Are we able to say that life is governed by a group of conscious people? In fact, we see exactly the opposite- that life is governed by those who are the least conscious, by those who are most asleep.

G. I. Gurdjieff believed that two hundred conscious people could change the whole of life on the earth. Yet, according to Gurdjieff, the wars raging at this very moment are nothing more than millions of sleeping people trying to annihilate millions of other sleeping people. With the help of self-knowledge and an understanding of our relation to the universe, we can become conscious and awaken to a higher level of being.

Provocative ideas such as these have attracted generations of thoughtful people to study his methods of self-study and inner work. All of Gurdjieff's fundamental principles and methods of transforming the intellect, emotions, and body, in the system known as the Fourth Way, are presented in this book in his own clear, precise words preserved by his closest pupils. Arranged in an orderly sequence of passages drawn from two primary source books--P. D. Ouspensky's In Search of the Miraculous, and Views from the Real World, recorded and arranged by Mme. Jeanne de Salzmann--this material is an indispensable introduction for those determined to undertake the efforts and practices necessary for awakening consciousness.

Over one hundred years ago in Russia, G. I. Gurdjieff introduced a spiritual teaching of conscious evolution-a way of gnosis or "knowledge of being" passed on from remote antiquity. Gurdjieff's early talks in Europe were published in the form of chronological fragments preserved by his close followers P. D. Ouspensky and Jeanne de Salzmann. Now these teachings are presented as a comprehensive whole, covering a variety of subjects including states of consciousness, methods of self-study, spiritual work in groups, laws of the cosmos, and the universal symbol known as the Enneagram.

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" that integrates these three aspects into a single path of self-knowledge. The principles are laid out as a way of knowing and experiencing an awakened level of being that must be verified for oneself.