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These lectures are intended to give you an understanding of the Fourth Way System
which is an esoteric teaching about the inner development possible for human beings. You will learn about the relationship
between Christian esotericism and the Fourth Way. You will hear instruction about the ideas, the practices and exercises,
the terminology, the process and aim, the requirements and result of becoming a student of the Fourth Way. At the end of these
lectures, you should clearly know what the Fourth Way is and whether it is the path you wish to follow.
Esoteric teaching
is a psychological system but it differs from todays version of psychology. Modern scientific psychology studies Man as it
finds him or as it supposes him to be. The psychology of esotericism studies Man from the point of view of his possible evolution.
This perspective on psychology is the one being used in these talks -- the point of view of Mans possible evolution.
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ESOTERICISM
Esotericism is all teaching regarding the inner development of Man. Esoteric teaching is
a special kind of knowledge that has to be learned and gradually understood through emotional development. It is intended
to produce a profound and authentic permanent change in the individual.
Esoteric teaching has existed throughout human
history in different forms and schools. At different periods, it has been sown into the world to give us direction. Nicoll:
In every age, there is sown into the world esoteric teaching which gives the direction in which individual evolution should
take place....In our epoch, we have been given the esoteric teaching in the gospels indicating the direction in which individual
evolution should take place at this stage.
The word esoteric is commonly misunderstood to mean secret or hidden. Esoteric
schools have existed for many thousands of years, but in the pre-industrial-technological world they consisted of relatively
small isolated groups. The vast majority of humanity never heard of esotericism and extremely few people came into contact
with a real school. The secret society mentality about esotericism arose partly from this ignorance due to circumstances and
it is used in current Fourth Way schools as a selling tactic. People love secrets, they love elitism, hats, and agreed-upon
delineated hierarchical groups. But esoteric does not mean secret or hidden, it refers to the inner meaning of a thing. Gurdjieff:
In the first place, this knowledge is not concealed; and in the second place it cannot, from its very nature, become common
property. Esoteric knowledge is not hidden, it is available, however, the enormous majority of people cannot hear it or if
they do, they find it fantastic, or at least unnecessary.
Esoteric teaching is for those who are not satisfied with
themselves or with life as it is, those who feel there must be some greater meaning to life and yearn to find their own meaning
in it. If you are mostly satisfied with yourself, with the kind of person you are, esotericism is not the path for you. You
must have a question in yourself and feel a longing for understanding, for completeness and personal meaning and direction.
Then, if you seek, when you find you will be able to hear.
GURDJIEFF, OUSPENSKY, AND NICOLL
Gurdjieff
(1872-1949)
So much has been written about the very enigmatic George Ivanovitch Gurdjieff that anyone would be hard pressed
to sort out fact from fiction or in this case, slander from idolatry. Gossip is easy and second-hand information is subjective.
What is commonly accepted is that he was Greek-Armenian, trained from his childhood in the Sufi tradition and he was possibly
an Orthodox monk at some point. Also, he traveled extensively through Egypt, Greece, India, and the Caucasus seeking out schools
of esotericism. In 1917, he left Russia with a small group of students and eventually settled in France in 1922. There he
purchased a residence at Fontainebleau and opened what he called the Institute for the Harmonious Development of Man where
he taught the Fourth Way.
His methods were controversial and his personal behavior sometimes outrageous. There has
always been debate about his motives, his actions, and his legitimacy. Mr. Gurdjieff can only be encountered in the Fourth
Way Work, in the System he taught. In the light of understanding the Work, its magnitude and significance, you encounter Gurdjieff
and thereafter gossip or arguing about his sources becomes irrelevant. The beauty and importance of the Fourth Way which he
introduced to western civilization validates his authenticity, but in spite of his reputation and accomplishment and flamboyant
personality, he remained humble. He gave this very stern warning to potential students: Never confuse the vessel with the
cargo.
Ouspensky (1878-1947)
Peter Demianovich Ouspensky was born in Moscow. He was an intellectual and a journalist
for some years and traveled in the east and Europe and Russia. In 1907, he discovered the idea of esotericism and pursued
the study of it in many different countries and methods. His search took him to Egypt, Greece, India, Ceylon and many other
countries. He also studied occult literature, yogis, Tarot, and magical methods. He gave public lectures on his search for
the miraculous.
