The Fifth Way

We are awake already but this is not fully realized.

For man number four, still struggling towards his destination: The Fourth Way. For higher man, the arrived man:The Fifth Way. P.D. Ouspensky

Latest Activity

Roberto Leite Vilela is now a member of The Fifth Way
July 1
Good observation of different kinds of enjoyment. In the I-ching there are two different hexagrams for joy. Also there is the saying "You'll know them by their fruit", which makes sense in this context. Enjoyment through laziness does not last. It...
June 1
Living in Sunnyville should make a good start to wake up everyday with a smile. Next we'll work on keeping it there. *smile*
May 31
Bodhi Greenman updated their profile
May 31
Bodhi Greenman updated their profile photo
May 31
Everyone has to have "Diva-Ista" or desire of the heart. For some its drugs, money, a family, a home, religion or even the "Work" (etc...). The desire of your heart becomes your god! So it's best to shoot high, really high so your not disapointed ...
May 29
"Words" they are never quite good enough. The real answer is waiting on the other end of the bridge of meditation. From activity to stillness. How wonderful!
May 29
Oh my, all these years I've been telling it as a mango tree and the Mahatma as a fool sitting under the tree. To further mangle it I had Narada as the Lord Krishna. Oh well, the final upshot was about the same so I'm confident the Shankracharya wi...
May 28
Curtis Taylor and Stephen Eisel are now friends
May 26
Stephen Eisel added a blog post
There was a holy man sitting/meditating under the shade of a tamarind tree. Narada ( the one who informs the Absolute of the progress of his disciples - the faithful) was doing his rounds and got into a conversation with this Mahatma, who asked hi...
May 26
I'm pretty confident we enjoy that story a lot more than he enjoys me telling it. *smile* Still, he's a good sport. He's a member here. LOL!
May 26
Stephen Eisel updated their profile
May 26

Groups

 

Intention

It's okay with me that Ouspensky says, The Fifth Way is the ultimate Way, the Way that includes and replaces all others. I am not Ouspensky and I don't know what he had in mind when he wrote those words anymore than I know in which state he was. To some it may appear that includes and replaces stand in contradiction to one another. This is not how it appears to me. Lao-Tzu wrote: The space between Heaven and Earth, seat of the Principle, the place from where its virtue acts, is like a bellows, like the bag of a bellows of which Heaven and Earth would be the two boards, which empties without exhausting itself, which moves itself externally without cease.
This is all we can understand of the Principle and of its action as producer. To try to detail it further using words and numbers would be a waste of time. Let us stick to this grand idea.


Forum

James Parkinson

Preamble to Precepts 4 Replies

THE FIFTH WAY The 5th Way is the ultimate Way, the Way that includes and replaces all others. For a man number 4, still struggling towards his destination: the 4th Way. For higher man, the arrived...

Tagged: fifth-way, struggling, arrived, fourth-way, ouspensky

Started by James Parkinson in Fifteen Precepts. Last reply by James Parkinson Jul. 28, 2008.

James Parkinson

First Precept 16 Replies

The Yale University Library hold papers from P.D. Ouspensky's estate. A sealed envelope on which was written: Not to be opened until the year 2007 was among them. This envelop was opened last year....

Tagged: fifth-way, jesus, awake, buddha, mohammed

Started by James Parkinson in Fifteen Precepts. Last reply by James Parkinson Dec. 14, 2008.

Traces

Birthdays

Today is my birthday. What is the difference from one day to the next? Apart from weather and external events a day is a day. It’s something to which we either give meaning or to which meaning is given without our conscious participation. Today I’ll change the number representing my age on the About Me page. What will that mean? It will mean I have today completed sixty-two years in this body, on this earth. It will mean today I begin the sixty-third year in this body and on this earth. It will not mean I am wise or kind. It will not mean I have gained anything through my survival. Some might say nothing means anything until we give it meaning. What’s more is that the meaning we give it doesn’t have to be its real meaning. Yes, there is real meaning because we live in a created and ordered universe. What is real meaning? Is it meaning that doesn’t change? If so, then why are there so many things that change meaning? It is because there are two meanings. One is the real meaning assigned by the creator and the other is a place holder meaning that we put over top of real meaning.

