…nu din G.

:
Consciousness at its simplest is "sentience or awareness of internal or external
existence". Despite centuries of analyses, definitions, explanations and debates by philosophers
and scientists, consciousness remains puzzling and controversial, being "at once the most
familiar and most mysterious aspect of our lives". Perhaps the only widely agreed notion about
the topic is the intuition that it exists. Opinions differ about what exactly needs to be studied and
explained as consciousness. Sometimes it is synonymous with 'the mind', other times just an
aspect of mind. In the past it was one's "inner life", the world of introspection, of
private thought, imagination and volition.

The self is an individual person as the object of its own reflective consciousness.

Some religions: The actual self is the soul, while the body is only a mechanism to experience
the karma of that life.
In some languages soul comes from breath / to breathe but just because of simple language.
The Modern English word "soul", derived from Old English sáwol, sáwel, was first attested in the
8th century poem Beowulf v. 2820 and in the Vespasian Psalter 77.50 . It is cognate with other
German and Baltic terms for the same idea, including Gothic saiwala, Old High German sêula,
sêla, Old Saxon sêola, Old Low Franconian sêla, sîla, Old Norse sála and Lithuanian siela.
Deeper etymology of the Germanic word is unclear.
The original concept behind the Germanic root is thought to mean “coming from or belonging to
the sea (or lake)”, because of the Germanic and pre-Celtic belief in souls emerging from and
returning to sacred lakes, Old Saxon sêola (soul) compared to Old Saxon sêo (sea).
Apoi din G.:
The Fourth Way teaches that the soul a human individual is born with, gets trapped and
encapsulated by personality and stays dormant, leaving one not really conscious, even as they
clearly believe they are. A person must free the soul by following a teaching which can lead to
this aim or "go nowhere" upon death of his body . Should a person be able to receive the
teaching and find a school, upon the death of the physical body they will "go elsewhere."
Humans are born asleep, live in sleep and die in sleep, only imagining that they are awake with
few exceptions (interpretation: shocking/traumatic/rare strong moments, merely seconds in a
life). The ordinary waking "consciousness" of human beings is not consciousness at all but
merely a form of sleep."
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Gurdjieff's followers believed he was a spiritual master, a human being who is fully awake
or enlightened. He was also seen as an esotericist or occultist. He agreed that the teaching was
esoteric but claimed that none of it was veiled in secrecy but that many people lack the interest
or the capability to understand it. Gurdjieff said, "The teaching whose theory is here being set out
is completely self supporting and independent of other lines and it has been completely unknown
up to the present time."
Gurdjieff taught "sacred dances" or "movements", now known as Gurdjieff movements, which
they performed together as a group. He left a body of music, inspired by that which he had heard
in remote monasteries and other places, which was written for piano in collaboration with one of
his pupils, Thomas de Hartmann.
The Fourth Way[ is an approach to self-development developed by George Gurdjieff over years
of travel in the East (c. 1890 – 1912). It combines and harmonizes what he saw as three
established traditional "ways" or "schools": those of the emotions, the body, and the mind, or of
monks, fakirs, and yogis, respectively. Students often refer to the Fourth Way as "The Work",
"Work on oneself", or "The System". The exact origins of some of Gurdjieff's teachings are
unknown, but various sources have been suggested.
- According to this system, the three traditional schools, or ways, "are permanent forms which
have survived throughout history mostly unchanged, and are based on religion. Where schools of
yogis, monks or fakirs exist, they are barely distinguishable from religious schools. The fourth
way differs in that "it is not a permanent way. It has no specific forms or institutions and comes
and goes controlled by some particular laws of its own."
- The Fourth Way addresses the question of humanity's place in the Universe and the
possibilities of inner development. It emphasizes that people ordinarily live in a state
referred to as a semi-hypnotic "waking sleep," while higher levels of consciousness,
virtue, unity of will are possible.
- The Fourth Way teaches how to increase and focus attention and energy in various
ways, and to minimize day-dreaming and absent-mindedness (interpretation: and maybe
let the soul/inner-self awake and lead/take the wheel, true and great, instead of
commercials auto-pilot sleep to death... Without effort The material body's actions are
purely automatic and depend completely on the influences coming from outside factors,
and its perception is confined to observation in a "subjective" manner.). This inner
development in oneself is the beginning of a possible further process of change, whose
aim is to transform man into "what he ought to be."
Three ways:

Gurdjieff taught that traditional paths to spiritual enlightenment followed one of three ways:

 The Way of the  Fakir

The Fakir works to obtain mastery of the attention (self-mastery) through struggles with [controlling]
the physical body involving difficult physical exercises and postures.

