Stoic Being

Stoic Being

Marcus Aurelius, perhaps the most well-known name from the Stoic school, said “Perfection of character is this: to live each day as if it were your last, without frenzy, without apathy, without pretense.”

Here, he very simply and succinctly describes a mode of conduct in life, which can only be sustained by a higher level of being, the same higher level of being that is the aim of our work on the Fourth Way. The combination of simplicity and depth of perception in this quote from ‘Meditations’ suggests that we are hearing the voice of one who ‘knows’, or, as Gurdjieff would say in his analogy of prison, one who has already escaped and is helping from the outside.

“The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way.”

The Fourth Way takes place in life. The daily challenge of circumstance is the arena of our work. Moment to moment, life is ‘happening’. Our circumstances and, more importantly, our inner reactions to these circumstances, are the material upon which we apply our work in a very personal and practical way. It is what Gurdjieff called ‘Holy Denying Force’, a very necessary component for the development of consciousness, will, and unity.

“If you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to the thing itself, but to your estimate of it; and this you have the power to revoke at any moment.”

Ouspensky said “All causes are in you.” This is difficult, but ultimately liberating. In the Fourth Way, the heart is described as ‘an organ of perception’. Habitually, it perceives external circumstances through its desires; its cravings and aversions, wishes and fears, prejudices and opinions. It is our heart that, through the work, we gently and gradually turn towards the desire for growth of being and the awakening of conscience. A refined scale of values and consistent corresponding efforts, generate the energy to sustain a separate, internal observer that is not identified with what it observes in the inner and outer worlds.

Overall, the instructions given in ‘Meditations’ are penetrating, relevant, and practical. Like the Fourth Way, the Stoics insisted on efforts in the present moment, in the teeth of daily life, not discussing, theorizing and debating from comfortable divans. My own teacher has said, many times, that “If it is not practical, it is not mystical.”

In the words of Marcus Aurelius, “Waste no more time arguing about what a good man should be. Be one.”

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Image: Statue of Marcus Aurelius, Piazza del Campidoglio, Rome