Self-Remembering

In the book “Self-Remembrance,” Robert Earl Burton explains and develops the most important teaching of the Fourth Path—one of the greatest esoteric traditions of the 20th century founded by G. I. Gurdjieff and P. D. Uspensky. Following the creators of the teaching, the author asserts that all ideas of the system revolve around one thing: self-remembering is the axle of the wheel, while all the others are the spokes. Although self-remembering is a nonverbal process that is difficult to describe, the author speaks about it in a simple accessible way, citing well-known poets and even familiar fairy tales from childhood.
Self-remembering is a many-sided process: it is both the ability to remain constantly present in the present (“remember yourself”), and divided attention (“you are what observes, not what is observed”). Similar ideas can be found in most spiritual traditions and religious teachings, but for the author it is not just theory—it is a tool through which everyone can “wake up” into another, truly authentic life.
Many people spend their entire lives focused on the future or the past, not understanding that the “past” and the “future” are no more than words. A person must “work” with what the present offers; don’t deceive yourself— the next moment will not be better or more suitable than this one.
Everything other than the present is an illusion. Our work is always now. Now is the only place we can go—because all roads lead to this living moment.
There is no greater miracle than to be present in the now. Everything begins with it, and nothing ends without it.
What does the term “self-remembering” mean? It means that your sleeping True Self remembers it has to stay awake.