Mindful Happiness

Anthony Quintiliani, Ph.D, LADC

  • Home
  • Dr. Anthony Quintiliani
    • About
  • Mindful Happiness
  • Mindful Expressions Meditation CD
  • Contact

September 11, 2015 By Admin

Gurdjieff’s The Fourth Way to Consciousness

Gurdjieff’s The Fourth Way to Consciousness: Background

Know-yourselfA core teachings is that there are three ways of being: the fakir (master of the physical body); the monk (master of faith and feeling); and, the yogi (master of mind development).  A key goal is to KNOW yourself at the deepest levels.  To KNOW is to be, to BE is to do, to DO is to master your awareness and inner growth of your true self.  The only way into the self is via non-cognitive and non-associative experience in the present moment.  The KNOW the self is to become free from all forces of cultural, social and attachment conditioning you have experienced during your entire life.  NOT an easy task!  Gurdjieff viewed typical humans as automatons – being under complete control of external forces and materiality. Self-cherishing is a major obstacle to conscious awareness of your pure self. To find consciousness of self, one would have to give up self-centered, sensory experiences.  A person seeking consciousness of the self would be required to sit in silent meditation for prolonged periods of time, while holding an emphasis on observing the self in the succession of present moments.  His approach was wide-ranging, and included the importance of group process, meditation, body movements, sound vibrations, etc.  He also utilized a metaphor about the “driver,” the “horse,” and the “carriage.”  Somewhere in his formula, there is also a “master.” Perhaps, the master is the source of the true self. His system of awareness included the Ennegram, a structure of symbolic teachings. If you practice and are lucky, you may experience the self in observation of the self while in present-moment meditation.  You may experience a mind-body feeling of total unity.  You may also only experience a glimpse of these experiences.  Take what you get!

MindfulHappiness_Gurdjieff

For more information refer to Gurdjieff, G. I. (2012). In Search of Being: The Fourth Way to Consciousness. Boston: Shambhala, pp. 1-4, 34-48, 129-132, 149-153, 201-206, 233-243, and 258.

 

 

By Anthony R. Quintiliani, PhD., LADC

From the Eleanor R. Liebman Center for Secular Meditation in Monkton, VermontChiYinYang_EleanorRLiebmanCenter

Author of Mindful Happiness  

CLICK HERE  or any image blow to Order 

Mindful Happiness cover designs.indd

MindfulHappiness_Amazon           mindful-happiness_barnes_and_noble

Filed Under: ANTHONY QUINTILIANI, Featured, The Fourth Way of Gurdjieff Tagged With: ANTHONY QUINTILIANI, MINDFUL HAPPINESS, MINDFULNESS, THE FOURTH WAY OF GURDJIEFF

September 3, 2015 By Admin

Gurdjieff’s The Fourth Way Meditations

Gurdjieff’s The Fourth Way Meditations:

A way of Being and Knowing

mindfulHappiness-fourthwaymeditation

Although Gurdjieff developed a whole way of being and knowing, including attentional practices, dance/body movements, group processes, and meditations here I will focus only on some of the suggested meditations.  In particular, I include the meditations noted by his primary student (J. DeSalzmann, 2011). In fact, I found her writings more clear regarding processes than Gurdjieff’s writings. In some ways these meditations resemble both mindfulness and concentration meditations from the East, on which Gurdjieff did some of his own study. These meditation practices imply that consciousness of self is pure consciousness, and that ultimate truth cannot be attained via thoughts or perceptions.  It is all about deep and personal private experience.  I have made some modifications of the original writings.

1) Meditation – Discarding Your Conditioned Learning

Begin with being comfortable.  Now take a few slow, deep, smooth breaths and relax your body. Recognizing and discarding of our conditioned, learned self-perceptions may be the first steps in knowing The Fourth Way.  At the same time, just be, without trying to seek anything special or personal answers to life’s questions.  This process is one of the highest forms of thought. Just be fully open to being with what is now – seeing and hear hearing (inside and outside) without any form of judgment or evaluation.  This is difficult to do. This practice requires strong attention and concentration so as not to be distracted while in the process of meditation without an object. Remain open to what arises from within you – deep down inside you.  While in this meditation on nothing (objectless attention – a form of pure awareness), begin to become freed from past learning and conditioned existence.  Perhaps, there is one thing you wish to free yourself from at this time. Do you best to LET GO of the “I” and the “Me”  and the “Mine” as well – all the parts of you that have been conditioned by others and society.  The “I” and “Me” and “Mine” all trap us into continued existence in a conditioned self.  These are the greatest obstacles to consciousness of the most true self.  Where are you now? Are you experiencing anything worthwhile?