This morning I was standing in the kitchen preparing my breakfast when I an interesting realization that caused me to smile. After all these years I’m beginning to like me. I don’t mean love me the way we all love ourselves no matter how much we lie about it. This isn’t self-love. It’s more like self-acceptance. Something that has consistently eluded me. My life is not perfect by any standard of which I am aware, other than the idea that everything is perfect the way it is and we do not realize it. The work of esotericism has a subtracting effect on us. Instead of adding to us it takes away from us. It seems ironic that this should be the case as most people come to esotericism to get something not to get rid of something. That’s how I got started. Perhaps this helps explain why so few find it desirable to continue what they’ve started. If we had nothing else in common we would all still share incomplete octaves. We start things and then do not finish them. We change our minds about things because we don’t have anything that could properly be called a single mind. Instead we are divided into many different minds according to our desires, which we mislabel wills.

I am less than I was. If you have learned to see the plague of yourself you know why I was smiling. Why I will smile periodically throughout the day and for many days to come, if I live long enough. If I don’t I will be satisfied knowing that I am less today than I was ten years ago. To many this may not seem a worthy goal but to a few who understand it will be real. Today is another day. Today is the only day because there can never really be another day like it. We have to be here for it to realize it and that’s so hard to do. We’re called away by so many hopes, dreams, desires and past associations that being here for now is out of reach most of the time. We can be different. Not more but less and less is more when we come to see the plague of ourselves.

Blog Posts

Stephen Eisel

"The Tamarind Tree"

There was a holy man sitting/meditating under the shade of a tamarind tree. Narada ( the one who informs the Absolute of the progress of his disciples - the faithful) was doing his rounds and got into a conversation with this Mahatma, who asked him to take a message to the Absolute.
When the answer came back in a few weeks time, when he was on his rounds again, Narada didn't want to tell the Mahatma. Narada said it would depress him very much if he was given the answer. The answer was that "as m… Continue

Posted by Stephen Eisel on May 26, 2009 at 4:34pm — 2 Comments

Jason Parrish

the rhyming of life

Behind my right eye is a purple priestess
With a real world presence
Now a reflection of a shadow
At the temple altar

Supposed to be
Became the mantra

Thoughts are material for better or worse
Like a virus they are infectious
The struggle begins

Behind my left eye is a green priestess
She attracts my attention
With a dance

As she gracefully approaches and takes my hand
I wonder what led me here?

It is easier to be redirected than to change anything
This path is of the least resistance

Bewa… Continue

Posted by Jason Parrish on December 23, 2008 at 8:19pm — 4 Comments

Dietmar Jokisch

Having questions

When I think about "my being attracts my life", what is it, that attracts life?
My thoughts about life? My feelings about me? Or a mixture of both?
But that's not being, as I understand it. Well, actually, I have no idea,
what being really is. So, how can I say, what it's not?

All I can say is, I'm not clear about this. I cannot describe being.
Do I have to? Maybe the question is just, how to stop thinking about being?

Sometimes, when listening to Gurdjieff music and reading maybe a touching
q… Continue

Posted by Dietmar Jokisch on September 4, 2008 at 3:53pm — 3 Comments

Curtis Taylor

Reassessing the Fourth Way. Transforming my Work.

The Fourth Way is a system presented by people who followed Gurdjieff, an extraordinary man. Generations later, this system is still being compiled by experimenters, believers, and seekers of truth. The Fourth Way, as it appears to be presented today, indicates if I do it right I will wake up, be enlightened, have peace, and obtain being of a higher level. I will know I am doing the Work if I am excelling at remembering myself, being super aware, being transparent and cooperative i… Continue

Posted by Curtis Taylor on April 23, 2008 at 5:00pm — 1 Comment

 
 

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