Sensation, a Building Block for Fourth Way Work

In Fourth Way work, sensation is a building block. To use it, one must understand sensation differently than the common definition.

The usual way of thinking about sensation is something from outside ourselves that sets off our skin sensors: heat, cold, touch, wind, water, etc. We touch a hot surface and burn our finger. We pack a snowball with our bare hands and feel the cold. The wind cuts us like a knife, the sun bakes us to a crisp. We hold a naked baby or embrace our lover and feel the sensuous sensation of skin on skin. But that is not what is meant in Fourth Way work by the term “sensation.”

Gurdjieff’s First Building Block for Work

In the Work, sensation is an inner practice. Begin by closing your eyes. Put your attention on, say, your left foot. At first it is simply a mental exercise. I concentrate the thought, “left foot” in the direction of my left foot. Eventually, I begin to “feel” something—a warmth, a tingle, an awareness inside my left foot. With practice, I can move my attention around my body and “sense” the various parts—leg, hand, even individual toes and fingers. I can direct this inner work, guiding it, growing it in strength and depth to penetrate my tissues and bones. Sensation, once recognized and established, can take on a life of its own.

For instance, I’ve learned to use sensing when danger is present. Say I’m chopping vegetables with a large and very sharp knife. Suddenly my hands are full of sensation as I work. I might carry a heavy box up or down the basement steps. Afraid of tripping, I find my feet begin to sense.

But first we need to experience the reality of sensation, rather than think we understand what it is. People I know who practice sensation often remember the initial shock when sensation changed from a thought to an acute experience.

Try This:

Close your eyes. Become aware of the whole of your right arm. Sense it. Each time you lose your concentration, move your attention to the next limb—right leg, left leg, left arm. With each rotation of the limbs, skip the first limb in the rotation and begin with the next. Concentrate on the sensation of the limb and where you are in the rotation. Once this exercise is established, try it while making dinner, gardening, mowing the lawn, any physical activity.

Why A “building block”?

Sensation enlists our body to be an active partner in our work to be present. It changes our state, brings roving thoughts back to flesh and blood. With deep sensation, one’s inner state shifts into a receptive vehicle of mind, body and feeling. A state recognizable over time. A gateway to inner Work.

Here is more on sensation from Ian C. MacFarlane, a student of Paul Beidler who worked with Gurdjieff and was friends with J.G. Bennett.