2) Meditation – Finding the Deep Silence Within Me

Being in silence is one of the best ways to connect with inner energies.  Work on letting go of Ego, your “I” “Me” meanings, sensory introjections, and personal views of your functioning. These are difficult practices – do your best to approximate them.  Feel the tranquility of your true self in the feelings of your resting body. See if you can experience both inner and outer space.  Note that ongoing thinking about these experiential processes is NOT silence or tranquility.  This experiential intelligence is very sacred, and cannot be accessed by your ego-dominated self.  Be in complete submission to your inner silence, or as close to it as you can get. As you begin to experience the quietude of self, allow joy to present itself.  Feel it now! Work very hard to drop all projections, and see if you can reach the feelings of the deep void of being.  Where are you now? Are you experiencing anything worthwhile?

3) Meditation – Contemplation without Perception or Being in Pure Presence

Allow yourself to open up yourself without fear.  We are the outcomes of many, many years of body-mind conditioning.  As the Tao has no form, neither does your true self experience within in equanimity.  Liberation may come to you by prolonged experiences of profound inner peace.  Feel the falling away of past unhelpful experiences and the arising of quiet awareness.  Dissolution of the conditioned, learned self concepts brings deep inner intelligence and tranquility.  Perhaps the most important form of intelligence is deep meditation on tranquility itself, which then may open up liberation from your conditioned reactions in life. Work on becoming aware of your presence – ONLY your presence.  Again, this is a difficult practice.  However, if you obtain even an experiential glimpse of the purity of presence you will find inner peace and happiness. Can you feel it now?

After practicing the three selected and modified meditations, see if you have a feeling for the inner sensations of making spiritual contact with yourself and the Beyond.

RealityofBeing_thefourthwayofGurdjieff

For more information refer to DeSalzmann, J. (2011). The Reality of Being: The Fourth Way of Gurdjieff.  Boston: Shambhala, pp. 57-58, 165-169, 278-279, etc.

 

By Anthony R. Quintiliani, PhD., LADC

From the Eleanor R. Liebman Center for Secular Meditation in Monkton, VermontChiYinYang_EleanorRLiebmanCenter

Author of Mindful Happiness  

CLICK HERE  or any image blow to Order 

Mindful Happiness cover designs.indd

MindfulHappiness_Amazon           mindful-happiness_barnes_and_noble

 

Filed Under: Activities, Featured, Meditation, Meditation Activities, MIndfulness Activities, The Fourth Way of Gurdjieff Tagged With: ANTHONY QUINTILIANI, MEDITATIONS, MINDFUL HAPPINESS, THE FOURTH WAY OF GURDJIEFF

Twitter

Mindful Happiness -Currently in Production

Mindful Happiness Posts

Meditation on Ecodharma and Buddhist Ecology   Sit calmly and begin to breathe in and out deeply and slowly. Open your eyes to see and appreciate the natural environment you are in. Close your eyes now if you wish to do so. Know that this nature – the sky, clouds, stars, father sun, mother moon, […]

Meditation for Health Improvement It is estimated that between 10 and 15 million Americans participate in some form of regular mindfulness or contemplative practices; secular-based meditation and yoga may be the most common of these practices.  Many others practice tai chi, qi gong, forest-based contemplation, Taoism, etc.  The US National Institute of Health has been […]

The Deep Courage to Let Go Pema Chodron, now recognized as a world leader in the Chogyam Trungpa Shambhala tradition, has presented a wonderfully clear method for letting go of personal blockages and impediments to enlightenment,  the bodhisattva way of life, and awakened bodhichitta (clear mind, soft heart). She teaches us how in “The Joy […]

Mindfulness-Based Emotion Regulation The following emotional regulation practices (also called emotional balance skills) have been supported by over 2500 years of mindfulness training and current psychological research on human emotions.  These practices/skills are to be practiced before they are needed, and directly applied when they are needed.  Here is the list. 1) Practice noticing and […]

A major part of suffering comes with the inability to shift unhelpful, negative focus on troubling thoughts and feelings.   This cognitive reality is common in all the major mental health problems people suffer from: anxiety, depression, trauma, substance abuse, and eating disorders. Due to the lack of “wise-mind” skills most people suffering from these […]

