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 [Paperback]

William Patrick Patterson (Author), Barbara Allen Patterson (Editor)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 187951477X | ISBN-13: 978-1879514775 | Publication Date: February 1, 2007 | Edition: Revised & enlarged

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.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

This is an intimate account of one man's spiritual search through The Work, an esoteric Gurdjieff movement. The narrative focuses on "the collision that occurs between the teaching and the 'I,' the conditioned self-identity." Patterson's account is gripping as he struggles to be accepted into The Work, as he struggles with himself in the process of The Work, as he flirts with teachers and ideas from other traditions, and as he officially leaves The Work and shortly thereafter attends his mentor's funeral. The Work philosophy and Patterson's attempt at self-transformation in the midst of ordinary experience is quite revealing. Recommended for large libraries of all types.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"Eating The 'I' gives as full a picture of the Work as it may be possible to get without joining it. It comes from a great depth and carries much conviction. Readers will taste this teaching in action and will also get an extraordinary glimpse of an extraordinary teacher - Lord John Pentland." --Richard Smoley, Editor, Gnosis Magazine

"Patterson has two fine Irish gifts: a vivid memory and a storyteller's ear. Paced like a novel, this spiritual autobiography is certain to appeal to those who want a rare and engaging inside glimpse of the Gurdjieff Work." --Stephen Bodian, Editor, Yoga Journal

"Eating the 'I' is a delightful gem of a read. I cannot recommend it enough. Few spiritual books have captured my interest and attention with such force. Even for those who have little interest in the teachings of the Fourth Way, it is bound to entertain and enlighten." --New Dawn Magazine, November/December 2010

"I am sure Eating The 'I' will be one of the more important writings on the Gurdjieff Work, after Ouspensky's In Search of the Miraculous." --Miguel Serrano, author, C.G. Jung and Hermann Hesse and The Serpent in Paradise

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 394 pages
• Publisher: Arete Communications; Revised & enlarged edition (February 1, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 187951477X
• ISBN-13: 978-1879514775
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (31 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #133,995 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Eating the "I" without tears, October 23, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: 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 (Paperback)

This is an esoteric book that most people won't recognize as such. That's because of the picture most people have of what constitutes an esoterically spiritual person. The pursuit of an ultimate reality beyond the cacophony of mundane life is connected with images of serene meditating monks, of wandering recluses, of wide-eyed dreamers and spooky mystics. To read instead a book full of parties and socializing, office politics, career moves, flirtation and adultery, and ego posturing seems odd. "Real" esoteric and spiritual people are expected to get away from petty socializing, to take vows of poverty and chastity, and to put their all into the pursuit of some strenuous austerity or achievement, as do monks, yogis and fakirs. But this book is about the Fourth Way, in which mundane life is grist for the mill of self-development.

It covers a period in the adult life of William Patrick Patterson. He's a writer and editor in the cutthroat milieu of New York City. He's also married, and tempted by bold, modern women. He rises like a meteor and is shot down by an office competitor. He knows wealth and poverty, arrogance and fear. He finds and honors a rare spiritual teacher. More than one in fact. There's cussing, drinking, verbal clashes, and relationships gone bad.

It's not the bald subject matter, but the insights and principles that illuminate it that distinguish this book from an ordinary memoir. Here is one of many examples: Patterson faces an ugly truth underlying his employment situation concerning the way a boss is using and mistreating him. He withdraws his cooperation from the boss at a critical moment, knowing full well the it will at least create extreme unpleasantness at the office if not result in his ultimate dismissal. He has upset an equilibrium that needed to be upset, yet what will the consequences be? Can he get control and set the situation right or not? There is no way of knowing this at the moment his decision must be made. He is on a fatal trajectory that continues when the co-worker confronts him and demands an explanation for Patterson's absence from an award dinner. Should he appease his adversary by making a phony excuse? "These two "I"'s inside me debate. The one, very rational, mature-sounding. The arguments are so reasonable, sensible. So what if I lie - so what? But then, just at the last instant, a feeling comes of total disgust - disgust for what stood before me, disgust with that whole way of life. And inside that feeling a silent voice declares: I-am-not-going-to-lie-to-him.

I tell him: "No excuse."

"What!" he screams and sags, a look of horror, bewilderment, frozen to his face .......

And something falls away and I know right then: I have broken free of him."

Later he tells his wife that he'll apologize if she really wants him too but is not optimistic about doing it, because: "I feel like there's you know, a big movement going on. Big wheels are turning. I'm at the interval in the octave. all this has to happen. I'm being moved on now."

How right he was. At the end of the book he had moved on and found some peace. With his wife, with his departed teacher the formidable Lord Pentland, and with a new career. No this is not a book claiming that the Fourth Way will make one rich, sexy, happy, or lucky. But it is about what the study and practice of the Fourth Way looks like from the inside of a modern man in modern society, which is where it was meant to be practiced all along.

20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Personal Search, April 17, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: 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 (Paperback)

A brilliant and `can't put down' book that shows an individual's efforts to come to something for themselves and how this can add up within the context of the Fourth Way. What does it take to be `in the Work'? We see the author against a background of family relationships, social situations, job relations and, embroidered in high relief, the archetypes that are present in everyone's life; particularly noteworthy is the `father-son' relation. He illuminates with clarity how the teaching Gurdjieff brought uses `life' to come to `higher life.'

In a wider context, William Patterson brings the Fourth Way teaching into modern times, and in particular, these modern times. We get a look and feeling of what it would be like to be on this fourth path of transformation. One also gets the sense that the Work does `stand above life.'

Given is the perspective of how a person wrestles with the questions necessary for oneself that can produce real individuality. Irresistible book for an initial introduction to the Fourth Way and invaluable for people already there.

18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Honest, February 27, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: 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 (Paperback)

This is a very honest book. In Eating the "I", Patterson speaks sincerely of his efforts to find understanding of himself and life. For him, as it is for all of us, there is no clear right or wrong direction to take, no simple road signs to follow to finding oneself, and Patterson takes the reader along through every step and misstep he makes on his own personal path. It is interesting and entertaining, as well as being an accessible introduction to the teachings of G. I. Gurdjieff and the Fourth Way.