He met Gurdjieff in 1915 in Moscow and was so impressed that he arranged groups to whom Gurdjieff
presented his teaching. Ouspensky and Gurdjieff had a rocky personal relationship. In 1918, Ouspensky began to feel that I
had ceased to understand him and found it necessary to separate Gurdjieff and the system, of which I had no doubts. In 1922
he helped Gurdjieff move to Fontainebleau in France and subsequently visited there several times. Ouspensky finally broke
acrimoniously with Gurdjieff in 1924 but continued his work in London. After his death in 1947, the manuscript of his book
Fragments of an Unknown Teaching was sent to Gurdjieff who said: Before I hate that man, now I love that man. The book was
published in 1949 and retitled In Search of the Miraculous.
Nicoll (1884-1953)
Maurice Nicoll was born in Kelso,
Scotland into a titled family. He attended college and qualified as a physician and eventually became a practicing psychologist
in London. He spent several years studying in Paris, Berlin and Vienna, and worked with Carl Jung for some time. In 1914,
he served with the R.A.M.C. in Gallipoli and Mesopotamia during World War I. Upon returning to England, he was a medical officer
in charge of the Empire Hospital which treated men with head and spinal injuries.
He met Ouspensky in 1921 and became
interested in the Teaching. Some time later he closed his practice in London and went to live at the Institute at Fontainebleau
where he worked with Gurdjieff directly. When he returned to England, he received Ouspenskys permission to pass on the ideas
he had received from both teachers. He began teaching in 1931 in England and continued until his death in 1953.
GENERAL
DESCRIPTION AND AIM
The Fourth Way is an esoteric teaching about the personal development of consciousness possible
for a human being. Man is created as a self-evolving being. Nicoll: Man is sown on earth...with the possibility of inner development,
and the existence of this Work, the existence of Christs teaching and the existence of many other teachings, is due solely
to this fact -- that Man is created as an organism capable of undergoing an inner evolution.
This system uses ideas,
practices, and exercises designed to bring about a gradual change in the level of your understanding, in the perspective of
your mind and in the nature of your character. It can be practiced in life -- your life, as it is now. There is no need to
remove yourself from your circumstances and go into a separate community in order to be in the Fourth Way. Its psychological
methodology is meant to be practiced in your daily life with all of the circumstances and people belonging to it.
It
requires two kinds of effort -- work on your knowledge and work on your Being because these two combine to create understanding.
All development depends entirely on your own efforts and motives. Sincerity is critical as is honesty. It is a lifetime process
aimed at creating a psychology that is rightly ordered to be able to receive divine inspiration or what the Fourth Way calls
higher influences.
It is called the Fourth Way in regard to the three other approaches to the inner development of
Will. The first way is the way of the fakir; the way of the physical body developing body will. The second way is the way
of the monk which forms an axis of religious devotion, love of God, creating emotional will. The third way is the way of the
yogi, which develops mind will.
This system teaches that everyone is regarded as having three given bodies -- physical,
emotional, intellectual -- and a potential fourth body which must be created by Will. A path which develops only one body
is unbalanced. A fakir may develop enormous physical will and perhaps be able to hold his arms outstretched for years. Of
what use is this? He has not developed his emotional body or his intellectual body and so with his will he can do nothing
of value. It is nearly the same with the other two paths. The monk is undeveloped physically and intellectually. The yogi
is undeveloped physically and emotionally. The developmental teaching of the Fourth Way works with all three given bodies
simultaneously to produce Balanced Man who can develop Conscious Will which is the access to divine body.
The four bodies are called in Christian terminology the carnal, natural, spiritual
and divine natures. In the Fourth Way, these are the first body, second body, third body, and fourth body. (SEE CHART)
The
first body is the most external part, the physical body which experiences sensations. It is given to us already organized,
but it functions mechanically by responding to external impressions.
