the fourth way #6

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THE FOURTH WAY www.gurdjieff.es

Study notes

ENG // English version

#06

LaTeca

Instituto para el Desarrollo Armónico

GURDJIEFF’S

Enneagram Analysis

of the image drawn in Tiflis in 1919

STOP Encounters with extraordinary women

HIldegard von Bingen

Study and investigation of the Sacred Texts

From Abram to Abraham

Understanding the System

The meaning of the STOP exercise

LaTeca Institute for Harmonious Developement

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THE FOURTH WAY Chairman Giovanni M. Quinti From an original idea by

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APUNTS - Barcelona Contributors to this edition Luigi Marielli, Sonia and Luigi di Sante, Eva M. Franchi, Rosa Borsini, Giovanni Maria Quinti

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The Fourth Way_Table of contents

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Table of Contents

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The Fourth Way in Theatre

A dialogue between women An imaginary dialogue between Gurjieff’s and Ouspensky’s wives.

4

pag.3 pag.5

STOP

Study

Editorial Anguish and desperation are the signals...

5

Investigations of the Fourth Way

The meaning of the stop exercise

At any moment the Teacher may say “stop”, and all students must immediately remain motionless. What is this exercise used for?

Study

9

The Fourth Way in the Sacred Scriptures

From Abram to Abraham: Father of a new lineage What is the meaning of walking toward God’s presence and becoming whole?

A technical answer to the mystery of the “new birth”.

pag.9 Study

15 Symbols and the Work over oneself

The Enneagram drawn by Gurdjieff

A detailed study of the symbol drawn by Gurdjieff in Tiflis in 1919, Approaching the discovery of its most hidden meanings.

21 Encounters with extraordinary women

Hildegard von Bingen. The Soul is a symphony...

pag.15

The story of the Saint Ildegarda de Bingen, a woman ahead of her time.

23 Los mensajes desde la página web de Gurdjieff.es ¿Con o sin Maestro?

El portal www.gurdjieff.es publica algunos e-mails para divulgar la enseñanza.

23 24

pag.23

Letters to the founder Answers to the questions from today’s researchers.

Introduction to the ideas of George I. Gurdjieff Man’s role in the evolution of the Universe Gurdjieff’s system illustrated by making reference to curious and unpublished material of J. G. Bennet

Study

The indicated Articles have been read, studied and analyzed by the Study Groups La Teca, present in Italy and in Spain. If you wish to participate, send a request to: LA TECA - Gran Vía, 204 bis (local 4) - 08004 Barcelona or email to: info@gurdjieff.es We will send you as soon as possible the address and the hours of our Study Groups meetings.

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THE FOURTH WAY _A dialogue between women

A dialogue between women Mrs. Gurdjieff and Mrs. Ouspensky have a conversation Mrs. Ouspensky and Mrs. Ostrowska (Gurdjieff’s wife) enter the living room and sit down facing each other in a small table to drink tea. The scene takes place in an elegant and quiet French decorated room.

The lights are faint and envelop them in an intimate environment.

Mrs. Ostrowska: Good morning!

Mrs. Ouspensky: Good morning!

find a way to accept the idea that he himself must change...

Mrs. Ostrowska: I am still unclear of the reason your husband wishes to leave the group. I never thought there were any problems between them.

Mrs. Ostrowska: … change?

Mrs. Ouspensky: The problem is not with the group... what’s more, it isn’t a problem with harmony or disagreement between them... it is a matter of choice, of points of view... but all within your husband’s teaching methods.

Mrs. Ostrowska: (laughs) I cannot imagine him with those clothes. Now... I am very sick and I do not even know what is best for me, never mind what is best for everyone else. However, I am sure of having understood that the religious path is one of the instruments used to reach the goal. A great bridge that is only there to help you reach your goals. Once the goal is reached, God, the Higher Centers, or however you wish to call all of it... then will you be able to look back and recognize the non reality of all techniques, of all religions and all roads... but while we are here it would be wise to use one, if not...

Mrs. Ostrowska: Yes, he is very demanding of his

students, most of all with those he most cares about.

Mrs. Ouspensky: ¡No! Please, I did not mean that. Piotr does not discuss the method. He sees in George a Teacher and he knows he does what is most useful for growth. He is not influenced by exterior models. It is just that my husband was not aware that in the future... all of that philosophy would turn into...

Mrs. Ostrowska: Would turn into what?

Mrs. Ouspensky: Religion, mysticism, and all of that can be related to the sphere of feelings directed to an external divinity... as if it were the way of the monks...of those who fall in love with God. Mrs. Ostrowska: Ah… I understand, it has been

too strong a blow, a revelation, but...you...believe that the Teacher wakes up one day and creates the way to a new awakening... like that, out of nothing.

Mrs. Ouspensky: … into a monk, with a tunic,

monastery and all that it entails.

Mrs. Ouspensky: If not…?

Mrs. Ostrowska: If not, we will be condemned to read books and to assist conferences... and it would be like reading the menu in a restaurant without ever eating anything.

Mrs. Ouspensky: I understand. Thanks!

Mrs. Ostrowska: ¡Dasvidania!

(After sipping their tea, they exchange goodbyes and leave.)

END

Mrs. Ouspensky: I know you are right, but my

husband is...is...a... he does not accept, even by recognizing the validity of the roads that use the heart, the emotions, feelings. He even recognizes his main functions, but he does not

Text by Luigi Marielli

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THE FOURTH WAY_Editorial

editorial

Anguish and desperation are the signs...

“

In a garden on a bench, there is a man who calls you if you pass. He has sunglasses, an old grey suit, and smokes a small cigar... he is sitting. He calls to you if you pass or timidly makes you a gesture. It is not necessary to see him, or hear him, pretend to not see him, pretend to not even listen to him. Walk fast because if you look at him or pay any attention he makes you a gesture and nothing or no one could stop you from sitting by his side.

Anguish and desperation are the signs that life has yet to find its reason and meaning; in fact, if we can speak of nostalgia and desire, it is clear that our nature is in a state of imperfection... a state that is found in those that wait, are not aware of it by accident, who feel like strangers: it is produced within themselves.

The expression of this desire is objective anguish.”

We are again prepared for the first editorial session that marks the beginning of the spring. It is unusual to say it... in Then he looks directly at your face, smiles, making you anguish a new possibility. Yet why have suffer terribly. He continues to smile and you find yourself we chosen the word anguish? This smiling because of his smile. The more you smile, the “anguish” is not to be understood as a more you suffer terribly and the more you suffer, the form of private suffering of any more you smile without any way to stop, staying there evolutionary value, it is not a cord that still as if you were frozen. strongly strangles our will to go into a greater state of conscience. Rather it Children play six feet from you, passers-by walk calmly represents a type of collision, a around, birds fly from one tree to another and there you benevolent push toward elevation, by are on the bench and you know very well that you will which we begin our journey of faith toward never play again as those children play, you know a greater election, toward our true origin. that you will never be able to walk calmly as the How can we reflect on this word in a different passers-by do, and that you will never fly from and useful way for our inner development? The one tree to the next like the birds above. concept of anguish should not be interpreted in the same manner as fear; this represents the reality of freedom as a possibility of a possibility, the “sweet preoccupation”, the “shy anguish”. It is as if in anguish man found himself before God, received as the lost infinite possibility and, in this infinite possibility we would place the finite reality of man. Man realises (although in most cases this does not happen in the conscious aspect) the infinite’s claim and, in the infinite, the claim of all that is good, and the more he feels this, the more anguish he feels, until he fails to decide to personally choose the good.

