Fourth Way® Workshop

A ONE-DAY WORKSHOP
LEARN THE BASIC IDEAS OF THE FOURTH WAY

Registration for workshops will open in 2004.

* Upcoming Workshops 2004 * To Be Determined: Please check back later.

WHAT A one-day workshop introducing the basic ideas of the Fourth Way. LOCATION To Be Determined DATE The workshop may be held on a weekday. Exact dates to be determined. REGISTRATION DEADLINES Early Bird Registration offers a significant discount and is suggested. This workshop often fills up quickly. After Early Bird closes, you can apply for the Waiting List in case places become available. NOTE: The workshop is offered only if a minimum number of participants register. If the minimum is not met, the workshop will be canceled and rescheduled for a later date. COST The cost is nominal to cover necessary and normal expenses and will depend on the number of participants. A minimum number of participants will be required; if the minimum is not achieved the workshop will be canceled and rescheduled for a later date. The final cost will be determined after all Registration Applications are received.

HOURS FOR THE WORKSHOP The one-day workshop meets from 9.30 am to 4.15 pm. Registration begins at 9.15 am. Lunch is on your own, and there will be short breaks. Dress is informal. REGISTRATION & PAYMENT Open the Registration Application and follow the instructions. After the completed Application has been received via email, and the minimum number of participants has been met, participants who are accepted will be invited via email to make payment using PayPal (a credit card is required to use PayPal). Payment is required in advance. CONFIRMATION After payment is received, you will receive complete details of the Workshop via email, including confirmation of your registration and directions to the location. CANCELLATIONS Payment is refundable, less a $45 processing fee, if your cancellation is received 14 full business days before the workshop begins. If you fail to attend without advance notification, the payment is non-refundable. JOIN OUR MAILING LIST To receive emails from time to time regarding workshops, please join our mailing list. VIEW OUR GUESTMAP Mark your location on our guestmap and see where our visitors live..   FUTURE WORKSHOPS If you are interested in future workshops, please let us know at Fourth Way Workshop: Workshop wanted in [location]. In the subject field of your email, enter the location where you would like to attend. We regret that we can only offer workshops in North America and Europe at this time.

OVERVIEW

This unique and rarely presented workshop introduces the basic ideas of the Fourth Way Work. You can learn in a safe, supportive atmosphere from approachable people who have practiced the Work for many years. Questions and observations are encouraged. This is not a presentation of the history of the Work. What you gain from this workshop will depend on the effort and study you put into paying attention to learning the material that is presented; for this reason no guarantees can be offered. The Work is a system of knowledge and methods for inner spiritual development. It is intended for practical application by normal ordinary people in everyday life. The ideas can allow you to reorganize what you already know into new relationships to increase your understanding of yourself and the world we live in. It does not require withdrawal or abstention from ordinary life, a change in life circumstances, loyalty and large payments to a group or teacher, or waiting several years to be allowed to study all the ideas. This workshop concentrates on presenting an accurate overview of the basic Work knowledge, including fundamental ideas and practices. Participants are expected to maintain a critical mind and to verify everything they learn. The workshop is for normal ordinary people in everyday life who already know something about the Work, or who have participated previously in group work. Participants should be adults who lead a more or less ordered and successful ordinary life, and who have some degree of personal freedom. No specific academic training is required. Visit Fourth Way School for more detailed information about the Work.

TOPICS COVERED IN THIS ONE-DAY WORKSHOP INCLUDE:
Human Psychology	Essence and Personality Knowledge and Being States of Consciousness Impressions Many I's Identification, Considering, Attention, and Memory Structure and Function, Lower and Higher Centres Right and Wrong Work, Types of Thinking Categories of Man and Animals
Obstacles	Lying Imagination Unnecessary Talking Negative Emotions
Principles, Requirements, and Circumstances	Verification Effort Influences Magnetic Centre Individual Potential for Inner Development School Lines of Work
Cosmology	Law of Seven/Law of Octaves Law of Three/Law of Triads Six Processes Structure of the Universe and Our Place in It
Work Techniques	Self Observation Self Study Self Remembering Non-Expression of Negative Emotions Exercises
Evaluating Groups	Recognising Degenerate Groups Errors on the Way Brainwashing and Cult Thought-Control Group Hypnosis and Teacher Worship

Participants are expected to read and study the following book before attending the workshop:

The Psychology of Mans Possible Evolution, by P. D. Ouspensky This book is the definitive edition of Ouspensky's famous first series of five psychological lectures which preceded his second series of five cosmological lectures. These lectures reproduce Ouspensky's own manuscripts and are in exactly the form he introduced these ideas between 1934-1940. These lectures were intended by Ouspensky to be read aloud as introductory material for small groups of people interested in the work. This material is still unmatched as a brief statement of the work's psychological ideas. The lectures are a basic primer of the Work's psychological ideas on consciousness and spiritual development. They were constantly revised as new groups came into existence and took their final form only after Ouspensky moved from London to New York, where he continued to teach between 1941-1947. The psychology set forth in these lectures has existed in one form or another for thousands of years and, unlike modern psychology, studies man from the point of view of what he may become. Once a man realizes how little control he has over his reactions to external circumstances and internal stimuli, he may wish to find a way to become free of this mechanical way of living. Ouspensky describes how a man must work simultaneously on his knowledge and his being to find inner unity and why, although his development depends on his own efforts, this is very difficult to achieve without guidance from a school.