The second body is the emotional body and is
an unorganized mass of feelings and desires, constantly changing, subject to no direction, responding automatically. It is
more internal than the first body.
The third body is the intellectual body which is the seat of thoughts and thinking
functions. It is also an unorganized mass of changing thoughts stimulated randomly.
The fourth body is the divine
body. It is accessible only by Will created in the ordering of the second and third bodies. Developing Conscious Will by organizing
your three given bodies gives you access to your divine body or nature, which is inexpressible. If this is achieved, the fourth
body then has existence and it possesses consciousness, individuality, and will. The fourth Will--Body is Master. It is the
highest and most internal part of you.
The functioning of an undeveloped man is initiated by external life. His first
body, physical body, experiences sensations which give rise to emotions in the second body which find expression in thoughts
in the third body. In this case, there is no fourth body, no will-body, just a jumble of small, conflicting momentary wills
stimulated by the unorganized emotions and thoughts. His functions are governed by changing sensations in external life.
In
this system, developed Man is directed by consciousness in his divine body and obeys divine will. In this case, the most internal
part (fourth body) is directing the functions of the other three bodies. The fourth bodys conscious awareness understands
what any circumstance needs and the divine will directs thoughts in the third body regarding these needs which produces corresponding
selfless emotions in the second body which creates appropriate actions in the first body. In this way, what is highest is
generating actions with intentionality and the three given bodies are subject to it.
The acquisition of a Divine body
is the same process as that of baptism. The Fourth Way is practical instruction on the process of this acquisition.
THE
GENERAL STRUCTURE OF THE SYSTEM
There are three aspects of the general structure of the Fourth Way system as it was
taught at Fontainebleau -- the cosmology, the movements, and the Work.
The Cosmology
There is much to be gained
by studying the cosmology of the Fourth way. However, I would say to you at the beginning that one of the cornerstone ideas
of this system is the admonition verify everything for yourself. The cosmology is a mind-expanding model of the universe.
The study of it can impart a perspective of scale and relativity and stretch the mind dimensionally. Some of the ideas act
as a shock of sorts, designed to awaken you a little or cause you to think differently about creation in general and your
place and meaning in it. If you reflect on the ideas, you may begin to have a change in your understanding. (SEE CHART)
The
Ray of Creation is the primary cosmological model about the ordering of the universe. All created things are ordered according
to laws otherwise there would be only chaos -- disorder. This system teaches that the universe is living and evolving, seeking
unity and consciousness. Its structure is represented in the Ray of Creation.
The Ray shows us seven levels of Creation,
beginning with the Absolute, which is subject to only one law -- the law of its own will. The second level is the level of
all possible starry systems or galaxies and it is under three laws. Each subsequent level is subject to the number of laws
of the preceding level and in addition, that same number of laws at its own level. So the third level, which is the level
of our Milky Way, is under three laws from the second level and three laws of its own, therefore six laws belong to that level.
The fourth level is the level of our sun which is under twelve laws. The fifth is the level of the planets as one mass, under
twenty-four laws. The sixth is the level of our earth, under forty-eight laws. The seventh is the level of our moon, under
ninety-six laws.
The Ray of Creation teaches that all matter is energy condensing as it moves farther away from its
source in the Absolute, becoming coarser and denser material. It teaches that our earth and the human beings on it appear
far down in the Ray and are consequently subject to many laws; the laws of nature, the laws of physics, the law of accident,
etc. It teaches that Man is a self-developing being created for a special purpose in the function of the Ray of Creation.
For that reason, we have been given the free will to choose evolution. Gurdjieff: There is only evolution and non-evolution.
Actually, there is also degeneration which is certainly non-evolution, but it is not a static condition. It is possible also
to lose the ability to become conscious through degeneration.
That special purpose in the Ray of Creation for which
we are created, individually and collectively, is expressed in its simplest terms in the cosmology by the table of hydrogens.
Our purpose can most elementally be put as transforming energies from coarser vibrations to finer vibrations.
The
law of Seven or the Law of Octaves in the cosmology is a teaching about the ordering of creation on different levels -- in
the macrocosm of the universe and in the microcosm of Man.