 The Way of the  Monk

The Monk works to obtain the same mastery of the attention (self-mastery) through struggle with
[controlling] the affections, in the domain, as we say, of the heart, which has been emphasized in the
west, and come to be known as the way of faith due to its practice particularly in Catholicism.

 The Way of the  Yogi

The Yogi works to obtain the same mastery of the attention (as before: 'self mastery') through
struggle with [controlling] mental habits and capabilities.

Gurdjieff insisted that these paths – although they may intend to seek to produce a fully developed
human being – tend to cultivate certain faculties at the expense of others. The goal of religion or
spirituality was, in fact, to produce a well-balanced, responsive and sane human being capable of
dealing with all eventualities that life may present. Gurdjieff therefore made it clear that it was
necessary to cultivate a way that integrated and combined the traditional three ways.

Fourth Way
Gurdjieff said that his Fourth Way was a quicker means than the first three ways because it
simultaneously combined work on all three centers (intellectual, emotional and moving:
motor+instinctive+sexual) rather than focusing on just one center. It could be followed by ordinary
people in everyday life, requiring no retirement into the desert. The Fourth Way does involve
certain conditions imposed by a teacher, but blind acceptance of them is discouraged. Each
student is advised to do only what they understand and to verify for themselves the
teaching's ideas.
Ouspensky documented Gurdjieff as saying that "two or three thousand years ago there were yet
other ways which no longer exist and the ways then in existence were not so divided, they stood
much closer to one another. The fourth way differs from the old and the new ways by the fact that
it is never a permanent way. It has no definite forms and there are no institutions connected with
it."
Ouspensky quotes Gurdjieff that there are fake schools and that "It is impossible to recognize a
wrong way without knowing the right way. This means that it is no use troubling oneself how to
recognize a wrong way. One must think of how to find the right way."
In G.I. Gurdjieff's Fourth Way teaching, also known as The Work, centers or brains refer to separate
apparatuses within a being that dictate its specific functions. According to this teaching, there are
three main centers: intellectual, emotional, and moving. These centers in the human body are
analogous to a three-storey factory, the intellectual center being the top storey, the emotional center
being the middle one, and the moving center being the bottom storey. The moving center, or the
bottom storey is further divided into three separate functions: sex, instinctive, and motor.

Gurdjieff classified plants as having one brain, animals two and humans three brains. In  Beelzebub's
Tales to His Grandson, Gurdjieff greatly expanded his idea of humans as "three brained beings".

In the book The Fourth Way, Ouspensky refers to the "center of gravity" as being a center which
different people primarily operate from (intellectuals, artists, and sports enthusiasts, for example,
might represent each of these centers).

Centers
According to the teaching:

Lower centers

1. Moving or physical center. This brain is located in the spinal column. This brain makes beings
capable of physical actions. Some, but not all, Fourth Way schools have further divided this Center
into three distinct parts:

 Motor: Controls motor functions. The acts of walking, the physical aspects of talking, as well
as even functions that are considered "reflexive," are all part of this sub-center.

 Instinctive: Controls faculties which are completely involuntary. This does not typically
encompass "knee-jerk" reactions, nor what we would typically consider reflexes. A common
example of the functioning of this center is the contracting of blood vessels to facilitate the
pumping of blood.

 Sexual. Controls sexual functions.

2. Emotional or feeling center. This faculty makes beings capable of feeling emotions. This brain is
dispersed throughout the human body as nerves which have been labeled as the "nerve nodes" . The
biggest concentration of these nerves is in the solar plexus.

3. Intellectual or thinking center. This center is the faculty which makes a being capable
of logic and reasoning. It is located in the head.

Higher centers

While the lower centers are considered separate faculties of one's material body, one can think of
these higher centers as being faculties for "higher bodies".

