Editing Fourth Way (section)

==Teachings and teaching methods==

===Basis of teachings===

* '''Present here now'''<ref>Exchanges Within; p 18; John Pentland</ref>
* '''We do not remember ourselves'''<ref>In Search of the Miraculous; p 117; P. D. Ouspensky</ref>
* '''Conscious labour''' – is an action where someone who is performing an act is present to what is being done; not absentminded. At the same time to strive to perform the act more efficiently.
* '''Intentional suffering''' – is the act of struggling against automatism such as daydreaming, pleasure, food (eating for reasons other than real hunger), etc. In Gurdjieff's book ''[[Beelzebub's Tales]]'' he states that "the greatest 'intentional suffering' can be obtained in our presences by compelling ourselves to endure the displeasing manifestations of others toward ourselves"<ref>[[G.I. Gurdjieff]] (1950). [[Beelzebub's Tales to His Grandson]], pg 242</ref> According to Gurdjieff, conscious [[Manual labour| labour]] and intentional [[suffering]] were the basis of all evolution of man.
* '''Self-Observation''' – observation of one's behavior and habits. To observe thoughts, feelings, and sensations without judging or analyzing what is observed.<ref>[http://www.dennislewis.org/articles-other-writings/articles-essays/gurdjieff-the-further-reaches-of-self-observation Gurdjieff & the Further Reaches of Self-Observation], an article by [[Dennis Lewis]]</ref>
* '''The Need for Effort''' – Gurdjieff emphasized that awakening results from consistent, prolonged effort. Such efforts may be made as an act of will after one is already exhausted.
* '''The Many 'I's''' – this indicates fragmentation of the psyche, the different feelings and thoughts of 'I': I think, I want, I know best, I prefer, I am happy, I am hungry, I am tired, etc. These have nothing in common with one another and are unaware of each other, arising and vanishing for short periods of time. Hence someone usually has no unity in the self, wanting one thing now and another, perhaps contradictory, thing later.

===Centers===
{{main|Centers (Fourth Way)}}

Gurdjieff classified plants as having one center, animals two and humans three. Centers refer to apparatuses within a being that dictate specific organic functions. There are three main centers in a man: '''intellectual''', '''emotional''' and '''physical''', and two higher centers: '''higher emotional''' and '''higher intellectual'''.

'''Body, Essence and Personality'''

Gurdjieff divided people's being into ''Essence'' and ''Personality''.

*'''Essence''' – is a "natural part of a person" or "what he is born with"; this is the part of a being which is said to have the ability to evolve.
*'''Personality''' – is everything artificial that he has "learned" and "seen".

'''Cosmic Laws'''

Gurdjieff focused on two main cosmic laws, the ''Law of Three'' and the ''Law of Seven'' {{Citation needed|date=February 2011}}.

*The '''Law of Seven''' is described by Gurdjieff as "the first fundamental cosmic law". This law is used to explain processes. The basic use of the law of seven is to explain why nothing in nature and in life constantly occurs in a straight line, that is to say that there are always ups and downs in life which occur lawfully. Examples of this can be noticed in athletic performances, where a high ranked athlete always has periodic downfalls, as well as in nearly all graphs that plot topics that occur over time, such as the economic graphs, population graphs, death-rate graphs and so on. All show parabolic periods that keep rising and falling. Gurdjieff claimed that since these periods occur lawfully based on the law of seven that it is possible to keep a process in a straight line if the necessary shocks were introduced at the right time. A piano keyboard is an example of the law of seven, as the seven notes of the major scale correspond exactly to it.
*The '''Law of Three''' is described by Gurdjieff as "the second fundamental cosmic law". This law states that every whole phenomenon is composed of three separate sources, which are [[Action (philosophy)|Active]], [[Passivity (behavior)|Passive]] and Reconciling or [[Neutrality (philosophy)|Neutral]]. This law applies to everything in the [[universe]] and [[human]]ity, as well as all the [[structure]]s and processes. The [[Three Centres|Three Centers]] in a human, which Gurdjieff said were the Intellectual Centre, the Emotional Centre and the Moving Centre, are an expression of the law of three. Gurdjieff taught his students to think of the law of three forces as essential to transforming the [[energy]] of the [[human being]]. The process of transformation requires the three actions of [[wikt:affirmation|affirmation]], [[denial]] and [[wiktionary:reconciliation|reconciliation]]. This law of three separate sources can be considered modern ''interpretation'' of early Hindu Philosophy of [[Guṇa|Gunas]], We can see this as Chapters 3, 7, 13, 14, 17 and 18 of [[Bhagavad Gita]] discuss ''Guna in their verses.''<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Bhagavad Gita|date=2009|publisher=State University of New York Press|others=Sargeant, Winthrop, 1903-1986., Chapple, Christopher Key, 1954-|isbn=978-1-4416-0873-4|edition=25th anniversary|location=Albany, N.Y.|oclc=334515703}}</ref>

How the ''Law of Seven'' and ''Law of Three'' function together is said to be illustrated on the [[Fourth Way Enneagram]], a nine-pointed symbol which is the central glyph of Gurdjieff's system.

===Use of symbols===
In his explanations Gurdjieff often used different symbols such as the [[Fourth Way Enneagram|Enneagram]] and the [[Ray of Creation]]. Gurdjieff said that "the enneagram is a universal symbol. All knowledge can be included in the enneagram and with the help of the enneagram it can be interpreted... A man may be quite alone in the desert and he can trace the enneagram in the sand and in it read the eternal laws of the universe. And every time he can learn something new, something he did not know before."<ref>[http://www.endlesssearch.co.uk/philo_enneagramtalk.htm A Lecture by G.I. Gurdjieff]</ref> The Enneagram is often studied in [[Enneagram of personality|contexts that do not include other elements of Fourth Way teaching]].