The man who is in the Way has not been given a determined situation, but instead the possibility of a conscious election. That is why our horizon drives us to a vision that may look like a contrast to a necessary positive behaviour that confronts the difficulties we find along the road; but the requirement of a sincere comparison permits us to recognise that, perhaps, there is a “structural” anguish, encrusted in our own nature, that invites us to consider the difficulty of man accepting himself, and to confront his own limits with loyalty and sincerity. The reserved election to man is, therefore, the one about the Work on Oneself, of the will directed to relive what has been forgotten; the return to the essential and unity. A return to the eternal and unalterable force... the lost happiness. In anguish we can discover the possibility of freedom and whether it is true that this condition can be a cause of destruction and perdition. It is equally true to state that it can represent a stage whereby we begin the road toward forgiveness and liberation.

Sonia and Luigi di Sante

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THE FOURTH WAY_The System of the Fourth Way

Study

THE MEANING OF THE

STOP EXERCISE

jlgm

by Rosa Borsini Gurdjieff used the stop exercise to develop the memory of self. He interrupted his students with an urgent STOP. They had to remain still and observe themselves, no matter what they were doing at the time. Ten years ago I had the sudden urge to stop myself. I had to stop, and take a pause in my mechanical life, which was almost totally overrun by the presence of my daughters (or by my thoughts of them!), by their demands, by work, by my partner, my family members, by friends and neighbours. I had no time for myself! It seemed to me that they all wanted something; they imposed their necessities and required my presence. And I was there, available for anything for everyone, so much so I never considered me. I worried about clearing up relationships, about establishing an order of priorities that, in the end, I had to accept, even though I had many things to do, no one was ever all right. Starting with me! (1)

?

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Has something like this ever happened to you?

Would you like to share your experience?

I remember then placing on myself a small rule that went like this: <<I will not be available for anyone from 5 PM to 5:15 PM>> It was incredible! I used to close the roomâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s doors and would hear all of them roar in disapproval, so much so that I had a crisis over whether to continue with the experiment.

However, I continued. Within those fifteen minutes many things happened: the phone rang, people knocked on the door, the neighbour came over looking to borrow an electric tool, my daughter Cynthia needed to tell me some urgent thing. At first it seemed as if all these things needed immediate attention, yet they were really not so urgent that they couldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t wait. A small fifteen minute wait brought with it a waterfall of change. Those fifteen minutes with myself allowed me to see things for what they truly were.

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THE FOURTH WAY_The System of the Fourth Way

Study

STOP

STOP

THE MEANING OF THE STOP EXERCISE

by Rosa Borsini

I disconnected myself temporarily from my mechanical race, from the mundane and multiple identities. I knew it was the only thing that I could truly do. In those fifteen minutes of STOP, time slowed down and I saw we can detach ourselves from emotion, from people and events.

STOP

This distancing does not mean less love for people; on the contrary, it offers the possibility of observing yourself in the many different situations with them, but from another point of view.

STOP

This placid observation of myself allowed me to capture important elements of people and of the relative situations that would otherwise escape me.

STOP

This placid observation of myself allowed me to capture important elements of people and of the relative situations that would otherwise escape me. Sometimes it is necessary to find a good idea to use at the moment we once again enter “the maelstrom”.

STOP

You recharge your energies; this distancing recharges your strength. (2)

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For what other reasons may it serve to stay a few moments in silence, along the way?

?

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Can you give examples of relationships between the Centres and the Moving Centre?

When I started this experiment I knew nothing, or almost nothing, about the Fourth Way. Of Gurdjieff a friend had talked to me during coffee breaks at my work. I felt curious, but at that time I was too occupied with the different situations given by ordinary life. Later, studying his ideas, I found that Gurdjieff applied an exercise similar to what I was doing in that time of my life. He would say: «Without this exercise an ordinary man cannot become owner of his Moving Centre».

He stated that each race, age, nation, country, class and profession possesses a defined number of gestures and movements. Said gestures and customs control the way of thinking and the way of feeling of man. He held that there was a direct relationship between the Intellectual and Emotional Centres with the Moving Centre (Ouspensky, Fragments of an Unknown Teaching, page 117). (3) Man adapted his gestures that would help him adjust more to his own intellectual and emotional characteristics and his own social role. He is incapable of changing the way he feels and thinks until he changes his repertoire of gestures and movements: the cited relationship is, therefore, very thin and ambivalent. All <<gestures>> (moving, intellectual and emotional) are bound together. As our physical movements are directed by the mechanical automation, so are our thoughts and feelings. By intervening in his corporal movements, we can also intervene in his psyche.

An analysis of our thoughts and feelings, coordinated with an observation of our corporal body, has made A. Lowen (father of Bioenergy) state: «... you may determine the nature of the Super I with the analysis of the state of tension of the muscular system».

(A. Lowen, The Language of the Body).

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THE FOURTH WAY Investigationson_The System of the Fourth Way

Study

STOP

THE MEANING OF THE STOP EXERCISE

by Rosa Borsini

If man attempted to make a transformation of his automatic thoughts, his habitual movements and gestures would soon intervene imposing upon him the old mechanical associations.

?

STOP

With this I want to prove that Work on oneself cannot be done without work on the body. (4) We cannot imagine how much our intellectual, emotional, and moving functions depend on each other. Our moods and emotional states may depend on our movements and gestures. An intentional change of a gesture may provoke fear, disgust, nervousness or calm. In any case, if man decided to fight to liberate himself from these unions, his will would not be enough. To obtain control of the gestures and movements of the different Centres, there exists special training that is applied in different ways throughout all True Schools. The stop exercise is one of these instruments: with a word or gesture from the Teacher, established beforehand, all students must suspend all gestures at the same time, no matter what they are, immobile and observing themselves in the position they find themselves in. Not only should they stop movement, but they also have to keep their eyes fixed on the same point, have their mouth open if they were speaking; in other words, keep the same expression. In this state of stop each must suspend the flow from their thoughts and concentrate all attention on keeping the muscular tension in the different parts of their body, controlling them at all times. Therefore, they must stay in the same state until another pre-established signal allows them to resume normal behaviour. During the stop, a student has no right to change anything; if you cannot hold it, it is better to fall. The fall must be “complete” without any protection from the fall. It is the Teacher who, presiding over the function of the exercise, will be careful so as not to cause accidents as a result of a fall. The student must have no fear of doing damage to himself. (5)

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What do you think?

Explain your personal opinion of the subject.

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What thoughts do you have about such an exercise?

What thoughts does it bring to your memory?

STOP

This exercise gives man the possibility of leaving his automated circle.