One of the most important points to understand in studying
the Ray of Creation is that the nature of the Absolute is one thing -- perfect Goodness.
(SEE CHART)
The Law of Three,
sometimes called the Law of the Trinity, teaches that in every manifestation of anything in the universe, three forces must
be present. They are 1) Active Force, 2)Passive Force, 3)Neutralizing Force. Active and Passive forces essentially cancel
each other out and produce nothing. A third neutralizing force is necessary to bring the opposites into relationship in order
to produce something.
The cosmology of the Fourth Way is mind-expanding and enlightening. It can give you a valuation
for the magnitude of this teaching and a perspective on its aim, including ideological shocks that help to create moments
of higher consciousness. In this system, it is taught that you must begin in the Work with the study of the cosmology and
this can have validity for the above reasons. However, in doing so, you will find eventually that all of the cosmology cannot
be verified and you are instructed not to take anything on faith. More importantly, whatever knowledge you can receive does
not result in personal transformation. Even the most astute knowledge of the cosmology cannot produce a permanent transformation
of consciousness, which is the whole aim of esoteric teaching.
The Movements
At the Institute in France, students
participated in learning Sufi dances or movements. This physical exercise was practice in attention, discipline, cooperation,
precision, perseverance, and more, including occupation for the students. The dances were performed in public to earn money
for the Institute, as well. They are quite extraordinary. It is said that these movements, or dances, carry esoteric meaning.
This may or may not be so, or may or may not be verifiable. In any case, the unavoidable fact is that just as intellectual
knowledge of the Fourth Way cosmology doesnt produced transformation, neither do the movements.
In spite of this,
many Fourth Way schools insist that the Movements must be practiced as part of the system, and in order to be balanced. This
is a serious misinterpretation of the idea of balanced centers or balanced Man in this teaching. The only physical requirement
for transformation of consciousness is brain function, so regardless of their relative value, the Movements are not necessary
for transformation of mind. Nicoll: No amount of attention to the body will create transformation.
The Work
The
psychological exercises and practices of the Fourth Way are the Work of the system. They are specifically designed to be used
in your daily life experiences. They are aimed at self-knowledge, growing authenticity and becoming conscious. This is the
transformation that esotericism refers to and the psychological Work is the means for attaining it.
The ideas and
exercises and practices of the Work are meant to build something up inside you that lifts you into a higher level of consciousness.
Nicoll: The knowledge of this Work is of a kind that can act on Being and as a result give rise to understanding. This action
can only take place using the force of your personal efforts in practicing the Work. Applying the ideas to yourself with sincerity
and diligence is effort -- Work. This is doing the Work -- being in the Work. Many students think and say that they are in
the Work simply because they are studying the Fourth Way system. This is not so. You have to do the Work in order to be in
the Work.
LEVELS OF CONSCIOUSNESS
(SEE CHART)
The premise for assuming that there can be a developmental
system lies in understanding the idea of different levels in an individual. All of the ideas of the Work are based on understanding
that different levels of consciousness exist. Therefore, movement from one level to another level is possible. Nicoll: As
he is, Man serves the purposes of nature and nothing else is necessary in regards to his life. But he can put himself under
different influences if he chooses. He can change his level of consciousness and consequently attract different circumstances
according to his level.
In this system there are said to be seven levels of consciousness consisting of four states
which belong to three different kinds of Man existing at different levels.
Man # 1, 2, and 3 all share the first two
states equally. First State is resting sleep, literal sleep with dreams. Second State is called Waking State in which you
walk and talk and act in life mechanically. The Work calls Second State Sleep as well, because it functions automatically
without consciousness.
At this level of consciousness, there is only the darkness of being asleep. No help is possible
because higher influences can only reach down as far as the Third State of Consciousness. This is what the system teaches,
but it would be more accurate to say that Man asleep -- mechanical Man (numbers 1, 2, and 3) cannot perceive the finer vibrations
coming from higher consciousness because of the coarse nature of his Being. The Absolute can reach where it wills but mechanical
Man turns a deaf ear.
Man # 4 is at the Third State of Consciousness. He is beginning to awaken through the practice
of Self-Observation and Self-Remembering. He has some degree self-awareness and Real I.
