Gurdjieff Bennett and the Fourth Way (2)

The Great Work
I have stated that Bennett's position on the ‗deep content‘ versus ‗external form‘
problem was an articulate one. The final task of this chapter is twofold. First it will
serve to familiarize the reader with the main conceptions that Bennett used to express
his understanding of the fourth way as a field of action to which he was connected. It
will then show how this framework functions to elucidate the idea of deep continuity
between himself and Gurdjieff
Central to Bennett's perspective was the idea of the ―Great Work‖. – Gurdjieff
himself did not use this term. However, it is fundamental to the argument to be
developed in the following chapters, that it is, and that Bennett saw it as being, a
quintessentially Gurdjieffian idea. 93 – Here, I will give an introductory outline of the
idea of the ―Great Work‖ showing its centrality in relation to his understandings of:
the significance of Christ; the role of the ―Higher Powers‖; the direction and telos of
earthly evolution in general and of human evolution in particular; the purpose of the
terrestrial esoteric centre (or centres); and the nature of the fourth way. This will
bring into focus his understanding of his own relationship to the fourth way and hence
his relationship to Gurdjieff.
Ultimate and terrestrial scales of the Great Work.
The term ―Great Work‖ as used by Bennett can be understood as referring to two
scales of reality, one embracing and subsuming the other. The first, and larger, is the
whole of creation. On this scale the Great Work is the total spiritualization, salvation
and self-realization of existence through the agency of the Divine Power of Love (–or
―Unitive Energy‖ 94 ).
Bennett understood this as synonymous with the universal
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