An introduction to physical and mental pause allows an experience of abandonment that is something similar to a “small death”. A suspension of time, from one and all, constitutes the possibility of considering what is truly important. The experience of distancing offers an understanding of what surrounds us, our own emotions, and allows us to stand in that empty space of our inner silence: the only thing that allows us to see and feel.

?

STOP

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Do you think the stop exercise makes us used to abandonment?

Talk about this.

Through stop we can practise the «self-remembering necessary to acquire a stable Centre and to accustom the mind to relate to the feelings of limit and “non movement”». (6) In many religions the same principle is used with “moments of pre-established prayer”. In any emotional, physical, or mental state the priest is in (in this context by “priest” we mean the man, religious or secular, that works for the “monos”, which means the creation of the Unique Element), he must stop and pray. These moments of gathering, made up of precise physical movements, have the same end as Gurdjieff’s stop exercise.

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THE FOURTH WAY_The System of the Fourth Way

Study

STOP

THE MEANING OF THE STOP EXERCISE

by Rosa Borsini

Hazrat Inanyat Khan, in the book The unity of the religious idea (part 1, ch.

7), writes about two ways to pray and of the three types of prayer. Prayer helps us to develop self-remembering. It reminds us that we are grateful for everything that we have (sometimes, however, we tend to feel sorry about what we do not have). It reminds us that we must develop a deep feeling of justice at the moment that we ask for forgiveness for one of our mistakes (sometimes, however, we tend to ignore this fact, only because we do not accept it). It reminds us of our state of necessity, of which we must keep a good reservoir (sometimes, however, we tend to feel sorry for ourselves in all circumstances). However, in prayer we can “communicate”: “There is One to whom I can go when difficulties, anguish, or desperation arises. You are the One, the Only One. You are the One nothing can hide from. If I wish to free myself from these difficulties, You, oh God, are to whom I will go”.

However, we should not stop at the evident meaning of this. Its value is great; yet we must go further into its more “technical” sense. Gurdjieff has tried to underline these aspects that I, with my experiences from the School, have learned and verified. Muslims use this occasion to die within themselves and to “suddenly” stop their daily errands by praying five times a day, at precise moments of the day. This exercise, repeated through time, allows for the disassociating of the attention and gives the help needed to construct a new relationship with oneself. (7)

?

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Why is it so important, in your opinion, to create a relationship with the Divine?

What would the objective be?

STOP

The separation of the repetitive mechanism allows for the construction of the essential foundation of the relationship with the inner self.

In our technological society we favour the relationship with the external, with the having, with the world. The stop exercise, without caring for the way it is accomplished, is an awakening from this mechanical procedure. It is not a superstitious exercise, but a precise technique for the development of a new Will. Also for this reason the exercises offered within a School are fundamental; without these, one cannot grow in harmony. (8)

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Why is it so important to be in a School and do certain exercises only within its enclosure?

«People who had tried to evade work evaded “stop.” That is, either they did not hear the command to “stop” or they said that it did not directly refer to them. Or, on the other hand, they were always prepared for a “stop,” they made no careless movements, they took no glasses of hot tea in their hands, they sat down and got up very quickly and so on. To a certain extent it was even possible to cheat with the “stop.” But of course this would be seen and would at once show who was sparing himself and who was able not to spare himself, able to take the work seriously, and who was trying to apply ordinary methods to it, to avoid difficulties, “to adapt themselves.” In exactly the same way “stop” showed the people who were incapable and undesirous of submitting to school discipline and the people who were not taking it seriously. We saw quite clearly that without “stop” and other exercises which accompanied it, nothing whatever could be attained in a purely psychological way.» (Fragments, pg. 363).

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THE FOURTH WAY _Study and investigation of the Sacred Texts

Study

From Abram to Abraham: Father of a new lineage

By Giovanni M. Quinti

«Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward.»

(Gen 15:1).

If we truly listen to the Divine Voice within us we find that it always pushes us to live in an “extraordinary” manner. We should be the ones who believe and walk toward the path. Abram is asked the following: to believe in that voice, to be mindful of it. Abram listens to the words of God, but in that stage does not see Him, or angels or other emissaries.

What is the reward that awaited Abram? What consequences would it bring to the

? Work on himself he was in the process of doing? Why does this extraordinary event

happen to Abram, a man of seventy-five years of age, and not to a younger man?

Why does He ask him to leave his place of birth, Ur, and then to believe in what he could not as yet see?

Abram is on his way back to Coba, north of Damascus, where he freed Lot, and is on his way to Querce de Mamre, in Ebron (today Hebron), where he stays after leaving Canaan. “He took him outside and said, ‘Look up at the heavens and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.’ Then he said to him, ‘So shall your offspring be.’” God says to him (Gen 15:5) that all of Abram’s things will survive in the world. He, like a painter, will leave his work, his footprint for future generations. “And Abram said, ‘You have given me no children’” (Gen 15:3), as he knows his wife Sarah is sterile.

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THE FOURTH WAY _Study and investigation of the Sacred Texts

Study

From Abram to Abraham: Father of a new lineage

by Giovanni M. Quinti

? «How can I become an artist and give meaning to my existence, if I do not have great skill, if my essence is not that of a genius, if I do not have a possibility of a descendency?»

This is the question many of us make when we begin the Way. God answers: “Look up at the heavens and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be” (Gen 15:5) (1)

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What footprint will you leave after your death? Have you ever thought about this?

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Would you like to “listen to the Voice of God” directly?

What would change within you?

The direct dialogue between God and Abram reveals a condition of “communication” that with a spiritual feeling will change a man in the Way. It does not matter at all where starting point A and finishing point B are.

However, the road is important as is experimenting along the way. Abram is a transient, he can look at the stars and he is also made to believe what he will accomplish. The communication, called by some “conversation with the Guardian Angel”, and by others “a dialogue with God”, and still others “discussion with the Higher Centres”, suggests and pushes him to live life deeply, to exist to express himself. Thus, it is not a simplistic and narcissistic projection. Rather it involves an energy produced by a zone within our psyche that suddenly transforms into something prepared and useful and that relates us to others, stopping us from diminishing ourselves in a sickly egocentricity. It is not only an intellectual and emotional development. This “discussion” is a new force suddenly available. It is the force of change, of changing the environment and returning to see everything. It is absolute certainty that is born from a new life and perception of things. “That Word will become true. I myself am the first seed of its fulfilment, I am my offspring, I am that promise and also its realisation”. From this “persuasion”, that is extracted from one’s own conscience, is born a force that «thieves do not break in and steal» (Mat 6:19, 20).

(2) «Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness.»

(Gen 15:6).

This type of trust served Abram so much so that he became «just». But, from where does such a trust come from? How can it grow?

Let us read Gurdjieff’s words: « But in ordinary conditions the difference between the speed of our usual emotions and the speed of the higher emotional Centre is so great that no connection can take place and we fail to hear within us the voices which are speaking and calling to us from the higher emotional Centre». (Fragments, pg. 201) (3)

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Try to talk about these words written

by Ouspensky, but expressed by Gurdjieff.