Man # 4 is called Balanced Man
which in general terms means a man functioning properly. Balanced Man has organized his centers (or bodies) -- the functions
of his psychology. He is able to remain upright in the center of the swinging pendulum of life events and circumstances. Achieving
this state requires long term, sincere, hard psychological Work. Real inner Work. But the right efforts made for the right
motives will produce real inner change. From the level of Man # 4, influences, inspiration and understanding can reach him,
light is present and help is possible.
Man numbers 5, 6, and 7 live in Fourth State -- Objective Consciousness. These
three are called Conscious Man, Man Awake. Light is present and help is available. At this level, a man can see things as
they really are.
Conscious Man has understanding and perspective, intentionally developed Consciousness and Being,
active Real Conscience and the Will to do. Conscious Man is authentic and living out his meaning and purpose in Gods will.
He is guided by divine inspiration, spiritual direction, objective Truth, real Conscience, objective consciousness, and goodness
above all things. Conscious Man is incapable of violence.
SLEEP
Lets look at an example of mechanical
Man, that is, Man asleep, Man #1, 2 and 3, which means all of us.
Lets take the ordinary circumstances in the daily
life of an ordinary man. Lets say he is married and has a dog and a job. He wakes in the morning to the sound of the alarm
clock and immediately wishes he could sleep longer. Resignation accompanies bringing his feet to the floor. His shower revives
him and he remembers that today is Friday. Relieved and happy about the weekend, he begins to imagine the activities he plans.
While he is thinking about a pleasant event, he gets soap in his eye and immediately anger flairs. Perhaps he swears or growls
or some such. When he steps out of the shower with his stinging eye, he finds the dog scratching and whining at the bathroom
door. He irritably wonders why his wife hasnt let the dog out yet. He cant do it right now. The dog will have to wait, he
says to himself with impatience. He hurries to finish his preparations, dropping his toothbrush and nicking his chin while
his frustration builds. His mind returns repeatedly to the special occasion on the weekend and he imagines conversations and
scenarios where he is the center of attention or where he is appreciated, flattered, and of course always right. Or he worries
about who will be there, how they will treat him, whether he will make a good impression, if they will like him or embarrass
him. Dressed, he comes out to find that the dog has gone and he is irritable again, thinking how he hurried and cut himself
shaving only to find that it was unnecessary. The smell of coffee attracts him and his first sip brings him a wave of pleasure.
His wife comes in and they share a warm greeting. He is noticing how nice the weather is when she lets the dog back in. The
dog jumps up and his hot coffee sloshes over the edge of his cup, burning his hand and staining his shirt. He yells at the
dog and explodes with anger over his shirt. He stalks from the room. Changing his shirt means changing ties and now he can
barely manage it, what with his burned fingers, nicked chin, and stinging eye. He swears he is going to take that dog to obedience
school. He never wanted it in the first place, it was her idea. She can take the dog to school. Now he is running late, so
he skips breakfast, says a hurried goodbye to his wife, and heads out for work. Traffic is light and his favorite music is
on, and it reminds him of sentimental times passed. Out of the blue, he remembers that he left his paperwork by the bedside
instead of in his briefcase. He smacks the wheel with his hand and curses aloud. He has to return home and he will be late
for sure now. He worries, he blames the dog, his wife, the shampoo, his life.
This man believes, as does every
individual, that he is fully conscious, that he acts from his own volition and is perfectly aware of himself and of what he
is doing. The Work says that a man functioning at this level is a stimulus-response organism reacting to life enslaved to
his mechanical responses. He functions with no awareness or intentionality and he is asleep to this fact, unconscious of his
state.
This is Sleep (Waking State, Second State). Everyone functions in this manner automatically, creating the chaos,
suffering and violence in the world.
The idea that everyone is asleep is a shock that can help to change your thinking.
However, the awareness that you yourself are Asleep is a shock of awakening. This awareness you can only gain through personal
Verification.
