It marks the shattering of an illusion. If he hasn’t grafted an offshoot of ancient schools in the West by his late fifties, he probably never will. Followers driven by hopes of such an establishment now drop off. Those who remain do so with the notion that change and uncertainty will be the norm.

After disbanding the Institute, Gurdjieff shifts his focus from the Prieuré to writing. He sketches plans on an ambitious scale that hit many difficulties. His writings will eventually be published, with considerable help from his students, at varying degrees of completion, and not to the full satisfaction of their author.

Besides this, Gurdjieff composes music. He choreographs more movements. He develops different groups at different times and works with them differently. In short, he continues experimenting with different forms till the end of his life, echoing the very spirit of the Fourth Way.

Three Ways and a Fourth Way

[GURDJIEFF] “The fourth way has no definite forms like the ways of the fakir, the monk, and the yogi… it is never a permanent way… and there are no institutions connected with it. It appears and disappears governed by some particular laws of its own.” ⁱ

The four ways lead to the same destination: developing unity in the human being. Three are considered ‘traditional’ because they encompass all the traditions we know — Buddhism, Christianity, Sufism, Hinduism, etc. They develop unity through focusing on the physical body, or the emotions, or the mind.

[GURDJIEFF] “If we imagine humanity in the form of… concentric circles, we can imagine four gates on the circumference of the… inner circle through which people of the [outer] circle can penetrate. These four gates correspond to the four ways.” ⁱ

The three traditional ways begin by requiring a complete change of life. You have to join an order that specializes in one specific way, or find a teacher, always in isolation from the outside world; a Christian brotherhood in Mount Athos, a Buddhist monastery in Tibet, a Sufi Tekke in Iran. You cannot participate in them part-time or enter them gradually. A total commitment is required from the very beginning.

But we know so little at the beginning, we could easily choose a way unsuitable for us and lose valuable time. How long can we hope to spend on search alone, before even beginning real work? Perhaps in past ages, when schools were more closely integrated with society, this was possible. But for a person living in the modern age, with family and career responsibilities, this is impractical.

[GURDJIEFF] “And the position would indeed be hopeless if the possibility of yet a fourth way did not exist…” ⁱ

The fourth way isn’t traditional so it isn’t apparent. You don’t know of it so you can’t search for it. A person gravitates toward the fourth way inadvertently, by being dissatisfied with the one-sided approach of the three traditional ways.

Excessive focus on the body overlooks the emotional dimension so crucial for understanding human behavior. Excessive focus on emotions glosses over the inquisitive nature of the mind and takes too many things for granted. Excessive focus on the mind lapses into pointless debate and impractical theorizing. So a typical seeker of the fourth way senses these shortcomings without knowing there exists an alternative.

And we have every evidence that Gurdjieff’s Seekers of Truth did precisely this. They joined monasteries of the three traditional ways and participated in each, until they exhausted what they had to offer. At that point, they took what they had learned and continued their search.

There has to be an element of slyness in such an endeavor. On the one hand, to join the ranks of a brotherhood, you must vow complete dedication. On the other hand, once the brotherhood no longer serves your aim, you must break this vow with no remorse of conscience. Only such an approach would account for the diversity of Gurdjieff’s sources as well as the lack of traditional religious morality in his presentation.

[JOHN BENNETT] “Gurdjieff more than once said that he had taken and used certain ideas for purposes that were not approved by the brotherhood in which they had originated.” i

Unconcerned with complying with religious authorities, unconcerned with pleasing any one creed, Gurdjieff was looking for the truth and did not stop till his conscience told him he had found it.

Gurdjieff’s possible encounter with the Fourth Way

So when and where did Gurdjieff encounter the Fourth Way? To answer this question, we must look deeper into the history of the Fourth Way. However, if the Fourth Way is never permanent, if there are no institutions connected to it, then it likely sheds its name with each disappearance. So we can’t study the history of the Fourth Way by searching for the historic appearance of the term ‘Fourth Way’. We must understand its spirit and search for past appearances of that same spirit.

The name ‘Seekers of Truth’ captures the spirit of searching for objective truth unaffiliated with any particular tradition. And, apparently, so does the name ‘Sarmoung.’

Sarmoung Brotherhood as The Fourth Way

[JOHN BENNETT] “‘Sarmoun’ or ‘Sarman’ can be assigned to old Persian. The word can be interpreted in three ways. It is the word for ‘bee’, which has always been the symbol of those who collect the precious ‘honey’ of traditional wisdom and preserve it for future generations… [Another meaning is] the chief repository of the tradition passed down from generation to generation… And still another possible meaning is ‘those who have been enlightened’.” ⁱⁱ

If we take Gurdjieff’s description of the Sarmoung brotherhood literally, it is much too formal to be a Fourth Way school. A brotherhood founded in 2500BC that functions uninterruptedly up to the 20th century is the diametrical opposite of a way that has no definite form, that appears and disappears governed by some laws of its own. This means that if Gurdjieff found an ancient, secret brotherhood — as special as it might have been — it would have had to belong to one of the three ways.

But if the Sarmoung Brotherhood was not a Fourth Way school, then where did Gurdjieff encounter the Fourth Way?

To understand the spirit of the Fourth Way we must understand its task, and to understand this task we must first understand how the traditional ways function.

Ark Myths

The very first mention of an ark comes from the Epic of Gilgamesh, the story recounted to Gurdjieff in his childhood by his father. Gilgamesh is thought to have reigned in 2700 BC. The earliest known Sumerian poems about Gilgamesh date from 2100–2000 BC. One of these features a flood myth.

So right around the time the alleged Sarmoung Brotherhood is formed — and in the very same region — we find the earliest story of the flood.

[GURDJIEFF]
“I will tell thee, Gilgamesh,
Of a mournful mystery of the Gods:
How once, having met together,
They resolved to flood the land of Shuruppak.
Clear-eyed Ea, saying nothing to his father, Anu,
Nor to the Lord, the great Enlil,
Nor to the spreader of happiness, Nemuru,
Nor even to the underworld prince, Enua,
Called to him his son Ubara-Tut;
Said to him: ”Build thyself a ship;
Take with thee thy near ones,
And what birds and beasts thou wilt;
Irrevocably have the Gods resolved
To flood the land of Shuruppak.” ^iv

Subsequent variations on a flood myth appear in nearly all cultures around the globe: in Greek mythology, in the Book of Genesis, in the Hindu texts, in Norse Mythology, in the lore of the Maya from Mesoamerica — to name a few.

The outer meaning of these myths is hardly credible. There may be periodic floods, but it is unlikely one person in so many different cultures predicts them, impossible that they wipe out entire populations, and therefore unfounded that mankind periodically be purged and regenerated. So these myths must be allegorical.

What, then, happens to a Fourth Way ark once its task is complete?

[JOHN BENNETT] “[After Gurdjieff’s death] the typical factions began to appear. Some favored the meticulous preservation, unchanged, of everything that Gurdjieff had said or done. Others were sure that he had given them a private directive that entitled them to work independently of the rest. Others were prepared to sacrifice everything for unity.” ^vi

[JEANNE DE SALZMANN] “When a Teacher like Mr. Gurdjieff goes, he cannot be replaced. Those who remain cannot create the same conditions, We have only one hope: to make something together… Let us make this our chief aim in the future.” ^vi

The more conservative followers seek to formalize Gurdjieff’s teaching and preserve it for future generations. They canonize his dances, music, and writings.