“And the position would indeed be hopeless if the possibility of yet a FOURTH WAY did not exist. Fragments: Two

“The FOURTH WAY requires no retirement into the desert, does not require a man to give up and renounce everything by which he formerly lived. The FOURTH WAY begins much further on than the way of the yogi. This means that a man must be prepared for the FOURTH WAY and this preparation must be acquired in ordinary life and be a very serious one, embracing many different sides. Furthermore a man must be living in conditions favorable for work on the FOURTH WAY, or, in any case, in conditions which do not render it impossible. It must be understood that both in the inner and in the external life of a man there may be conditions which create insuperable barriers to the FOURTH WAY. Furthermore, the FOURTH WAY has no definite forms like the ways of the fakir, the monk, and the yogi. And, first of all, it has to be found. This is the first test. It is not as well known as the three traditional ways. There are many people who have never heard of the FOURTH WAY and there are others who deny its existence or possibility. Fragments: Two

“At the same time the beginning of the FOURTH WAY is easier than the beginning of the ways of the fakir, the monk, and the yogi. On the FOURTH WAY it is possible to work and to follow this way while remaining in the usual conditions of life, continuing to do the usual work, preserving former relations with people, and without renouncing or giving up anything. On the contrary, the conditions of life in which a man is placed at the beginning of his work, in which, so to speak, the work finds him, are the best possible for him, at any rate at the beginning of the work. These conditions are natural for him. These conditions are the man himself, because a man’s life and its conditions correspond to what he is. Any conditions different from those created by life would be artificial for a man and in such artificial conditions the work would not be able to touch every side of his being at once. Fragments: Two

“Thanks to this, the FOURTH WAY affects simultaneously every side of man’s being. It is work ore the three rooms at once. The fakir works on the first room, the monk on the second, the yogi on the third. In reaching the fourth room the fakir, the monk, and the yogi leave behind them many things unfinished, and they cannot make use of what they have attained because they are not masters of all their functions. The fakir is master of his body but not of his emotions or his mind; the monk is master of his emotions but not of his body or his mind; the yogi is master of his mind but not of his body or his emotions. Fragments: Two

“Then the FOURTH WAY differs from the other ways in that the principal demand made upon a man is the demand for understanding. A man must do nothing that he does not understand, except as an experiment under the supervision and direction of his teacher. The more a man understands what he is doing, the greater will be the results of his efforts. This is a fundamental principle of the FOURTH WAY. The results of work are in proportion to the consciousness of the work. No ‘faith’ is required on the FOURTH WAY; on the contrary, faith of any kind is opposed to the FOURTH WAY. On the FOURTH WAY a man must satisfy himself of the truth of what he is told. And until he is satisfied he must do nothing. Fragments: Two

“The method of the FOURTH WAY consists in doing something in one room and simultaneously doing something corresponding to it in the two other rooms — that is to say, while working on the physical body to work simultaneously on the mind and the emotions; while working on the mind to work on the physical body and the emotions; while working on the emotions to work on the mind and the physical body. This can be achieved thanks to the fact that on the FOURTH WAY it is possible to make use of certain knowledge inaccessible to the ways of the fakir, the monk, and the yogi. This knowledge makes it possible to work in three directions simultaneously. A whole parallel series of physical, mental, and emotional exercises serves this purpose. In addition, on the FOURTH WAY it is possible to individualize the work of each separate person, that is to say, each person can do only what is necessary and not what is useless for him. This is due to the fact that the FOURTH WAY dispenses with a great deal of what is superfluous and preserved simply through tradition in the other ways. Fragments: Two

“So that when a man attains will on the FOURTH WAY he can make use of it because he has acquired control of all his bodily, emotional, and intellectual functions. And besides, he has saved a great deal of time by working on the three sides of his being in parallel and simultaneously. Fragments: Two

“The FOURTH WAY is sometimes called the way of the sly man. The ‘sly man’ knows some secret which the fakir, monk, and yogi do not know. How the ‘sly man’ learned this secret — it is not known. Perhaps he found it in some old books, perhaps he inherited it, perhaps he bought it, perhaps he stole it from someone. It makes no difference. The ‘sly man’ knows the secret and with its help outstrips the fakir, the monk, and the yogi. Fragments: Two

“But on the FOURTH WAY knowledge is still more exact and perfect. A man who follows the FOURTH WAY knows quite definitely what substances he needs for his aims and he knows that these substances can be produced within the body by a month of physical suffering, by a week of emotional strain, or by a day of mental exercises — and also, that they can be introduced into the organism from without if it is known how to do it. And so, instead of spending a whole day in exercises like the yogi, a week in prayer like the monk, or a month in self-torture like the fakir, he simply prepares and swallows a little pill which contains all the substances he wants and, in this way, without loss of time, he obtains the required results. Fragments: Two

“In schools of the religious way ‘obedience’ is demanded before anything else, that is, full and unquestioning submission although without understanding. Schools of the FOURTH WAY demand understanding before anything else. Results of efforts are always proportional to understanding. Fragments: Eight

“Alchemists who spoke of this transmutation began directly with it. They knew nothing, or at least they said nothing, about the nature of the first volitional ‘shock.’ It is upon this, however, that the whole thing depends. The second volitional ‘shock’ and transmutation become physically possible only after long practice on the first volitional ‘shock,’ which consists in self-remembering, and in observing the impressions received. On the way of the monk and on the way of the fakir work on the second ‘shock’ begins before work on the first ‘shock,’ but as mi 12 is created only as a result of the first ‘shock,’ work, in the absence of other material, has of necessity to be concentrated on si 12, and it very often gives quite wrong results. Right development on the FOURTH WAY must begin with the first volitional ‘shock’ and then pass on to the second ‘shock’ at mi 12. Fragments: Nine