4. Higher Emotional Center: faculty of the astral body. It enables one to have sustained states of self-
consciousness, self-awareness, and other deep feelings. It does not replace, nor is it an "upgraded"
version of the emotional center, as it is a completely separate center.

5. Higher Intellectual Center: faculty of the mental body. It enables one to have sustained states of
objective consciousness and superior intellect. As above, it does not replace, nor is it an "upgraded"
version of the intellectual center.
Subtle bodies

The Fourth Way says that there are four possible bodies of man, composed of increasingly rarefied
matter, interpenetrating one another; all people have the first body, while the other three are
obtained through the correct type of effort. The bodies are as follows:

 The Material Body (Normal Human Physical Body). This body is considered the seat of the
lower five centers: intellectual, emotional, physical, instinctual, and sexual. The material
body's actions are purely automatic and depend completely on the influences coming from
outside factors, and its perception is confined to observation in a "subjective" manner. On
the Ray of Creation Gurdjieff indicated to Ouspensky that the physical body is on the level of
the Earth and subject to the same number of laws (48). When the material body dies, then it
returns to the earth from which it came, and nothing of it remains.

 The Astral Body This body is also sometimes called the Emotional body or the Kesdjan Body.
This body, by itself is not subject to the laws of automation; that is to say, the astral body is
capable of a degree of free will. Also, the perceptions of the astral body are capable of
being of an objective nature in matters regarding one's self. An astral body is considered a
prerequisite to maintaining a state of "self-consciousness". On the Ray of Creation Gurdjieff
indicated to Ouspensky that this body is on the level of All Planets and subject to the same
number of laws (24). The lifespan of the astral body is unknown exactly, but it is far larger
than the lifespan of the Material Body because it continues living after the death of the
material body. According to the Fourth Way, a man is not born with an astral body and an
average man does not have one, while even if someone does, it's in a very immature state,
and has no contact with it whatsoever in his daily life.

 The Intellectual Body This body, by itself is not subject to the laws of automation; that is to
say, the intellectual body is capable of a degree of free will beyond that of the astral body.
Also, the perceptions of the intellectual body are capable of being of an objective nature in
matters regarding both one's self, and things outside of one's self. An intellectual body is
considered a prerequisite to maintaining a state of "objective consciousness" which is the
fourth possible state of man. On the Ray of Creation Gurdjieff indicated to Ouspensky that
this "mental body" is on the level of the Sun and subject to the same number of laws (12).
The lifespan of the intellectual is also rather incalculable. According to Gurdjieff, an average
man does not have one.

 The Causal Body On the Ray of Creation Gurdjieff indicated to Ouspensky that this "fourth
body" is on the level of All Suns and subject to the same number of laws (6).

Types of attention

One important aspect of the study of centers is the types of attention. The Work teaches that there
are three types of attention possible for each of the centers:

 no attention/wandering attention

 attention held by the object

 attention held by effort; directed attention

The Work teaches that the higher bodies discussed above are only a possibility for man. In order to
form higher bodies, the correct type of effort is required. Directing dispassionate attention to each
of the centers (also known as "self observation"), is one such effort. Wandering attention, or
attention held by an object, are insufficient for true self-observation. They are also insufficient for
obtaining free will, which is one component of the higher bodies. Wandering attention and
attention held by the object are sufficient for the first body, the Material Body. In other words, the
Material Body does not need directed attention in order to function and fulfill its role in the Ray of
Creation.

Importance in the Fourth Way

In the Fourth Way, study of the centers is an important part of self-development. Students of that
path must observe themselves. Study of the centers gives a framework and context for two things:

 What to observe. In the Fourth Way, dispassionate self-observation must begin somewhere.
The study of centers gives students a place to begin.

 What is actually being observed. When observations are made, students may frame the
observations using the concept of "the centers." For example, a student may observe an
increased heart rate and increased respirations while watching a sporting event. In Fourth
Way terminology, the student might say, "The body had a definite reaction when the team
made the touchdown." Placing self observations within the language of the centers helps
students become dispassionate about what they observe, or, to use Fourth Way terminology
further, it helps students "not identify" with what they observe.