AWAKENING
The idea of awakening from this Sleep is to grow in consciousness and be able
to act with intentionality instead of only reacting mechanically. The chief obstacle to awakening from this condition is that
each person imagines that he already possesses full consciousness and self-awareness so he doesnt need it, doesnt seek it,
isnt interested. Each person believes that they act with cognizance and that they possess the will to do whatever they choose
to do.
The Work tells us that this is an illusion and that the illusion that you are already properly conscious is
part of the condition of being asleep. Note please that the Work does not tell you that life is an illusion (which can make
you insane). It tells you that your subjective view of it is an illusion.
People dont act. They react. From the beginning
of their life, each person is reacting to the circumstances that come to them and this is the only way it can be. But the
mechanical, automatic stimulus-response organism, which means each of us, is also created as a self-developing organism. We
can evolve in consciousness by way of specific intentional efforts.
ESSENCE, REAL I, AND BEING
You were
born with a unique self that has a few innate qualities which are observable. As an infant, you were either primarily active
or passive and you had either a positive disposition or a negative disposition predominantly. There are other idiosyncratic
attributes present at birth that are more subtle, but the point is that you are born with a totally unique self already present.
In the Work, this is called your Essence. It contains your reason for being.
As an infant, your essence is somewhat
like a clean slate. It has unique characteristics and disposition, but as your essence is influenced by its experience in
your environment, your personality is formed around it. Personality is acquired to enable you to interact with life and survive
because self-preservation is the primary directive. In human development, that directive translates into gaining power over
your environment in order to get your needs met so that you can survive which is, after all, the first precondition necessary
for any other possibility.
So Essence is the more internal part of you and the more authentic part, but it is overlaid
with a personality which may not express your essence at all. Remember that personality was formed around essence via your
subjective experience of your life and its events over which you had no control. Essence can only develop in life up to a
certain point when personality must take over. It remains undeveloped and powerless unless it is intentionally developed through
the Work. The intention in the Work is to develop Essence until it has the power to direct your personality. This process
revolves around making your Acquired Personality passive so that essence can become active. If this process is successful
and essence develops, Real I emerges.
Real I is Master. Everyone has Real I which will manifest developed Essence
in True Personality, but it also must be gradually reached through the Work. It exists within you at the level of Self-Remembering,
the Third State of consciousness. The Work teaches exercises and practices which help to bring Real I into presence. The practice
of Self-Observation informs and illuminates Real I and carries a taste of it because they are connected at the same level
of consciousness.
Personality is the most external part of you. Behind Acquired Personality is Essence, and behind
Essence lies Real I. Psychologically speaking, Essence is internal to personality and Real I is internal to Essence. Real
I is your highest self. It is the truth of your Being.
What the Work calls your Being is roughly the nature of your
character. Everyone possesses Being to one degree or another. Being exists in scale that is on different levels and it can
be developed. For example, the Being of an honorable man is greater or above the Being of a criminal man. In the very beginning
of the Work, you are asked to work in two areas of yourself -- work on Knowledge and work on Being. That is because it is
this special esoteric knowledge applied to your Being which produces understanding and it is said in this Work that understanding
is the most powerful force you can develop. The development of consciousness is inseparable from the development of Being.
They go hand in hand.
One of the elements in the scale of Being is that different levels are discontinuous with each
other, like parallel telephone lines between two poles. The events you encounter on one level of Being may not exist on another
level which has its own different events. Nicoll: The level of Being awaiting you just above your present line, which is your
evolution, your inner development, your inner growth, is discontinuous with your present level, just as one rung of a ladder
is not continuous with the next. You have to jump.
The most important idea in the Work about Being is that your Being
attracts your life.
ACQUIRED (FALSE) PERSONALITY
As was said, Essence interacts with life and personality
is formed from these infinite idiosyncratic factors. Personality forms around Essence as a means of interacting with life
and this is absolutely necessary. It forms according to laws that apply to everyone. In other words, its formulation is ordered.
The Work calls this formation of personality the first education. It is referred to in this system as False Personality
and it is indeed false. I find the term Acquired Personality somewhat clearer and more specific, less condemning.
