At Antioch College in Ohio, a teacher introduced me to In Search of the Miraculous. It took me three days to read the table of contents: each phrase was significant. I returned the book, “I’m not ready.” Reading Casteneda, I found my hands in a dream. Peyote helped me verify the existence of states in which I might wish to live, to which I could return through personal effort. (more…)
009.02.10 Joining a Fourth Way School
108.05.10 What Keeps Us from Being Present?
My arrival at our agreed venue was at 7:30 in the morning after an overnight bus trip. Every time I make the trip using the overnight bus, I promise myself that I will never do it again. Of course, those groups of thoughts do not know the other group who monitor the mundane affairs of the world like budget, expenses, etc. Upon arriving, after greeting my fellow day-trippers and a brief breakfast, we set out on our excursion. (more…)
108.05.10 Self-Observation
Until we understand ourselves, it is not really possible to understand much about anything around us.
To make an observation and create a memory of it, one needs to be a bit more awake, and we wake up at times when things are not happening completely mechanically, times when our usual mechanical patterns have been interrupted. One of the first intervals we have to overcome is to find ways to catch the machine when it is behaving mechanically and to see what it is doing then, because those are the moments when it is manifesting from feature and body type and center of gravity. (more…)
008.05.10 Fourth Way Schools
How is one able to ascertain if a School is authentic and that the teacher is conscious?
There are no ready-made formulas to determine immediately if one has found an authentic School, or if the teacher is awake. This is a matter of trial and error over a period of time. (more…)
207.16.10 The Many I’s
Because we are asleep and do not see that the ‘I’s are merely a response to external stimuli, we can imagine that they are speaking for us, that they are “doing.” But the ‘I’s are not actually making decisions; they are not actually what is living one’s life. They are just running along behind, commenting on our lives. Something happens and then you have an ‘I’ to express it, or an ‘I’ to buffer it. This is part of our sleep. The ‘I’s can never quite catch up to the present, and so they are always rushing forward, trying to catch up. (more…)
207.16.10 Being Invited to a Real School
Finding a School or being guided to a School is the moment where one gets a better understanding why one’s life before has been as it has been. Personally I never looked for a School. My childhood was alright, nice, with caring and loving parents, safe upbringing, friends in school. Still, since the age of 12-13 I have often felt like an outsider, not being part of a peer group. (more…)
The fundamental premise of spiritual Teachings is that man is composed of two bodies: a physical body created through sexual union, henceforth known as the ‘lower self,’ and an ethereal body composed of a Divine spark, henceforth known as the ‘Beloved’ or the ‘Higher Self.’ (more…)
An Esoteric School of Awakening possesses practical knowledge of the laws governing awakening from sleep to consciousness; and it is able to give guidance on working with these laws. These are fine words but how do you recognize that you are in an Esoteric School of Awakening? (more…)
307.03.10 The Fourth Way
In his invaluable book, In Search of the Miraculous, Peter Ouspensky quotes these words from George Gurdjieff:
Fusion, inner unity, is obtained by means of ‘friction,’ by the struggle between ‘yes’ and ‘no’ in man. If a man lives without inner struggle, if everything happens in him without opposition, if he goes wherever he is drawn or wherever the wind blows, he will remain such as he is. But if a struggle begins in him, and particularly if there is a definite line in this struggle, then, gradually, permanent traits begin to form themselves, and he begins to ‘crystallize.’ (more…)
Do all those who seek Wisdom Schools or a teacher share similar attitudes and a similar sincerity to awaken?
Before we begin to respond, it is important to understand that each seeker is doing the best he can in this lifetime. Therefore, no one is to be judged for his limitations. (Note: the idea of ‘lifetimes’ is beyond the scope of our present conversation, but it will be discussed in the not too distant future.) (more…)