Here Gurdjieff is indicating the hurdles in being able to “distinguish” the Voices of our Higher Centres. Abram was able not only to surmount these difficulties, but also to perceive the promises and duties given by these Centres in order to accomplish the Work. In that way, his trust grew considerably. The life of a man who sleeps, who has not learned to listen to the “Voice of God”, does not enter into contact with the promise intrinsically present within him, united indissolubly to his own essence.

Having lost this meaning, his existence will become a useless pursuit of accumulation or power; it will translate into nonsense.

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THE FOURTH WAY _Study and investigation of the Sacred Texts

Study

From Abram to Abraham: Father of a new lineage

by Giovanni M. Quinti

There will be no promise or act. Such a man is a stem without flowers, a sun that has not risen, salt that no longer has flavour and that: «… is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men».

(Mat 5:13)

Abram is called to observe the profound proper essence and is tested on it.

His is a trust that has a tail: he is a man of seventy-five years worried about not having any offspring. His attention is thus concentrated here, jailed within this point, and we can easily understand his concern to procreate, to leave something of his own after his death. Abram tries to live his life fully.

«Now Sarah, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian maidservant named Hagar; so she said to Abram, ‘The LORD has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my maidservant; perhaps I can build a family through her.’ Abram agreed to what Sarah said. He slept with Hagar, and she conceived» (Gn 16:1,2,4).

?

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Has anything like this ever happened to you?

Try to share your experience.

When Abram was influenced by external circumstances he betrayed the proper essence in the country of Egypt (see last edition). The same Egypt that, as we have stated, represents the “world of the sleepers”, the mechanical and automated world. Once again, he thinks that in order to help his destiny, he must do something. He does not go before God, nor does he speak to Him, but instead decides to take measures in an automated way.

How many times have we done the same?

Hurriedness, anxiety and fear drive us to take decisions that are not well thought out. We are not used to listening to the Voice that, in the deepest parts of us, indicates and knows what is best for us. (4) Abram errs once more, hides from himself and joins with Agar (from the Hebrew Hagar; or "escape").

«He slept with Hagar, and she conceived. When she knew she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress. Then Sarai said to Abram, "You are responsible for the wrong I am suffering."» (Gen 16:4,5).

Agar, an Egyptian, gives him offspring, but this immediately brings consequences that lead to conflict. When our actions are not in harmony with the profound Voice, they may generate harm to our essence.

? Isn’t it true that personality is the product of the wound our essence receives

?

when it comes into the world?

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Try to explain with your own words the concept we have just exposed.

«You are responsible for the wrong I am suffering», says our offended essence because of our emotional wound and our mask, our defensive shell, springs to protect us. The fortune of one becomes the destiny of the other. (5) What Abram has done becomes something negative. The promise he awaited did not need help from external “identities”. He should not try to be like others, but instead become himself. God wants him and his wife to be the only founders of the descendency. But Abram does not yet know this.

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THE FOURTH WAY _Study and investigation of the Sacred Texts

Study

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¿Qué significan estas dos solicitudes, según tú?

Intenta dar tu interpretación.

From Abram to Abraham: Father of a new lineage

by Giovanni M. Quinti

Sarah chastises Agar who later becomes lost in the desert, where God saves her. Agar, as opposed to Abram, sees God’s angel, who invites her to return home. She comes back, ashamed, to Sarah’s house, and Sarah forgives her.

Agar gives birth to Ismael (whose name means God Listens), who will enter into conflict with Isaac (son of Abram and Sarah), who will be born later.

Ismael will be different from Isaac and this underlines that an action made under the direction of our Higher Centres has a “quality” that no other action can imitate. They are the conscious actions, born out of conscious beings who leave a sign in history and remain forever.

«When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to him and said, ‘I am God Almighty; walk before me and be blameless. I will confirm my covenant between me and you and will greatly increase your numbers.’ Abram fell face down, and God said to him, ‘As for me, this is my covenant with you: You will be the father of many nations. No longer will you be called Abram; your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations. I will make you very fruitful; I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you’» (Gen 17:1-6).

God asks two main things from Abram: (6)

A bra ham

These two petitions are the same ones God makes to those in the Way and are of vital importance to produce a “new birth” and to receive a new name: symbols of our new higher existence. Let us examine them together because this is what God asks of us: to place the greatest heart we can give into the smallest one; the greatest mind into the smallest. Walking in the Presence of God is, truly, what Gurdjieff called self-remembering. When Ouspensky, Gurdjieff’s chief student, tries to apply “self-remembering”, something his Teacher placed great importance on, he writes in his diary: «I am speaking of the division of attention which is the characteristic feature of self-remembering. I represented it to myself in the following way: When I observe something, my attention is directed towards what I observe—a line with one arrowhead: I THE OBSERVED PHENOMENON. When at the same time, I try to remember myself, my attention is directed both towards the object observed and towards myself. A second arrowhead appears on the line: I THE OBSERVED PHENOMENON. Having defined this I saw that the problem consisted in directing attention on oneself without weakening or obliterating the attention directed on something else. Moreover this ‘something else’ could as well be within me as outside me. The very first attempts at such a division of attention showed me its possibility. At the same time I saw two things clearly. In the first place I saw that self-remembering resulting from this method had nothing in common with ‘self-feeling,’ or ‘self-analysis.’ It was a new and very interesting state with a strangely familiar flavor.».(Fragments, page 126).

Self-remembering According to Ouspensky

Self-remembering

According to R. Collin

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THE FOURTH WAY _Study and investigation of the Sacred Texts

Study

From Abram to Abraham: Father of a new lineage

by Giovanni M. Quinti

A student of Ouspensky, Rodney Collin (1909-1956, dies soon after converting to Christianity), takes a step forward in this research, a step that helps us understand better the meaning of “walking toward the presence of God”. He affirms that we can reach Self-remembering and its whole meaning by completely taking attention away from everything:

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What could this third point be?

Can you try to perceive it now?

Close your eyes and try it. Later, share your thoughts with others.

«The fact is that even if it is extraordinarily difficult to divide all attention into two, it is much more difficult to divide it into three. If it is extraordinarily difficult to self-remember and be aware of the environment at the same time, it may be possible to self-remember and be aware of the environment in the presence of any other thing... What is the third factor that must be remembered?... Each one must understand this by himself...». (7) (R. Collin, Celestial Influences, Ed. Officina ’99, Naples, pages 234-235).

To perceive the presence of God close to us, to live in His Presence, means to facilitate self-remembering. To make an emotional relationship with this “Third Point” is the Key that is missing from Gurdjieff’s system.

To walk toward the “presence of God” means to be truly present within ourselves. This is a primary tool in the Work on oneself. “I am God Almighty; go before me and be perfect. And I will place my pact between us”.

In addition to the Self-remembering obtained by remembering God, integrity is also asked. What does that mean? Gurdjieff many times invited his students to understand this particular condition for «purity».

«Many of us felt this desire for purity when we were in the presence of Mr. Gurdjieff.