A Dark Night with Saint John of the Cross The writings of Saint John of the Cross offer a special viewpoint about the suffering of souls, suffering souls on their way to unity with the divine.  What follows stands in contrast to the Buddha’s views in The Dhammapada about ultimate happiness without any form of union […]

Facing Addiction in America On November 17,  2016 The Surgeon General of The United States (Dr. Vivik Murthy) issued THE FIRST Surgeon General Report on our addictions problems. Since addictions in America may well be the single most threatening condition facing the nation’s health and economy, as well as casting strong doubt about a good […]

Self-Care to Reduce Compassion Fatigue First let’s begin with what some people do to counteract the stressors of living in a hurried,“over-technologized” world. Technically, “technologize” is not a popularly accepted word, but it is a sad  reality. We live in a time when texting while driving may become the new addiction-based cause for many, many […]

A Radical Feminist in her Time Over 800 years ago Hildegard of Bingen presented radical viewpoints on women-power and male-dominance in the Christian Church, stone/gem healing, meditation, insight and intellect, the web of life or planetary oneness, being in nature, environmentalism, and personal stories of suffering, etc.  Despite her outspoken manner and her popularity among […]

Happiness #5 – Last Post on Characteristics This will be my last post for a while on the important topic of happiness.  Here I will hit a few highlights about simple joy and lasting inner experiences of true happiness. Simple Joy – We experience simple joy in simple experiences, small sometimes subtle events in our […]

Insights – Vipassana Mediation There will be future, more advanced vipassana meditations posted on the site. For now, however, we will end this series with a final post about the insights often experienced via vipassana meditation. We learn via experience about impermanence, suffering and its causes, no-self, emptiness and many other things – or, perhaps, […]

Meditation Process in Chan Buddhism Chan Master Changlu’s The Deportmant for Sitting Meditation  (12th century China) is a clear and helpful set of instruction. 1) It begins with the making of a personal vow for great compassion, personal liberation, and samadhi – all for the purpose of delivering sentient beings from their suffering and to their […]

Advanced Meditation Practices on Perception As the Sutra story goes, the Buddha instructed Ananda to visit the ailing venerable Girimananda, who was very, very ill.  In an effort to help the ailing man, the Buddha told Ananda to guide him in the Ten Meditation on Perceptions (on sensory input and the objects of mind). According […]

Gratitude Along with Sadness and Fear – It Is Life The famous Zen monk Thich Nhat Hanh gently advises us to appreciate the many things that we may take for granted.  For example, when he does walking meditation he believes and feels that the the earth below his feet is, itself, a miracle of reality. […]

A Buddhist Sutta on Your Desires and Suffering This post is about the Buddhist Sutta called The Gilana Sutta (SN 35:74). It is a touching story about a young monk, who became very ill. Another monk informed The Buddha of the young monk’s health conditions. Buddha visited and hoped he had improved and held on to […]

Self-Care as Ritual Self-care for Americans is often considered a luxury.  Due to our technological demands and addictions (Demons as they are), and the slow slipping of our economic structures, we are often at the mercy of the bottom line at work. Over-paid CEOs and CFOs and their many assistants eat up so, so much […]

Finding Your Seat with Your Demons and Dragons: Resolutions You may think the creation of the Gestalt-like therapy activity of sitting in different chairs and acting “as if” the you in that personality-chair is the source of your responses is a relatively new psychotherapy intervention.  However, some roots of this process may go back as […]

Forgiveness Meditation Practice – Mindful Happiness – Dr Anthony Quintiliani Sit comfortably in a meditation posture. Allow your breath to remain natural without any intentional modification.  Allow your body to relax, and allow your mind to be open to and to expect forgiveness.  Focus attention on your heart area deep within your soul, and allow […]

Breathing Practices and Emptiness Here I will introduce you to five breathing practices, each one moving progressively closer and closer to emptiness/no-self experiences. Do your best to remain open in these practices. Notice the feel of your posture. Once comfortable notice your breath as it is. Relax and close your eyes if ok. Rest your […]

“The Other Shore” to Happiness and Enlightenment Thich Nhat Hanh’s book, The Other Shore: A New Translation of The Heart Sutra…Berkeley, CA: Palm Leaves Press brings us on an inner journey toward a happier, more peaceful and enlightened life. Wisdom implies that we understand that life is made up of mental formations, no-self (more clarifications later), […]

Mindful Categories

Mindful Happiness Pages

  • About
  • Contact
  • Dr. Anthony Quintiliani
  • Mindful Expressions Meditation CD
  • Mindful Happiness
  • Site Map

Copyright © 2023 · Mindful Happiness