Eating the I: A Direct Account of the Fourth Way- The Way of Using Ordinary Life to Come to Real Life (In Search of the Self), Revised & Expanded Edition

by William Patrick Patterson, Barbara Allen Patterson (Editor)

2007 Expanded edition. Includes a gallery of 17 paintings depicting different stages in the journey. The search for one s real self is a sacred quest, an archetypal journey, whereby the seeker eats through the web of illusory "I's" that mask his or her real self-identity. In our times, this search has rarely been reported in such a candid and compelling manner as it is in William Patrick Patterson s book Eating the "I". Dispirited and disappointed in life, the author s life dramatically changes when he is introduced to the esoteric teachings of the Fourth Way - the way of transformation in ordinary life. Unique to this rich and practical teaching is its insistence that the student's negativity and confusion are the sources of his awakening. Life's shocks and uncertainty - that which he is most trying to avoid - are in fact that which can help him to awaken. Writing on many levels, and in the strong vibrant voice of a natural storyteller, Patterson describes his twelve-year search that takes him from secret meetings in a Manhattan townhouse, to the Pyramid of the Sun in Mexico, to Dublin and the Aran Islands, to England s Lake District and a medieval Scottish chapel, to his boarding of Allan Watt's S.S Vallejo and discovery of the "Holy Fool". Into his life come many memorable and powerful Trungpa, a Tibetan Master of Crazy Wisdom; Vali, a beautiful and enticing witch; Casey, a Jungian painter; and Stanley, an arch-adversary. Yet by far the most remarkable and unforgettable of all remains the man chosen by Gurdjieff to lead the Fourth Way in America, Lord John Pentland. Eating the "I" shows how the pressures, conflicts and uncertainties of the technological world actively serve our awakening. Life is used to come to Life.

Genres: Spirituality

394 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 1992

About the author

William Patrick Patterson is the founder/director of The Gurdjieff Studies Program, the author of seven books on The Fourth Way, and the director-writer-narrator of the award-winning documentary video trilogy—The Life and Significance of G.I. Gurdjieff. He is also the founder/editor of "The Gurdjieff Journal" (est. 1992), the first domestic and international Fourth Way journal. He has led groups for many years and annually gives four public seminars on G.I. Gurdjieff's teaching of The Fourth Way. He is the direct and longtime pupil of John Pentland, the remarkable man Mr. Gurdjieff chose to lead the Work in America.

Reviews

[William Patterson · Rating 5 out of 5]

2007 Expanded edition. Includes a gallery of 17 paintings depicting different stages in the journey. The search for one s real self is a sacred quest, an archetypal journey, whereby the seeker eats through the web of illusory "I's" that mask his or her real self-identity. In our times, this search has rarely been reported in such a candid and compelling manner as it is in William Patrick Patterson s book Eating the "I". Dispirited and disappointed in life, the author s life dramatically changes when he is introduced to the esoteric teachings of the Fourth Way - the way of transformation in ordinary life. Unique to this rich and practical teaching is its insistence that the student's negativity and confusion are the sources of his awakening. Life's shocks and uncertainty - that which he is most trying to avoid - are in fact that which can help him to awaken. Writing on many levels, and in the strong vibrant voice of a natural storyteller, Patterson describes his twelve-year search that takes him from secret meetings in a Manhattan townhouse, to the Pyramid of the Sun in Mexico, to Dublin and the Aran Islands, to England s Lake District and a medieval Scottish chapel, to his boarding of Allan Watt's S.S Vallejo and discovery of the "Holy Fool". Into his life come many memorable and powerful people: Trungpa, a Tibetan Master of Crazy Wisdom; Vali, a beautiful and enticing witch; Casey, a Jungian painter; and Stanley, an arch-adversary. Yet by far the most remarkable and unforgettable of all remains the man chosen by Gurdjieff to lead the Fourth Way in America, Lord John Pentland. Eating the "I" shows how the pressures, conflicts and uncertainties of the technological world actively serve our awakening. Life is used to come to Life.

[Hunter · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wonderful book that served as my introduction to 'the work.' Patterson makes the subject matter more interesting by expressing the ideas of the work in the form of an autobiography. I also now appreciate that he was mirroring book form of prior authors before him - most notably Ouspensky who wrote a similar account of his own interactions with Gurdjieff

I only gave this book 4 stars for a couple of reasons: firstly, the book was very long, and, in my view, got very wordy in the second half in particular. Secondly, I wanted there to be a definite ending or climactic point, but I did not feel there was one. I suppose the second qualm is unfair being that it is an autobiography and a man can only recount his own life as it really occurred

[Todd · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best spiritual memoirs I have read in a long time. It is also a great explanation of Gurdijief's "Fourth Way" and his vision of spirituality and how to apply it in life.