On the other hand, he came back to this discussion continually and in a disconcerting manner. Humanity in general, and this was fully clear in the person who in that moment was the object of his attention, was exclusively and undeniably constituted by fertilizer, dung, white droppings, hard or soft with the consistency you preferred. There may have been variations, but the theme was invariably this.

Sometimes it might happen that he would say to this or that person: ‘How do I wish that you were not so!’ But until one noticed this fact directly it was impossible to make any change.»

(A. L. Staveley, Golden Moments with Mr. Gurdjieff, Ed. Aequilibrium, Milan).

For the Sufis, but not solely to them, it means to maintain the heart in a clean state, this being the mirror whereby God reflects His face. Purity of heart is the common consequence of walking toward the presence of God. If the student of the Way works hard to relate himself to the Third Point, if he tries to get close to it, if he tries to perfect his techniques and purpose in that direction, he will have the energy necessary for integrity.

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What is, in your opinion, this prediction of “purity of the heart”?

Integrity is not only an observation of common morals. The Law has yet to be given. It will be given later on to Moses. The solicited integrity, in this case, is of the inner type, spiritual. By integrity we mean to say entirety, the bringing of everything that makes you toward the experience. And it is also the attempt to keep alive the proper essence, to be One so as not to disintegrate and truly die. (8) In connection to this, I wish to cite the words of a song by Luigi Marielli, musician of the well-known group Tazenda, inspired by a poem by Martha Medeiros, Brazilian journalist and writer:

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THE FOURTH WAY _Study and investigation of the Sacred Texts

Study

From Abram to Abraham: Father of a new lineage

by Giovanni M. Quinti

He who does not feel or listen dies slowly That Voice that speaks to you softly within your breast, Who is not afraid, who has it until death He who does not ask and who does not offer dies slowly Help, gestures, kisses or words.

He who does not ever say “I love you” dies slowly, Who does not have the courage to place his hand on he who needs it.

Who always takes the same road dies And never changes the colors of his own life, Never letting his eyes brighten with emotion.

He who does not travel, read or sing dies slowly, He who does not look for fun or fantasy within his heart.

He who does not hit the wall with his fists dies slowly, Does not know how to change a mistake into a smile Or to follow a dream.

He who does not love a little rain dies slowly, Who later always complains of his bad luck, Who abandons everything before even beginning.

He who does not know how to forgive dies slowly, Who does not talk once with those he does not know.

He who never says “I love you” dies slowly, Who does not have the courage to place his hand on he who needs it.

Luigi Marielli

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Tazenda

9_

Try to do this exercise together: close your eyes for two minutes. When the time is up, have someone reread with a soothing and calm voice the phrases that are highlighted in black.

Imagine it is God Himself who is saying these words.

What sensation do you have?

What do these feelings provoke in you? Did you know that these are the same things that the Higher Centres whisper to us from above?

The asked for integrity, in conclusion, is the attempt to maintain intact the proper essence we had when we were very young, so as not to kill it completely beneath the great weight of personality.

If we had to summarise it into two Divine pieces of advice received by Abram, we could do so with a message of love between two Lovers, in a moment of melancholy due to their being far apart:

«Do not forget me. Do not forget me.

Remember me, searching for me in your thoughts and heart.

Remember yourself, preserving the beauty that is within the deepest part of you. If you did it yourself, you would be a new person, you would have a new name.

And you and I, together, would be King and Queen of a new world: ours.

And together we would bring unto the world a new Descendency.

We would leave upon this bridge that is life a small flower: A symbol for those that come after us».

(9)

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THE FOURTH WAY_Investigations of the Sacred Enneagram

Study

Part 3

GURDJIEFF’S AND SALZMANN’S

ENNEAGRAM

by Giovanni M. Quinti

THE ENNEAGRAM DRAWN UNDER THE DIRECTIVE OF GURDJIEFF The Enneagram drawn in Tiflis, in 1919, by De Salzmann under Gurdjieff’s guidance. As you can see, many of the symbols included at the feet of the central drawing indicate a strong relationship with the common symbolism of the alchemists. This drawing is the cover of an educational booklet about the work developed in Institute for Harmonious Development presented during a theatrical spectacle. The Fight of the Magi, in Paris.

THE FOURTH WAY_Investigations of the Sacred Enneagram

Study

GURDJIEFF’S AND SALZMANN’S ENNEAGRAM

by Giovanni M. Quinti

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3 part

Summary of the Second Part

The Enneagram and The Tree of Life

In the previous edition we explained the similarities established between the Enneagram and another sacred symbol more known in the West: The Tree of Life. We saw that, in reality, in the Enneagram, along with the nine present points in the circle’s perimeter, we also had to be mindful of the point at the Centre of the circle and in addition an external point that corresponds to the observer (that we can associate with the cabalistic sephirot “hidden” Daath), and that is formed by eleven points that are exactly alike to the spheres that compose the Jewish Tree of Life. However, the Enneagram is a major symbol of Christianity as demonstrated by the drawing made by the priest Raimundo Llull in his 18th century work Ars Magna, which is almost identical to the Enneagram introduced by Gurdjieff. This last one, in the Enneagram that they proposed be drawn by his student De Salzmann – and which we will analyse in this edition – employs many Christian archetypes. However, if we consider that there was a solid mixture in the time of Llull between the Hebrew, Islamic and Christian cultures, it would not be mistaken to consider the Enneagram as a rereading in Western code of the Jewish tree of Life, and the study of the second will surely help us to understand the first better.

PART 3

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In your opinion, do other reasons exist that made alchemists hide their teachings through symbols?

In 1919 Gurdjieff decided to include in his documents the symbol of the Enneagram as an educational booklet related to his own work in Europe. It is not a drawing made by Gurdjieff, but by his student Alexander de Salzmann.

Why did he do it?

Some believe his motives were aesthetic to the end that the presentation booklet of his work would appeal graphically. In truth, he consciously used familiar symbols of medieval alchemists and of Christian tradition of the first centuries precisely with the goal of passing on information using the help of such symbols. Let us not forget that this behaviour was common in many alchemists of previous centuries dedicated to painting and art. Numerous are the works of artists such as Mayer, J. D. Mylius or Van Eyck that have philosophical or theological value with an opposite tendency to the thoughts that dominated the times. (1) Gurdjieff proceeds in the same way: he introduces, in an apparently erroneous manner, precise symbols to represent the essence of the method applied in his institute. To study them means to learn his system profoundly, placing them historically, investigating the historical roots and understanding the methodologies applied by him.

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THE FOURTH WAY_Investigations of the Sacred Enneagram

Study

GURDJIEFF’S AND SALZMANN’S ENNEAGRAM

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2_

Try to answer before continuing with the reading.

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by Giovanni M. Quinti

3 part

This graphic representation includes within it the interior of his thoughts: a complex apparatus, rich in knowledge, of indications and of returns to the Christian Tradition of the first centuries. Since this study is of such importance to an understanding of the aspects of Gurdjieff’s Work not transmitted to students, we will try to give a detailed and comparative study, where we will split the drawing into its most relevant fragments.

What is the starting point?

