Gurdjieff
(I)f we take all…people who are neither…and…never will be…fakirs, monks, or yogis, then we may say with undoubted certainty that their possibilities cannot be developed and will not be developed… —In Search of the Miraculous, Chapter 2
“The first way is…of the fakir, the way of…instinctive-moving-sensory people without much mind and without much heart.
“The second way is…of the monk, the religious way… that is, of emotional people. The mind and the body should not be too strong.
“The third way is…of the yogi…the way of the mind… The heart and the body must not be particularly strong, otherwise they may be a hindrance on this way.
“Besides these three ways yet a fourth way exists by which can go those who cannot go by any of the first three ways. —In Search, Chapter 15
“In the ordinary conditions of cultured life the position of a man…seeking…knowledge… would indeed be hopeless if the possibility of yet a fourth way did not exist…
”(T)he fourth way…is possible to…follow…while remaining in…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…the work finds (a man) are the best possible for him… (They) are the man himself, because a man’s life and its conditions correspond to what he is. Any conditions different from those…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.
“(T)he fourth way differs from the other ways in that the principal demand…is…for understanding… —In Search, Chapter 2
Ouspensky
(I)n the Fourth Way…man must not believe anything…one hears, or what one is advised—one must find proofs for everything. —The Fourth Way, Chapter 4
(Faith) will not help—quite the reverse. You must try to verify it, and base your attitude on facts, not on belief… Faith is a passive thing…(and) would be weakness—trying to escape work. Instead of trying to know, we would believe… —The Fourth Way, Chapter 14
Gurdjieff
“The method of the fourth way consists in… while working on the physical body, to work simultaneously on the mind and…emotions; while working on the mind, to work on the physical body and emotions; while working on the emotions, to work on the mind and the physical body… In addition, on the fourth way it is possible to individualize the work of each…person… (A) person can do only what is necessary, and not what…is superfluous, and preserved simply through tradition in the other ways.
“So…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…—In Search, Chapter 2
“The fourth way…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.
“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… when the aim set before it has been accomplished, the fourth way 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… —In Search, Chapter 15
Maurice Nicoll
It is very necessary at this moment to understand something of what the Fourth Way means. There are four ways of work on oneself. We belong to the Fourth Way which is the most difficult way of all, because it must be practiced in the midst of life. The Way of the Fakir… of the Monk… of the Yogi…is not our way… We…are, even on (our) small scale, trying to follow the Fourth Way which comes down into external life always when there is a period of special disorder and chaos…
(Y)ou…expect that…conditions that have existed at one time must or will always exist. This is quite wrong. The Fourth Way must always be related to the varying circumstances of life, and can never become fixed and habitual. Suddenly it may be necessary to alter the whole external scheme of things… We have no idea how things will go in the future. But we understand that the work must continue… And that means that people must be able to adjust themselves to completely different external conditions and yet maintain the sense and feeling of the work…
Now if some of you have formed an idea of what the external form of the work is, from past associations… You must learn that every change in the work externally is always useful to you, whatever form it takes, and all of you must…maintain a clear inner attitude towards it…
Every change in circumstances provides a very useful chance for everyone to learn something… This Fourth Way is not romantic and…is quite ruthless, and as soon as something is finished—that is, gives no longer any real value, it is abandoned…
We belong to what is called the Fourth Way, which is right down in life. So we have to work in the midst of life, surrounded by all the misfortunes of life, and eventually life becomes our teacher… —Psychological Commentaries on the Teaching of Gurdjieff and Ouspensky, Vol. 1, Birdlip, May 4, 1941
Gurdjieff
Here, you accept everything, but in life you do nothing… Here on Thursdays, with your friends, you talk, you philosophize, but it is worth nothing. What I am saying is only to shed light on things in life. It is in life that one must do. —Paris Meetings 1943, Thursday, September 9