Dear friends, be present as you listen to Mozart’s Divertimento in D Major: https://youtu.be/qVKpF8KNoOA?si=-PU-eISHzNnfpVh2 “When you accept yourself, the universe accepts you.” -Lao Tzu Join the discussion Image: Portrait of a Young Woman by Sandro Botticelli

Fresh Efforts If you asked me to choose the most important effort in the Work, I would have to say it is self-remembering. The effort to remember myself is always a priority, and under most circumstances, I need to initiate it. It requires effort, a fresh effort to start it. Resolve to be always beginning—to be a beginner! ─ Rainer Maria Rilke The idea of beginning, making a new beginning, making things afresh, connects to self-remembering because such efforts are recurring.

From our friend, Jean Z. Dear friends, let us make an effort to be present with the music. Strike the Viol by Henry Purcell: https://youtu.be/9M838EiInnQ?si=S5mV6ZNR4cicFC1q Strike the viol, touch the lute, Wake the harp, inspire the flute. Sing your patroness’s praise, In cheerful and harmonious lays. -Nahum Tate Join the discussion Image: La Camargo Dancing by Nicolas Lancret

From Our Friend Astha in Toronto Center Weekly Topic: Useless Talk When we speak, the tone of our words often reveal our emotions at any given moment. For most of the day, our words are mechanical and are spoken in sleep. When we are in Presence, we are able to be the observer of our words. Do we talk with clarity, love and compassion? Or do we tend to espouse our view until we are satisfied that we are heard? Is unnecessary talk an obstacle to presence? As our teacher says,

From our friend, Jean Z. Dear friends, listen to the music with presence. Sicilienne for Cello and Piano by Fauré: https://youtu.be/aDAqLoyjTuA?si=2UlcbHggOAnOZWqd “Practice the sweet music of an active life.” -Aristocles Join the discussion Image: The Musicians by Caravaggio

Weekly Topic : Third Line Work From our friend Astha in the Toronto Center Third Line Work is any task that a student or member of a School or broader community performs which may directly or indirectly benefit all. These acts of serving with loving kindness are opportunities for external consideration. “I am only one: but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something.” Helen Keller From The Teacher ~“Never imagine there is any higher third line work th

From our friend, Jean Z. Dear friends, be present as you listen to the second movement of Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto in A Major: https://youtu.be/VpDq4Wu2f0A?si=DlQaug8LDzvpkZQT “Partnership and friendship, orderliness, self-control, and justice hold together heaven and earth, and gods and men.” -Aristocles Join the discussion Image: The Swing by Jean-Honoré Fragonard

Weekly Topic : Second Line Work From our friend Astha in the Toronto Center There are three lines of work in the School. First line, work done for oneself; second line, work done for and with others; and third line, work done for the Teacher and the School. This week, we focus on second line of work. Working with others provides an opportunity to be present to oneself while sharing presence with others. The weekly posts from all contributors as well as comments is an example

From our friend, Jean Z. Dear friends, use the following music to strengthen higher centers. Symphony No. 94, Second Movement by Haydn: https://youtu.be/VOLy6JxEDLw?si=G_CvPfAupEqA3Bsg “The secret of change is to focus all of your energy, not on fighting the old, but on building the new.” Socrates Join the discussion Image: Rembrandt Laughing by Rembrandt

Weekly Topic: Wit From our friend Astha in the Toronto Center Wit is often used to impress someone or to draw attention to oneself. There are times when we identify with our clever wit. Regardless of when it is used, wit displaces presence and brings our attention back to the Lower Self. “Evil eye manipulates wit, no matter how innocent it may seem.” The Teacher Weekly Exercise: Abstain from offering a witty response especially if it is to draw attention to your own clevernes

From our friend, Jean Z. Dear friends, use the piece of music, quote and image to create presence. Cello Concerto in E Minor, First Movement by Edward Elgar: https://youtu.be/8V41D0Uczf0?si=N7kZ8GS1r3n3ylEy “When one is in the midst of conflicting emotions, one must be firm in a thousand-fold way, and not allow oneself to be assailed by them, just as a lion will not allow jackals to attack him.” -Gampopa Join the discussion Image: Penitent Magdalene by Titian

From Our Friend Astha in Toronto Center Weekly Topic: Gossip Speaking about others whether what we say is true or not, keeps us in a mechanical state of sleep. Acts of gossip perpetuate and heighten inner consideration which obstructs Presence. “There are more possibilities in silence than in speech.” The Teacher This Week’s Exercise: There is an old idiom, “ Bite Your Tongue” which reminds one to restrain from commenting. This week, when you are prone to initiate or engage i