In the first place it is recommended that one observe the Enneagram for some time to mentally fix the image in your mind and relay it slowly.

What surprises you the most? (2) I would like you to pay attention to the fact that the inner triangle of the Enneagram is outlined. This means that, as Ouspensky states: « The inner triangle stands for the presence of higher elements... ».

(Fragments, pg. 300)

Therefore, the triangle is not present in all organisms, above all not in ordinary man, who has yet to stabilise the development of a third force that helps him to leave the never-ending battle between “yes” and “no”, between good and evil, between being and not being.

The circle is outlined Ouroboros: the serpent who bites its tail. The ancients, writes 17th century alchemist Maier, interpreted the ring of Ouroboros as “change of a year and returning to the beginning and as the start of the Work, where the humid and venomous tail of the dragon is ingested.”

On the one hand, you are talking about man as the beginning and primary cause of the Work of transformation (having within him a venomous liquid that causes him unhappiness); and on the other, that he can find within himself the necessary antidote.

Therefore, it seems clear that what is within the circle relates to man and his inner processes, what is on the exterior, however, is symbolic of those factors that may influence man or help him in his evolution. (3) It is not a coincidence that we find, nearly carrying the whole figure, a devil and an angel. Both are winged creatures, indicating somehow a shared origin, and representing the very influences that, from the human point of view, are considered “good” and “bad”. In the Centre of these two opposites sits the Enneagram, representing here the Third Force: the energetic element that wakes us up and whose influence man should learn under and stay within. Let us now look at the inner elements of the circle.

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Make a short list of the symbols that are inside and outside of the circle. What surprises you?

«In this drawing inside the Enneagram were shown the four beasts of the Apocalypse—the bull, the lion, the man, and the eagle—and with them a dove.

These additional symbols were connected with “Centres.”»

(Fragments, pg. 302).

The cited animals do not appear exclusively in the Apocalypse, but are also related to the four aspects of the life of Christ as they were described by the four Evangelists.

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THE FOURTH WAY_Investigations of the Sacred Enneagram

Study

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4_

Relate the four symbols within the circle with the four inner Centers of man.

GURDJIEFF’S AND SALZMANN’S ENNEAGRAM

by Giovanni M. Quinti

3 part

“That these four living beings with wings symbolise the four Evangelical Saints is certified in the very introductions of the books of the Gospel.

Mathew is justly symbolised by a figure of a man because it contains the human origin of Jesus; Mark by a lion because of the shout in the desert; Luke by the calf, because his gospel begins with a sacrifice, John by the eagle, because his gospel begins with the divinity of the Word, and the Word was close to God, and the Word was God, as he kept his gaze on the same substance of divinity, such as when the eagle fixes its gaze at the Sun.”(From the Homilies of Ezequiel, by Gregorio Magno, Fourth Homily). According to Eliphas Levi (The Key to the Great Mysteries, Edic.

Atanor, 1981), the alchemists also related them with the four elements: (4)

Man

Eagle

Bull

Lion

Water Knowledge Life Light

Air Intelligence Spirit Soul

Earth Work Resistance Form

Fire Force Action Movement

The equilibrium of the inner Centres of man and the harmonic development of all aspects of the human machine are related, in the Enneagram, with the Law of Three which, slowly, is constructed creating the possibility of awakening. When this work is realised, only thanks to the outer elements of the circle, an inner triangle forms and a fifth element is created: the dove. (5)

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What does the symbol of the dove remind you of?

What do you relate it to?

The dove is the symbol of the Holy Spirit and in the Christianity of the Origins it represents the Element that Christ sends to allow man to become like Him (John 16:7). Bringing comfort to the Faithful, the Soother, the Spirit that descends to man forms within him and definitively frees him. This is the Christian illumination, the ultimate objective of the Work on oneself, and a lively and energetic experience that may be experienced even today, if we are correctly guided and with pure heart move towards it. Many Sufi novels write about a bird in a cage that tries to flee, symbolising the freedom of this element that apparently seems to descend toward man, but that however leaves from him. I wish to all my readers that they may realise the experience of the “baptism in the Holy Spirit” (Acts 1:5); an experience of freedom and contact with the Higher Centres of the human machine. This is the real Solution, the Golden Key that opens the doors of each mystery. This is the Water that soothes the thirst and that will not give us any more thirst, the elixir of

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THE FOURTH WAY_Investigations of the Sacred Enneagram

Study

GURDJIEFF’S AND SALZMANN’S ENNEAGRAM

by Giovanni M. Quinti

3 part

long life that makes rivers overflow with living water from us (John 7:38).

(6)

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What is the «Baptism in the Holy Spirit»?

Try to give your opinion. Or rather, if you have ever been through an experience, share it with the others.

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7_

Is a teacher instrumental to his students’ growth?

What can he be useful for? Is he necessary?

This experience can only happen with the influence of the exterior elements of the circle and without which nothing can be generated. Situated in the inner part of the Enneagram, are represented the instruments of the Work, in direct connection with alchemical symbols of the laboratory and of the transmutation of common metals into gold. In the image you will find on page 19, a 1604 incision drawn by Heinrich Khunrath, you may observe some symbols that Gurdjieff also used in his Enneagram.

These symbols are the instruments the alchemist uses at different moments of the Work of the transformation of common metal into Fine Gold. Gold is symbol of the psychological state defined in “awakening” or of “illumination” and represents the New Man (John 3:3). «Aurum nostrum non est aurum vulgi», says Maier the alchemist (1618) to indicate that the objects of alchemy were the substitution toward psychological and spiritual goals, and not, as some superficial people thought, toward the production of actual gold. The scales, chisel, scissors, the compass are symbols that indicate the search for equilibrium and stability. Cutting, beating, measuring, agitating, cleaning, pressing, observing, raking, placing, etc., are actions that are made with the given instruments in the road that leads to the Centre, toward the liberation of the Dove. The teacher becomes the symbol of an efficient tool. Because of this Gurdjieff places himself within the objects that will be used to bring about the Work.

(7) Therefore, the teacher becomes the servant, an operator who works for a predetermined objective, for which everything else loses importance. When a man has learned to serve not only himself, but a larger objective, when he has acquired the capability of being silent, like a great mirror of another, and knows how to reflect completely, this person is the Teacher.

To my Teacher I send all my appreciation For showing me the loving cooing Of the illuminated coconut That moves around my heaven.

jlgm

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THE FOURTH WAY_Investigations of the Sacred Enneagram

Study

GURDJIEFF’S AND SALZMANN’S ENNEAGRAM

by Giovanni M. Quinti

!

LEGEND IMAGE LABORATORY ABOUT THE BOOK OF ALCHEMY BY JOHANNES FABRICIUS Kneeling in his laboratory, an alchemist prays on a pulpit with the writings:” happy is he who follows God’s advice”; “When we rigorously dedicate ourselves to our work, God Himself will help us”. This 1604 incision was drawn by Heinrich Khunrath. You can see that many of the symbols on top of the table correspond to the drawings made by Gurdjieff and De Salzmann in Tiflis in 1919.

!

