Essentially the unity we think we possess is an illusion supported by buffers between the different parts that prevent harsh collisions. The ideas are dificult for most people to acept and dificult for those who accept to understand fully. It was said of Ouspensky that, though nonreligious, he had one prayer: not to become famous during his lifetime. A rather extensive description of the workings of a Gurdjieff group is now given and is connected to many essential and new ideas—for example, the idea that an esoteric school also is structured along the lines of cosmic law in all its aspects. The "my fourth way group is more esoteric/Gurdjieffian/cooler than your fourth way group" dynamic is out of control.

It is thus par excellence Gurdjieff’s diagram of the organic unity of everything existing: the law of three forces, the law of seven, the processes of assimilating the three “foods,” the patterns governing the transmission of esoteric knowledge, and the structural dynamics of every living thing in nature, including the incomplete being, man, myself. In these pages you will learn the way of the fakir, the monk, and the yogi, and, with a little luck, something about your own impermanent "I. And the greatest mystery and the greatest miracle was that the thought became possible that death may not exist, that those who have gone may not have vanished altogether, but exist somewhere and somehow, and that perhaps I may see them again. Alcune parti sono scorrevoli e ho letto volentieri dell'incontro tra Gurdjieff e Ouspensky e di alcune parti dell'insegnamento.He struggles to get along better with his single mom, and befriends the social outcast of the school, a silent boy named Anthony. He describes many of his experiences, particularly concerning the "art of self-remembering", and he recounts some of the methods and various exercises which comprised Gurdjieff's system.

These are the Way of the Fakir, dealing exclusively with the physical body, the Way of the Monk, dealing with the emotions, and the Way of the Yogi, dealing with the mind. You get the feeling that there was something magical about being part of G's community, but that something is very hard to translate into words, even for someone as eloquent as Ouspensky.One doesn't have to become a true believer to benefit from some of the amazing concepts put forth in The Fourth Way, the system of conscious evolution he espoused. I don't actually regret reading this but certainly wouldn't read it again or recommend it to anyone. The book also provided an original discussion on the nature and expression of sexuality; among other things, he draws a distinction between erotica and pornography.