I was a little apprehensive but I made the phone call and they set up a time for me to come to a meeting. I don’t remember a lot about the meeting. It was at a very nice home and there was another person, like myself, that was there to find out more about the Fourth Way school.
There were maybe 3 other people there to explain the Fourth Way. They used the picture cards from a deck of cards to explain what they said were the 4 brains in a human: Intellectual, Emotional, Moving and Instinctive.
I found it interesting, but I didn’t feel a need to pursue the matter any further at that time. However, they did introduce to me the works of Gurdjieff and Ouspensky. So I went to the library and checked out a copy of "Beelzebub’s Tales to His Grandson ".
It was a rather thick book and the author loves to write sentences that are a page long, but I very much enjoyed his sense of humor. The story he told was fascinating, like an ancient history of our planet.
I spent the next year finishing the first book and reading Beelzebub’s Tales, when I finally decided that I wanted to be part of a Fourth Way School.
3 comments:
You might consider doing a little more research about this group. I am a product of a product of the Fellowship and I can only offer a warning. There are other schools out there, including the only one authorized by Gurdjieff himself. Robert Burton can be an attractive figure, but don't forget that.
http://www.rickross.com/groups/fof.html
Hi,
Thanks for leaving a comment. If you read my previous post you will see that I am recounting events that occurred back in the late 70’s and early 80’s. I didn’t name the group though I suspected there would be people that would recognize who I was talking about.
If you are interested I will be posting about my experiences there, though I hope to be somewhat impartial so that people can make up their own minds. I was a member for 5 years so I got to see what was going on there.
You mentioned that you were a product of a product, were your parents members? Perhaps you would like to post your experiences for others to read. I know I would be interested in hearing them.
I am a former member of the group you appear to be talking about. It is a classic cult, with a charismatic leader afforded godlike status in the group, requiring members to make large monthly fiancial contributions to keep the leader in the lavish lifestyle to which he has becomed accustomed.
As cults go it is pretty benign: there was no violence, poison kool-aid, etc. that I knew of. However there have been allegations of sexual misconduct by the leader toward male members of the group. I never experienced that myself and have no way personally to verify it. It's just something other former members have complained of, so I think it's worth looking into if any if your readers are seriously considering joining this group.
I found their application of Gurdjieff's teachings very effective for my purposes, but the encrustations of bizarre theology, such as the list of 44 "gods" they believe are guiding them at all times, to be a little much to stomach. Members, for example, driving down the highway, will see the number "44" embedded in the license plate of another driver and take that as a message from the "gods" to make an effort to be present. Their "gods" range from traditional religious figures like Jesus to unexpected characters like Benjamin Franklin and Abraham Lincoln.
I would generally agree with "fiveness" that a person can do better in seeking a Gurdjieff group to get involved with. Look for the Gurdieff Foundation, (for example), or the Claymont Society for Continuous Education.
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