The inscription on top of the entrance at the end of the magnificent room says: “BE VIGILANT IN DREAMS!”, a thought that summarizes very well the thought and work of Gurdjieff.

BE VIGILANT IN DREAMS!

3 part

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THE FOURTH WAY_Encounters with extraordinary women

HILDEGARD OF BINGEN The soul is a symphony

by Eva M. Franchi

When you reach the goal the way you took to reach it is less relevant. We are surprised by the life of a Benedictine nun. We found it to be relevant and in extraordinary harmony with the teachings of the

great Teachers of all traditions and faiths. Therefore, we bring to you the story of an artist who lived in an age where, in most cases, the convent was the only place where a woman could express her own art...

G

od cannot be seen, but he can be conceived by analogies with creatures, in the same way one cannot see a man’s body that is covered by his clothes. As we cannot observe the splendid internal incandescence of the sun, so too can mortals not see God... our human eyes only see the external circle of the sun... God is complete because he is whole, without a beginning, and thus, can be described by the human discourse He shares.

He is everything and more than Him nothing is.... Man cannot examine nor judge God because in God there is nothing that is not God. However, we, creatures that have a beginning and a limit, can reach God with our rationality only by names...

If I had been given these words to read before knowing where they came from and they had told me that they came from a great Sufi Teacher, I would have had no motive to doubt it. Here are all the elements of Sufism: the traditional phrase “there is no God outside of God” and the reference to the names of God that, to those who have even a small notion of Islamic culture, brings them easily to the ninety-nine names of God cited in the Koran.

However, these words are taken from The Book of Divine Works, the best-known text of Hildegard of Bingen, a German nun who lived in the 12th century.

But, who was Hildegard of Bingen?

jlgm

An abbess, a mystic, a visionary, a poet, a musician, a naturalist, a saint, a prophet... Hildegard was all of this, but above all she was a woman. She was proud of being how she was in an age when women were not afforded the same rights or dignity as the “stronger sex”. In her books we continually find praise for feminine qualities. In the convent of Rupertsberg, founded by her, she introduced a tradition that would probably not have been approved of even by the modern Church. In her age it was described as strange and scandalous, in addition to being in opposition to the precepts of St. Paul which imposed that women should cover their heads.

The Fourth Way_Encounters with extraordinary women

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Hildegard of Bingen: The soul is a symphony

According to the tradition of that time, the faithful of the female sex received communion only once a month. On that special occasion Hildegard asked her nuns to bring white clothes and decorations and to let their hair down their backs.

To those who asked for an explanation about such a tradition, Hildegard explained to them that when they received Holy Communion the virgin married their celestial husband; therefore, during that extraordinary occasion, it was appropriate to be dressed for a celebration. In an age when to reach the spirit it was said that feelings were to be subjugated and the negation of all things material was expected (then living the life of a hermit was widely done), Hildegard represented a figure who definitely went against the flow.

She loved nature, which she considered to be a manifestation of God’s power; she was against the purposeful hurting of one’s own body because she believed that in order to serve God it was necessary to have good health; she did not think it necessary to unbendingly follow the rule of silence imposed by the Benedictine order because she was convinced that continual silence was not only inhuman but also an obstacle to a community life.

In her writings she calmly tackled sexual subjects that she judged through benevolent eyes, considering them a natural manifestation of nature.

But let us not think of Hildegard as a fragile woman, delicate, of feeble health, a factor in the lives of many mystics, a daughter of her times raised in the Middle Ages. Certainly she was very conditioned by the thinking of her Church, and, therefore, a woman who loved life and everything that was a manifestation of God, incapable of seeing evil in nature’s manifestations. From early childhood she demonstrated signs of probable sainthood; she talked with the Divine, she knew the appearance and sex of a calf within the cow’s

womb who no one knew was pregnant. Thus, her parents were convinced that their daughter’s destiny was to dedicate her life to God. An additional “sign” was the fact that Hildegard was the tenth child of the couple. Thus, they decided she was to be God’s, in perfect accordance with the ancient Biblical tradition of handing a “tithe” (a tenth part of all belongings) to God. This “different” aspect, that distinguishes Hildegard from infancy, generates within her an intense suffering when she discovers that “speaking to God”, something in her childhood she thought to be an ability common to all, was something unheard of that no one else did. Such a discovery causes her great pain, makes her feel like a stranger and brings her to close herself off and disappear in anonymity.

However, one day, forty years later, the Voice of God orders her to write her visions down and her name begins to circulate outside the confines of her convent.

Her character, even with the unusual characteristics that distinguish it, is very far from many mystics who cut themselves off from the world. Hildegard loved Life, including life in the world, and was not immune to the human passions. When Richardis, her beloved fellow nun, decided to abandon her to become an abbess in another convent, Hildegard fell into despair as she thought she would lose the one person that for her was like a sister, a daughter, a confidante. She did everything she could to convince her to stay, to no avail.

Once her diplomatic attempts failed, including talking to other convents and trying to convince them to not offer Richardis the position of Abbess, Hildegard admitted: «I only ask her so that she can console me and that I can console her».

TO BE CONTINUED…

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THE FOURTH WAY _With or without a Teacher?

E-mails from the Fourth Way’s web page The web page of www.quartavia.org (Official webpage of «La Teca» in Italy) sends a weekly e-mail to inform and help spread the teaching. Many have asked us to repost past e-mails (we started in the year 2000). This is the place to do so. Each month we will introduce some of those that for us have seemed the most interesting.

With or without a Teacher?

This time we decided to answer a specific question that is often posed to our editorial staff: “Is it possible to grow without a Teacher?”

True to our style, we have decided to respond with a story, a story that may not immediately clarify, but with patience and reflection may bring a result that is less theoretical, and more permanent. Reflect then upon our ‘stories’.

Until next time!

One day two students from the Way were discussing human beings.

The first said: “Man reaches the Truth through research and personal efforts. From his initial ignorance, he rises gradually to knowledge.”

The second said: “Man comes to the Truth only if he is guided by expert Teachers”.

The two men almost came to blows over the argument and were very far from agreement when a true Teacher walked by. They decided to submit their dispute to him.

“Do you want me to pronounce my thoughts on this problem?” asked the Teacher.

“Yes, please!” they urged.

“Well... Have you ever seen two dogs fighting for a bear?”

“Yes, of course!” they said in unison.

“Have you ever seen the bear take part in the discussion? Think about this. “ Sometimes, men discuss various issues before they turn such issues into their own inner reality. The two protagonists are facing their problem in the wrong manner. Instead of asking themselves whether they were prepared to be a student of a Teacher or prepared to make the journey alone, they create an external ideology out of the discussion. Their dispute illustrates their level of being.

And you, what do you think? Can we reach personal evolution by ourselves or should we be guided by expert Teachers?