Personality
in general can be described as a collection of habits. Habits of thinking -- thinking about the same things in the same ways;
habits of feeling -- recurring emotions, repetitive emotional states; habits of talking -- repeating the same stories, the
same phrases, the same words. You have habits of attitudes and of opinions. You have habits of the physical body -- posture,
facial expressions, tensions, movements, body language; habits of Being and habitual ways of responding to life events. You
acquired all of these habits by imitation, by opposition, by family and cultural and community influences. That is, life influences
in which you had no choice, therefore these habits are not You. You are not your personality.
Your personality renders
life to you according to its unique shape or formulation, automatically. You have an attitude about something, an opinion
about another thing, you have feelings and thoughts and these things compose your experience. Yet all of these habits that
make up your personality do not express your Essence or your Real I. You may experience this sometimes as the feeling of being
a phony or being unknown to yourself.
Essence has to be intentionally developed as well as Real I. These two aspects
do not evolve mechanically. They evolve only with the personal efforts of attention and intentionality taught in esotericism,
in the Work.
One of the primary teachings about personality is that it has an illusion of unity. Ouspensky: The illusion
of unity or oneness is created in Man first, by the sensation of one physical body, by his name....and third, by a number
of mechanical habits which are implanted in him by education or acquired by imitation. Having always the same physical sensations,
hearing always the same name, and noticing in himself the same habits and inclinations he had before, he believes himself
to be always the same.
The Work teaches that, in reality, Man is a disorganized mass of Is with no permanence. Each
thought, feeling, sensation, like or dislike is an I. Unconnected, contradictory and even opposite Is in you say I as if each
speaks for the whole of you. This is called the Doctrine of Is and although it may sound incomprehensible at first, it is
easily verified and critical to your development. You can observe within yourself the turning wheel of Is, each a thought
or an emotion, a desire or a sensation. Man is a Multiplicity, not a unity. There is no single controlling I or will. Each
I has its own small temporary will which vanishes when the next I is dominant.
The recognition of your Multiplicity
marks a critical stage in the Work process. It feels very unstable to see your lack of identity and can induce a kind of psychological
vertigo that is frightening. Ironically, it is by way of this Multiplicity that you find the opportunity for intentional change
and real stability.
The Work teaches you how to recognize and choose and nurture the Is in you that belong to higher
consciousness or Real I and how to become detached from Is that are harmful or do not express your Real I. In this way, the
Work works in your psychology on your personality.
But Man commonly takes himself as one I and has a picture in his
mind of himself as his personality. This is his imaginary I. It is a cloak put on by each I in turn.
There is another
very significant teaching about personality in the Work which I would like to make particularly clear. There is a level of
development in personality called Good Householder. This means a person who does his duty in life, lives responsibly to himself
and in the world, without criminality or perversion. Only a person who has reached this stage called Good Householder is fit
for the Work. If you cannot live a decent ordinary life, then you have no chance of success in the extraordinary Work. Nicoll:
Let us again recapitulate the teaching about Being. First, a man must be in life and have delt with life and reached some
adequate position in life and knowledge of life and so be a Good Householder, capable of dealing with the ordinary difficulties
and problems of human existence -- that is, the Work is not for people who seek to escape from the normal burdens of life.
It is for normal decent people and starts from that level of Being. It is very important that everyone should understand this.
THE PSYCHOLOGY OF POSSIBLE EVOLUTION
The development or evolution that is possible for a person on
this earth, in their lifetime, is psychological. Remember that Man is created on the earth as a self-evolving being capable
of self-generated psychological change -- development. This Work which begins with self-knowledge is called self-evolution
because it is only through sincere efforts intentionally made by yourself that the possibility of evolution exists. It is
in and through the energy of the effort to Work that evolution happens. Each person must make their own efforts in order to
evolve. Only personal inner Work effort produces the force for evolution. This process in the Work will take you from self-interested
psychology to self-transcendent psychology. Awakening from a sleeping mechanical psychology to an intentional conscious psychology
is your destiny. It is what each of us is here to do. The fact that this Teaching exists is hard proof of Gods unconditional
Love reaching down to us even in our insignificance; His very personal Love for each of us individually and equally.
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