“This is almost all that can be said in general about the ‘stairway’ and about the ‘way,’ because there are different ways. We have spoken of this before. And, for instance, on the FOURTH WAY there are special conditions which cannot be on the other ways. Thus the conditions for ascending the stairway on the FOURTH WAY are that a man cannot ascend to a higher step until he places another man upon his own step. The other, in his turn, must put in his place a third man in order to ascend higher. Thus, the higher a man ascends the more he depends upon those who are following him. If they stop he also stops. Such situations as this may also occur on the way. A man may attain something, for instance, some special powers, and may later on sacrifice these powers in order to raise other people to his level. If the people with whom he is working ascend to his level, he will receive back all that he has sacrificed. But if they do not ascend, he may lose it altogether. Fragments: Ten

“How can it be recognized?” said G. “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. This is what we are speaking about all the time. It cannot be said in two words. But from what I have said you can draw many useful conclusions if you remember everything that has been said and everything which follows from it. For example, you can see that the teacher always corresponds to the level of the pupil. The higher the pupil, the higher can be the teacher. But a pupil of a level which is not particularly high cannot count on a teacher of a very high level. Actually a pupil can never see the level of the teacher. This is a law. No one can see higher than his own level. But usually people not only do not know this, but, on the contrary, the lower they are themselves, the higher the teacher they demand. The right understanding of this point is already a very consid­erable understanding. But it occurs very seldom. Usually the man himself is not worth a brass farthing but he must have as teacher no other than Jesus Christ. To less he will not agree. And it never enters his head that even if he were to meet such a teacher as Jesus Christ, taking him as he is described in the Gospels, he would never be able to follow him because it would be necessary to be on the level of an apostle in order to be a pupil of Jesus Christ. Here is a definite law. The higher the teacher, the more difficult for the pupil. And if the difference in the levels of the teacher and pupil go beyond a certain limit, then the difficulties in the path of the pupil become insuperable. It is exactly in connection with this law that there occurs one of the fundamental rules of the FOURTH WAY. On the FOURTH WAY there is not one teacher. Whoever is the elder, he is the teacher. And as the teacher is indispensable to the pupil, so also is the pupil indispensable to the teacher. The pupil cannot go on without the teacher, and the teacher cannot go on without the pupil or pupils. And this is not a general consideration but an indispensable and quite concrete rule on which is based the law of a man’s ascending. As has been said before, no one can ascend onto a higher step until he places another man in his own place. What a man has received he must immediately give back; only then can he receive more. Otherwise from him will be taken even what he has already been given.” Fragments: Ten

“All that has been said up till now refers to real groups connected with real concrete work which in its turn is connected with what has been called the ‘FOURTH WAY.’ But there are many imitation ways, imitation groups, and imitation work. These are not even ‘black magic.’ Fragments: Eleven

“Besides these three ways yet a FOURTH WAY exists by which can go those who cannot go by any of the first three ways. Fragments: Fifteen

“The fundamental difference between the first three ways, that is, the way of the fakir, the way of the monk, and the way of the yogi, and the FOURTH WAY consists in the fact that they are tied to permanent forms which have existed throughout long periods of history almost without change. At the basis of these institutions is religion. Where schools of yogis exist they differ little outwardly from religious schools. And in dif­ferent periods of history various societies or orders of fakirs have existed in different countries and they still exist. These three traditional ways are permanent ways within the limits of our historical period. Fragments: Fifteen

“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. It appears and disappears governed by some particular laws of its own. Fragments: Fifteen

“The FOURTH WAY is never without some work of a definite significance, is never without some undertaking around which and in connection with which it can alone exist. When this work is finished, that is to say, when the aim set before it has been accomplished, the FOURTH WAY disappears, that is, it disappears from the given place, disappears in its given form, continuing perhaps in another place in another form. Schools of the FOURTH WAY exist for the needs of the work which is being carried out in connection with the proposed undertaking. They never exist by themselves as schools for the purpose of education and instruction. Fragments: Fifteen

“Mechanical help cannot be required in any work of the FOURTH WAY. Only conscious work can be useful in all the undertakings of the FOURTH WAY. Mechanical man cannot give conscious work so that the first task of the people who begin such a work is to create conscious assistants. Fragments: Fifteen

“The work itself of schools of the FOURTH WAY can have very many forms and many meanings. In the midst of the ordinary conditions of life the only chance a man has of finding a ‘way’ is in the possibility of meeting with the beginning of work of this kind. But the chance of meeting with such work as well as the possibility of profiting by this chance depends upon many circumstances and conditions. Fragments: Fifteen

“A man, if he is hungry, has a chance to come into contact with the beginning of a way. But besides hunger still other ‘rolls’ are necessary. Otherwise a man will not see the way. Imagine that an educated European, that is, a man who knows nothing about religion, comes into touch with the possibility of a religious way. He will see ‘nothing and he will understand nothing. For him it will be stupidity and superstition. But at the same time he may have a great hunger though formulated intellectually. It is exactly the same thing for a man who has never heard of yoga methods, of the development of consciousness and so on. For him, if he comes into touch with a yoga way, everything he hears will be dead. The FOURTH WAY is still more difficult. In order to give the FOURTH WAY a right valuation a man must have thought and felt and been disappointed in many things beforehand. He ought, if not actually to have tried the way of the fakir, the way of the monk, and the way of the yogi previously, at least to have known and thought about them and to be convinced that they are no good for him. It is not necessary to understand what I say literally. This thinking process can be unknown to the man himself. But the results of this process must be in him and only they can help him to recognize the FOURTH WAY. Otherwise he can stand very near to it and not see it Fragments: Seventeen