Post by shawnhartnell on Oct 5, 2016 0:31:29 GMT -6
Q. Where's the Fourth Way on the continuum of the left hand path vs. the right hand path?
A. The Fourth Way is a bizarre beast.
It's right hand in that certain definite practices (such as self-remembering) are absolutely required. In this sense it's right hand like a martial art — it's a discipline.
It's also right hand in the sense that someone in the Fourth Way is expected to learn and know the Fourth Way paradigm without modification. In other words, whatever Ospensky or Gurdjieff says is to be taken as it is said. You're not supposed to change the wording to fit your understanding but instead try to figure out what is exactly meant by those words.
It's left hand path in the sense that it's up to you to put in the required effort to learn and apply the Fourth Way according to how much you want to learn it and how valuable it is to you in practical ways. Ospensky fully acknowledges that some people simply won't be interested in it.
It's left hand path in the sense that absolutely no blind faith is required. It requires you think for yourself, and verify for yourself the practical value of all Fourth Way ideas and practices. The paradigm is given with a 'try it and see for yourself' approach. You are expected to continue with the Fourth Way only if you get something worthwhile to you from doing so.
It's left hand path in that it internally recognizes that it's not the 'one and only true way', and at most is an improvement over three other ways by combining them, and that there are other similar paths which exist due to the starting point of the student. If our mind was a maze, the Fourth Way would be the path leading outside the maze usable by those starting a particular point in the maze. Other paths are said to exist for those starting elsewhere.
A. The Fourth Way is a bizarre beast.
It's right hand in that certain definite practices (such as self-remembering) are absolutely required. In this sense it's right hand like a martial art — it's a discipline.
It's also right hand in the sense that someone in the Fourth Way is expected to learn and know the Fourth Way paradigm without modification. In other words, whatever Ospensky or Gurdjieff says is to be taken as it is said. You're not supposed to change the wording to fit your understanding but instead try to figure out what is exactly meant by those words.
It's left hand path in the sense that it's up to you to put in the required effort to learn and apply the Fourth Way according to how much you want to learn it and how valuable it is to you in practical ways. Ospensky fully acknowledges that some people simply won't be interested in it.
It's left hand path in the sense that absolutely no blind faith is required. It requires you think for yourself, and verify for yourself the practical value of all Fourth Way ideas and practices. The paradigm is given with a 'try it and see for yourself' approach. You are expected to continue with the Fourth Way only if you get something worthwhile to you from doing so.
It's left hand path in that it internally recognizes that it's not the 'one and only true way', and at most is an improvement over three other ways by combining them, and that there are other similar paths which exist due to the starting point of the student. If our mind was a maze, the Fourth Way would be the path leading outside the maze usable by those starting a particular point in the maze. Other paths are said to exist for those starting elsewhere.