From our friend, Jean Z. Dear friends, use the following impressions as food for the soul. The Four Seasons: Winter by Antonio Vivaldi: https://youtu.be/ZPdk5GaIDjo?si=xutiB7-jGsj0-btl “A man should hear a little music, read a little poetry, and see a fine picture every day of his life, in order that worldly cares may not obliterate the sense of the beautiful which God has implanted in the human soul.” -Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Join the discussion Image: Skating on the Froz

From Our Friend Astha in Toronto Center Weekly Topic: Art Art, whether it be a painting, a sculpture, a piece of music, a poem, or a play offers us impressions that feed our soul. We often feel an emotional connection from Higher Centers to those who create that which we are seeing, hearing or reading . “When looking at art, one has to be patient and keep looking through Presence, and the answers will come. Awe in art must be accompanied by Presence. What observes- the Third

From our friend, Jean Z. Dear friends, use the following impressions to be present. Jeux D’Eau by Maurice Ravel: https://youtu.be/Z1QrFd7lNcU?si=afkkJQa4vRCIdSkP “With Divine Presence, one has the gift of seeing oneself.” -The Teacher Join the discussion Image: Water Lilies by Claude Monet

Kindled Flame of Kindred Spirits It is a tricky business to be in the Work and establish an emotional balance where I can offer help to others by sharing observations and insights into mechanicality without judgment, feminine dominance, opinions, or pressure to change anything. P.D. Ouspensky cautions us that in the beginning, if we try to change even the smallest thing, there emerges a corresponding new mechanical behavior in its place that was unanticipated. Perhaps it is o

Weekly Topic: Sharing the Work From our Friend Astha in Toronto Center When one meets a School, they receive many gifts- the deep wisdom of a conscious teacher, the understandings of the work from its many students, and collective presence from all. What one gains, we all gain. The Teacher This week’s exercise: Call or meet a friend who you haven’t been with for awhile. Make an aim to listen with presence as to what they are saying and or what is needed. Let go of your own in

From our friend Jean Z. Dear friends, beautiful impressions can help one experience their Higher Centers. Vedro con mio diletto by Antonio Vivaldi: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CzF11RsxcWg "The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all art and science." -Albert Einstein Join the discussion Image: Allegory of Wisdom and Strength( The Choice of Hercules or Hercules and Omphale) 1584 by Paolo Veronese (detail)

592,760 Hours Ago As I awoke this morning, knowing that I would be writing this post for our Facebook Group, I was having trouble formulating my understanding of the Higher Self. In the Fourth Way, we refer to it as “Higher Centers,” of which there are two: 1) Higher Emotional Center or subjective consciousness, and 2) Higher Intellectual Center or objective consciousness. As I lounged in bed gathering my thoughts, some words surfaced to describe Higher Centers, such as mirac

Weekly Topic: Higher Self From our friend Astha in Toronto Center Higher Centers have a humble beginning. When one first experiences them, which may be for five seconds, a simple Presence without words is peering from one’s machine. - From the book Awakening Higher Centers cannot emerge or sustain themselves when one is in imagination or identification. As our Teacher would say, “Strive to be who you are -the Higher Self- and avoid being who you are not-the Lower Self.” Weekl

Transforming [An excerpt from our friend Sergio Antonio’s recent book, A Map to Awakening .] From time to time I get a taste of the transformation of negative emotions, or of suffering. It is a feeling that cannot be compared with any other. This is one of the most difficult Fourth Way topics to illustrate. Both because there are enormous biases, which we have discussed many times. They are many and varied, but in all of them they take the 'machine' as the only reality and s

From our friend, Jean J. Dear friends, listen to the music with presence. Somewhere Over the Rainbow by Harold Arlen: https://youtu.be/03GpPfOsFkQ “When we transform suffering the lower self disappears.” -The Teacher Join the discussion Image: Heroic Landscape with Rainbow by Joseph Anton Koch

Weekly Exercise: Transformation of Suffering From our friend Astha of the Toronto Center One cannot deny that when we are given any degree of friction, there is an element of suffering in the Lower Self. It is the many I’s of imagination that cause us to lose and surrender ourselves to suffering. “The non-expression of negative emotions is not suppression, but transformation into divine presence.” ~The Teacher This week refrain from speaking of any illness, pain, or discomfor