THE FOURTH WAY _Letters to the Founder

Letters to the Founder

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// Giovanni M. Quinti answers

Send your question(s) to: informazioni@quartavia.org S My very dear Giovanni , Many things have changed within the group since leaving for Turin ...! Wrestling with different personalities, subtle and new challenges, envy and arguments of various types every day have showed up in all their brutal humanity ... putting each of us to the test. What a difficult and painful Way! ... It is everyday knowledge that we are the only real obstacle into achieving the highest Truth. On Thursday, at the end of the exercise, I only listened repeatedly to a word within me: ‘faith, faith and more faith’, ‘faith is a state’, ‘our little, fragile and faltering faith is our limitation.’ These words stayed in my head and my heart like an echo that did not seem to ever end ... I grew excited and I cried before this undeniable truth. Yet today there is something that pushes me not to give up, that pushes me to pray, to seek, to resist... Now I know that God’s word is no longer just a word ... then within some tiny, imperceptible seconds a force and a peace so deep that my words will never be able to describe, came to me ... drying my tears and shaking my whole being. At that moment all my fears were dispersed, all my gaps were filled, all my anger was pacified, all my ills were dissolved. My heart has been filled by love... at that moment I did not need anything, did not have any needs, no needs, at that moment I did not need anything, not even a mother or a father... my life was losing all sense of meaning, all so as not to lose that precious moment. Then, I began to think, my thoughts turned and moved in my head, and this splendid and touching feeling left quietly. A glimmer of light in my dark path. However, this intense and loving Presence granted to me came so unexpectedly, it

left within me a great nostalgia... Can I have nostalgia for something I do not truly know or understand? About something that the ordinary mind, trying to understand all around it, may or may not interpret the right way? About something that cannot be imagined even with the most unbridled fantasy? I wonder how my life would be if I received this feeling of Divine Presence in every moment of Today, in every word I say and every Action...

Perhaps I would do fewer things, talk a lot less, because every stupidity manifested through language, thoughts, or deeds, would push me away from the possibility of feeling His immense embrace. I feel I am very far away from that possibility. My sweet and shining guide, how many messages I have not understood, and perhaps how many other messages my hard head will send to oblivion... I would like to always remember the lessons that are made so visible to me, I would like to keep in my memory each of your words, even those which I do not understand, because each of your words reveals something that speaks to me... that excites me, angers me, or surprises me ... that makes me grow.

Thank you for your love... I think of you often ...

I hold you in my heart ...

How beautiful you are! My dear... how beautiful you are! Against this background, what is hell?

Against this background, what is paradise?

I sat down, did some exercise.

I had some chills. Now back to myself... I cross my legs.

Like a bonbon.

The sun is hot, I scratch my forehead…

Dear reader, the letter you devoted to me whispers in the ear one voice that sometimes you can hear from my heart and often transforms my crying into laughter. Is it the voice of God? The Higher Centres? Or my madness? You choose: “My small one, although you do not see me, you’re not alone.

Remember the reason you’re here. Remember when you were happy simply by coming to live this adventure in the world. ‘We will not see each other for a long time…’ I told you. However, you were too happy playing this game and you left. I will always see you, indeed, I live next to you… and yet you never know I am there… you forget everything. You forget Me and You. ‘You will also forget to come back…’ I worriedly repeated before you left. You told me: ‘Do not worry… I am sure that I willcome back to you, after I find the way out of this labyrinth.’

Now I ask you: ‘Do you remember?’”

THE FOURTH WAY_Introduction to the ideas of George Ivanovitch Gurdjieff

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Man’s role in the evolution of the Universe

We are inspired by certain unpublished notes by John G. Bennet, taken from a number of conferences given in Denison House between March and April of 1949 that help illustrate how the Fourth Way’s System places man in the Universe.

Introduction to the ideas of George Ivanovitch Gurdjieff edited by Eva M. Franchi

If you are able to work in this direction, your life acquires a cosmic meaning, because you become an individual capable of maintaining the order and the harmony of the growing Universe. For this reason, Gurdjieff refers in his books to man as a being to which the Creator has pinned the greatest of hopes.

This privilege is not related only to man, but to all tricerebral beings similar to man that populate all planets of the Universe. Therefore, man is a being called to a supremely great destiny; but whether each individual, man or woman, can fulfil such a task, that is another thing. With the goal of understanding the uncertainty of individual destiny, we must consider the bodies that make up what is man, actual and potential, from the esoteric point of view. The first body is the Planetary Body. It corresponds to what in some languages is called the Carnal Body, Physical Body or simply “the body”.

Gurdjieff defined it as the planetary body, because it is made up of substances that originate completely from the planet’s surface, coming from the planet’s surface and that eventually return to it. The Genesis quote “for dust you are and to dust you will return” refers to the planetary body of man. He also has a second body, which in the first set of his writings

Gurdjieff called Kesdjan Body. In other esoteric schools this is called the astral body or natural body, or simply ‘Second body’. It is not composed of substances that come from the planet’s surface, but rather higher order material that exists in the atmosphere of a planet that are capable of crystallising and forming the second body. The second body is not subject to the destructive influences of chemical and physical processes which operate on Earth. In other words, it does not disintegrate when the body dies. When the first physical body dies, the Kesdjan Body is separated from it and rises to a certain eternal level, according to their degree of development and perfection.

There may be many different degrees. This depends entirely on what the being has done with his life. If he has done nothing but serve the Trogoautoegocratic process or placed himself at the level of the mere existence of an animal that satisfies its own basic needs, then the Kesdjan Body will not form and there is nothing that can survive. However, if he has worked to attain a goal that is not only the result of the impulses and struggles of its animal existence then after these forces, energy unites and finally takes shape within it.

(TO BE CONTINUED)...

¨negative emotions¨

Illustration by José L. García Muedra

www.gurdjieff.es

THE FOURTH WAY Monthly Study Notes

"THE FOURTH WAY" is the official press body of the Institute for the Harmonious Development of Man - La Teca.

"When we learn, we listen only to our thoughts. this is why it is not possible for us to take in new thoughts, unless we use new methods of listening and studying."

London 13/02/1922 G.I. Gurdjieff

Each edition contains lots of sections full of information that has never been revealed publicly before, practical exercises and original material on the teachings of the Fourth Way.

Topics covered will include: -

The meaning of the Stop Exercise The Enneagram and the Tree of life The Fourth Way method explained step by step What has never been said about the 6th Lower Centre and the 3rd Higher Centre The secrets of Gurdjieff's life The Hasnamusses: who are they?

The Study of the Sacred Texts using the Fourth Way method Alchemy and the Fourth Way The influence of the Higher Centres Study of the Old Testament in light of the System Objective Music Where does Gurdjieff's teaching come from?

How to work on ourselves The Origins of the Fourth Way Dante and the Fourth Way The Relationship between Master and Pupil The Spiritual aspect of the Fourth Way The power of conscious thought What is true Self-remembering?

The Enneagram revealed: things that have never been written on the Enneagram

...AND MUCH MORE

IN THE NEXT EDITION VIA li TA ensi AR udio M QU di St LA dispense Le

VIAnsili RTAdio Me QUAdi Stu LA dispense Le

Why should we begin working on ourselves?

The Visit of the Three and the Destruction of Sodom

VIAnsili RTAdio Me QUAdi Stu LA dispense Le

Gurdjieff And the Christianity of the Origins ...AND MUCH MORE