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"Self-remembering is by far the most important concept ever released on the earth. To be or not to be present, that is the question." Robert Burton

The central principle behind the Fourth Way is that no one is automatically aware of himself, no one is conscious of himself, no one ‘remembers’ himself. The seemingly simple fact of being aware of one’s own existence goes unnoticed. Even when a person is told about it and sincerely tries to be more conscious, they soon forget to remember to do it, to be aware of their own existence. Their consciousness unknowingly falls asleep again and everything goes on as before—in a state of dim awareness and uncontrolled attention.

Of course, everyone is aware of their existence to some degree, but it is small compared to what is possible through conscious effort. For the most part, everyone takes their existence, and awareness of their existence, for granted. No one remembers about his existence on purpose. Quite the contrary: everyone is always forgetting himself and losing himself in the task at hand, the people he is with, the troubles he is having, the plans he is making, and so on.

To remember yourself means to intentionally divide your attention and be aware of yourself in your surroundings. Through the divided attention of self-remembering you become aware of whatever you are observing in the moment while remaining aware of yourself as the observer. For instance, right now it is possible to be aware of these words on the page while also being aware of yourself reading them. It sounds simple, yet this double awareness, this divided attention, never happens by itself. It requires conscious effort every moment. Without effort, awareness always slips back into ordinary, one-way attention.

Divided attention is the chief characteristic of a higher state of consciousness—called the third state—and the effort to divide attention through self-remembering is a way of inducing the third state. This attempt to reach the third state is the main method taught in a Fourth Way school. Everything else about the school revolves around the discipline of learning to remember oneself—to be consciously present to each moment of each activity during the day.

How to practice self-remembering

Here’s a way to practice and verify the divided attention of self-remembering: As you walk down the hall or along the street, as you talk to people, as you eat, as you get dressed, and as you go about your daily work, try to see what is right in front of you. Try to notice the details. At the same time, try to be aware of yourself making this effort. In other words, be aware of the fact that you are trying to divide your attention. Then notice how the presence of divided attention imperceptibly slips away as you lapse into mental associations, daydreaming, retrospection, and planning—into what the Fourth Way calls imagination. When you suddenly ‘come back’ to the clarity of divided attention, you will see that self-remembering is the key to being more awake. Self-remembering is subtle and simple, yet hard to sustain because it always requires a conscious effort. As Johann Goethe, the German author, said, “That is most difficult which seems easiest: to be present to what is before one."

1—The Foundation of the Fourth Way
• Self-knowledge · Levels of consciousness
• Man as a machine · Consciousness, will, and unity
• Obstacles to awakening · Three lines of work

2—The Theory of Centers (requires lecture 1)
• The 4 lower centers
• The sex center
• Higher centers
• The soul, the spirit

3—Practical Ways to Seize and Prolong Presence
(requires lecture 1 and 2)
• How to introduce and sustain self-remembering

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