For the participant who wants to derive more benefit, study of the following books is recommended:
	The Fourth Way:A Record of Talks and Answers to Questions Based on the Teaching of G. I. Gurdjieff, by P. D. Ouspensky Consisting of verbatim records of Ouspensky's oral teaching between 1921-1946, it provides a comprehensive and lucid explanation of the practical side of the Work ideas. The most comprehensive statement thus far published of the ideas taught by Ouspensky. Gurdjieff presented the teachings in the form of raw materials: Ouspensky's specific task was to put them together as a systematic whole. Just as Tertium Organum deals with a new mode of thinking, so The Fourth Way is concerned with a new way of living. It shows a way of inner development to be followed in the ordinary conditions of everyday life--as distinct from the three traditional ways that call for retirement from the world: those of the fakir, the monk, and the yogi.
	In Search of the Miraculous: Fragments of an Unknown Teaching, by P. D. Ouspensky The astonishing record of Ouspensky's search for a system of universal knowledge, the meaning of human existence, and of his eight years' work as a pupil of Gurdijeff, one of the 20th century's most profound and influential spiritual teachers. The back cover of this book reads: 'This Book will change your life.' Most cynics find such statements truly revolting. Those brave enough to take the challenge will find an introduction to a teaching, called the Work, which has been handed down for generations. Ouspensky was responsible for bringing much of the work to the English speaking world. Certainly the most engaging of the text written by the Russian mathametician and philosopher, this book belongs in every transcendentalist's library. Published with Gurdjieff's approval after Ouspensky's death in 1948, this book is the precise, clear result of Ouspensky's long work in putting together in an honest and impersonal form those 'Fragments of an Unknown Teaching' which he received from Gurdjieff. It is a primary source for students of the work ideas. Ouspensky's search for truth brought him in 1915 to his meeting in Moscow with Gurdjieff who revealed to him a system of knowledge which Ouspensky recognised as a vital need for mankind at the present time. This record of Ouspensky's work as Gurdjieff's pupil is to be compared with Plato's representation of the life and teaching of Socrates. Written with direct simplicity, this book conveys the impression that not only did he discover a real knowledge about Man and the Universe, but that a practical teaching for the conduct of life is even now in existence. These are no theories of philosophy or psychology, but a complete understanding of the problems of life and the most direct instructions for the betterment of man's existence. Ouspensky describes the conversations between Gurdjieff and his pupils with an exactness which conveys a vivid picture of two of the most extraordinary men of their generation. He dramatically relates the story of the preservation of this teaching by Gurdjieff and his small circle through the period when Tsarist Russia was destroyed.

For participants already familiar with the above works, or who want material for more advanced study, the following series of books is recommended:

Commentaries on the Teaching of Gurdjieff and Ouspensky Volumes 1-6, by Maurice Nicoll, MD Every serious student needs to own this series of books. Dr. Maurice Nicoll studied with Gurdjieff and Ouspensky. From 1931 to his death in 1953, he organised, at Ouspensky's request, a programme of work devoted to passing on the ideas he had received. Reissued in hard cover, these five commentaries are taken from the weekly written lectures and talks Nicoll gave to his students in England; the sixth volume is an index. They are concerned with directly applying the deep Work ideas to daily life. Dr. Nicoll, one of the early believers in psychological medicine, was a well-known Harley Street specialist. He was the son of Sir William Robertson Nicoll, the literary critic and editor. He studied at Cambridge--where he took a first in science--at St.Bartholomew's Hospital, and in Vienna, Berlin, and Zurich. After his Army Medical Service in the 1914 War in Gallipoli and Mesopotamia, he became a medical Officer at the Empire Hospital for injuries to the brain and spinal cord. There, owing to the fact that he was a pupil of Dr. Jung, he brought in many new ideas in regard to the psychological treatment of shell shock, which had been taken as a purely physical disturbance. In 1921 he met Ouspensky and in 1922 he went to France to study directly under Gurdjieff. He afterwards resumed his practice in London and studied under Ouspensky until 1931 when he was given permission to teach. This he did in weekly talks until his death in 1953. The records of these talks were published as the famous Psychological Commentaries, often referred to as being an invaluable source for studying central work ideas and their practical application in daily life. They were written from Dr. Nicoll's own understanding of the teaching in its practical application to himself and to the members of his groups. They were begun before the years of World War II and continued afterwards, taking the form of weekly papers to members of the groups who were scattered over the world. In these papers the fundamental ideas of the Work are expounded with clarity so that help is given to the reader towards understanding the efforts required to reach that individual level of development indicated as the goal of all the Great Religions--attainable only by practical work on oneself.

Comments from Participants

I would like to thank you for the opportunity to participate in the workshop in London. I think that this activity is important and should be repeated periodically. Will be appreciated to stay in touch and continue to get information regarding events, printed materials etc. Thank you again. Thank you for a clear and concise presentation. Even though I have studied the Work ideas for many years both alone and in groups, it tied together many key concepts and ideas for me. The instructor is an excellent teacher with an intimate grasp of the ideas and how they are connected. I was very impressed with the scope and depth of the workshop. An associate of mine who is a member of a Gurdjieff group (and who knew nothing about the workshop) advised me not to attend, saying that it took many years to learn the ideas and that it was not possible to learn anything in one day. However, I decided to attend anyway and am glad I did so, as the overview of the basic ideas and practices was just what I needed to consolidate and organize my own knowledge and understanding of the basic concepts of the work. Having been a member of various Gurdjieff groups and societies, I found the workshop refreshing and not at all stuffy, as had been my previous experiences in those groups. The advice on evaluating groups was especially helpful. This was an excellent presentation. Thank you.