The core ideas of the Fourth Way were popularized in books written by G. I Gurdjieff and P.D. Ouspensky (see FOURTH WAY ESSENTIALS below) about fifty years ago, based on material they had first presented more than eighty years ago.
Gurdjieff's ideas were collected and systematized by Ouspensky, a Russian philosopher and journalist born in Moscow in 1878. Ouspensky's best known book is In Search of the Miraculous, and his version of the Fourth Way philosophy and cosmology is often referred to as "The System."
The Sawmi accepts the usefulness of Gurdjieff's method of developing human potential, The Work, or "Work on Oneself," but rejects parts of "The System" as dated, simplistic, and a premature attempt to finalize Fourth Way ideas. The System contains many valuable insights and should not be rejected completely, but at this time it has become a dogma and a hindrance to the further development of The Work.