Self-Remembering

     ¡°Man's chief problem is that he
                     does not remember himself.¡±

In that simple formulation lies the heart of the Fourth Way teaching. There are roughly five billion people on the earth; virtually none of them remember themselves. Few people are interested in hearing about or developing their souls; most people believe they already have one.

In the Fourth Way, "soul" has a precise meaning: it is produced by accumulated moments of consciousness, and is defined as an entity that exists apart from the thoughts, feelings, and physical form of man, and hence can survive death. The chief method for intentionally creating such consciousness is "self-remembering".

The effort to self-remember is a deceptively simple one: one tries to be more present, more aware in each waking moment of one's life. One tries to be aware both of oneself and one's environment, simultaneously. The effort begins anew in every moment - try to remember where you are; try to remember who you are; try to be present to the sensation of the air on your skin; try to remember where your feet are; listen to the sounds around you; try to be aware of the passage of time. Through these efforts, man brings his incipient soul into being...

Transformation of suffering

  "Everyone suffers, we are trying to use our    
            suffering, rather than being used by it."

The transformation of suffering entails learning to use each negative or painful experience or emotion, whether large or small, to create self-remembering. This process requires long work on changing attitudes, so that the student understandings that the ultimate responsibility for any negative emotion--anger, irritation, fear, self-pity, and so on--rests with the individual rather than the events that befall him.

Initial attempts to divide attention between oneself and the sensual world reveal this curious fact: man, in his normal state, does not remember himself. Consciousness of self requires a specific effort, and that effort, to become permanent, requires a unity of purpose and will. Consicousness, unity, and will, attributes that man mistakenly believes he already possesses, can be acquired by specific methods with the help of people who share the same aim.

Greece