From our friend, Jean Z. Dear friends, listen to the following music with presence. Violin Concerto in E Minor, first movement by Felix Mendelssohn: https://youtu.be/SJUQD6Rr2M8?si=U29WYG41zoDCm7jv “Self remembering is the light.” -The Teacher Join the discussion Image: Landscape with the Rest on the Flight into Egypt by Rembrandt

The Eye of the Heart The pivotal idea for students in this School is the intentional effort to self-remember. You could say that the hub of all our weekly topics revolve around self-remembering. Awakening to higher levels of consciousness means being simultaneously aware of the external world and one's inner state. What does self-remembering mean? It means that your dormant self is remembering to be awake. Self-remembering means that one is aware both of oneself and of what o

Weekly Exercise: Self-Remembering From our friend Astha of the Toronto Center Self-remembering is the observation of Oneself. Consciously observing one's own identification, imagination, and one’s own state, as is. This week, let us practice to remember oneself as we awaken in the morning. Try to not let your first thoughts be that of imagination. When getting out of bed, slowly, lift the covers with presence to start a new day. “To remove what is not presence requires presen

From our friend, Jean Z. Dear friends, use the following impressions as food for higher centers. Recorder Concerto in C Major by Georg Philipp Telemann: https://youtu.be/SVM12mpsSk8?si=rIX0iSJzp9P6w4jRp “I wish I could show you the astonishing light of your own being.” -Hafiz Join the discussion Image: Boy Playing a Recorder by Hendrick Jansz ter Brugghen

Weekly Exercise to Wake Up: From our friend Astha of the Toronto Center This week when you remember yourself recite this sentence from Yoga Vasistha: You yourself are the supreme Self, infinite consciousness. You are nothing else. Share your experience and observations in the comments below. If one sincerely tries to separate from the 'I's, one will succeed. Otherwise, one falls prey to the ten thousand. —The Teacher Join the discussion Thirty Warriors Wall painting, Temple o

From our friend, Jean Z. Dear friends, below is a link to the second movement of Quartet No. 2 by Alexander Borodin. Listen with presence: https://youtu.be/JYrS8_orubE?si=a_nJ9GB05GHjPrYE “A man should hear a little music, read a little poetry, and see a fine picture every day of his life, in order that the worldly cares may not obliterate the sense of the beautiful which God has implanted in the human soul.” -Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Join the discussion Image: Dancing Mai

Weekly Exercise to Wake Up: Change a Habit From our friend Astha of the Toronto Center Each day, observe one consistent habit and note it. Now try to make an effort to avoid doing the same thing that you always do. For example, if you always brush your teeth with your right hand, try using your left hand this week. Or, walk in a slightly different way than usual. At the end of the day, recollect those moments when you saw yourself in a habit or were able to make an effort to

From our friend, Jean Z. Dear friends, use the beautiful impressions as food for higher centers. Ave Maria by Charles Gounod: https://youtu.be/hyUhEjtlDLA?si=VgZRlNFEm1fD2zE9 “Happiness and good fortune, concord with the gods above—all these are among his gifts.” -Aristocles Join the discussion Image: Madonna del Prato by Raphael

Weekly Exercise From my friend and fellow student, Astha of the Toronto Center Weekly Topic: Householder The lower self craves attention to support the illusion that it is important. ─ The Teacher The teacher comments: the lower self spends his whole life trying to convince us that the problem is someone else. He never gives up trying to hide the fact that he is the problem. He keeps accounts to keep us asleep. The exercise is to try to experience the profoundness of existin

External Consideration If inner-considering is the state of worrying what people think of us; of not being able to say what we wish to a person because of the fear of not being liked, and feelings that people do not value us as much as we think they should, how would external consideration manifest? Just as inner-considering is based on imagination and identification, externally considering others requires an objective state of consciousness. Self-remembering then is a prereq

From our friend, Jean Z. Hello friends, be present as you listen to the following musical selection: Sull’aria from The Marriage of Figaro by Mozart: https://youtu.be/q1tmHHpEJWM?si=KqPCFU7iAQb53ufc Translation of Sull’aria (A Little Song on the Breeze): On the breeze What a gentle little zephyr A little zephyr This evening will sigh This evening will sigh Under the pines in the little grove. Under the pines… Under the pines in the little grove Under…the pines…in the little g