Gurdjieff Bennett and the Fourth Way (2)

Bennett as exemplar of the fourth way.
The foregoing description of Bennett's understanding of the significance of fourth
way schools in relation to the local Great Work brings us back to Bennett's actual
situation. As described previously, Bennett represented his International Academy for
Continuous Education as a fourth way school of which he was the teacher. 138 All of
the above three points provide a general description of the context within which he
saw himself as working. I will now show how these ideas were exemplified in his
school.
Bennett was consistently forthright when it came to contextualizing his teaching
enterprise in relation to the fourth way. In 1973 he said:
This period is the greatest opportunity that has existed for many
thousands of years for the Work [fourth way activity]. Not for
thousands of years has there been such a need for people who are
able to work. The reason for this is that the transition from one
system to another can only come about through the third force. It
cannot come from...[either]...the governed or the power
possessors. 139
He was referring to his belief that we are on the threshold of a new epoch in the
collective evolution of humanity (–i.e., as required by the higher plan). 140 He thought
that the successful emergence of this new epoch required a transition to a radically
new social order on a global scale. It is for this reason that he saw an exceptional
need for people with the capacity to work 141 ; and it is within this specific context that
he saw his school as existing.
In Bennett's view the ―Hidden Directorate‖ (psychoteleios order) and the
―Higher Powers‖ share a transcendent perspective on this transition, but they cannot
act directly on the psychostatic majority. The psychokinetic order who are capable of
participating in the Great Work are necessary to conduct the transformative influence
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