A Remarkable New Book
by Jeanne de Salzmann
Based on notebooks kept by G. I. Gurdjieff 's closest follower, this book offers new insight on his spiritual teaching—a way of gnosis or "knowledge of being" passed on from remote antiquity. It is a complete and uniquely authoritative guide to the great teacher's ideas and to his methods for liberating ourselves from the state of waking sleep in which most of us live our lives.
Gurdjieff respected traditional religious practices, which he regarded as falling into three general categories or ways: the Way of the Fakir, related to mastery of the physical body; the Way of the Monk, based on faith and feeling; and the Way of the Yogi, which focuses on development of the mind.
He presented his teaching as a Fourth Way which integrated these three aspects into a single path of self-knowledge. Progress in the Fourth Way comes through conscious effort toward a quality of thinking and feeling that brings a new capacity to see clearly and to love.
“Gurdjieff brought us a knowledge of consciousness, a science that shows what we are and our potential capacity, what needs to be developed. He came to bring a teaching, show a way toward consciousness."
