3.4: Fourth state

Fourth state we described in introductory meetings as that state that normally only occurs at times of extreme danger, when time seems to run unusually slowly and there is a calmness and clear-headedness (probably because there is no time to worry or even think). However Ouspensky gives that description for third state.

Whereas third state is sometimes described as the state of being able to be objective about yourself, fourth state is supposedly being objective about the universe. Ouspensky writes, “In the fourth state of consciousness, that is, in the state of objective consciousness, we are supposed to be able to know the full truth about everything: we can study ‘things in themselves,’ ‘the world as it is.’” 

We used to claim, according to the material in the introductory meetings, that one can, by practicing, be in the third state more and more often, and eventually at will. A person who, by repeated efforts had achieved more-or-less permanent third state might have occasional fourth state experiences. 

For me, fourth state is a theory. After twenty-seven years of diligently following the fourth way system I do not know what the fourth state is. If it exists, then I believe it is a defect in the school of which I was a member rather than any lack of effort on my part that I did not experience it. Put it this way: in all that time no-one came up to me and vouchsafed that they could be in fourth state at will or had been in the fourth state, or that the only reason I had not experienced it was that I was doing it all wrong. I only heard of one person, by hearsay, claim to have been in the fourth state. I never heard our teacher refer to it. It may or may not exist. 

It is not impossible that you could meet someone from another branch of the fourth way who will claim that they are in and out of fourth state all the time, and will explain to you how to do it. You should at least ask for a time frame on that (see later under ‘Time’).

 Any explorer of higher states of consciousness should bear in mind that all kinds of aberrations and alterations of normal consciousness are possible (like getting drunk) and they are not necessarily ‘higher.’ My suggestion is that if there exist higher states of consciousness, then one should expect the state to be one of clarity rather than weirdness. Weirdness or anything psychedelic is likely to be an hallucination. 

I refer you back to the quotation from Ouspensky: “...in the state of objective consciousness, we are supposed to be able to know...” (emphasis mine). He also writes, “As we are not in these [objective] states of consciousness we cannot study these functions or experiment with them, and we learn about them only indirectly from those who have attained or experienced them.” One thing that is clear from this is that Ouspensky was avoiding pretending to knowledge he did not have, at least at the time he produced that material (1937). 

It is tempting, when doubting everything, to settle for some certainty in disbelief, to settle for the conclusion that there is no such thing as fourth state or objective consciousness. Ouspensky points out, however, that: “In the religious and philosophical literature of different nations there are many allusions to the higher states of consciousness....” William Blake wrote, “If the doors of perception were cleansed every thing would appear to man as it is, Infinite.” Maybe so. At present I have no evidence that the fourth way gets us there, but I like to leave a doubt about doubt. I have not proven that there is no such thing. 

It is possible that various states that are sometimes called ‘cosmic consciousness’ correspond to fourth state. I shall discuss ‘cosmic consciousness’ and what it might mean later.