Part of the Casswiki article series Fourth Way
In the Fourth Way teaching, shocks are necessary for the development of man. They also play an important role in Fourth Way cosmology.
Role in work on the self
Shocks are the strongest source of internal friction. They are needed to shake man out of his normal state of complacency and submersion in [waking sleep](Waking sleep or confluence), to destroy buffers and awaken conscience. If the little ‘I’s inside one are never shaken, never made to have friction or move against one another, they will never be noticed. Shocks are necessary firstly for one to become conscious of the internal multiplicity, and secondly to later on forge inner unity out of the inner multitude.
In this sense, a shock is anything that evokes an emotional reaction. Often this reaction is subjectively seen as disagreeable but this is not always so.
Shocks serve multiple roles. They are needed to gain moments of a qualitatively different consciousness. They are a wake-up call and a test; the outcome of being shocked depends on what is done in response to the emotional energy. The shock can be assimilated, breaking down buffers and providing the light whereby one can see the self more objectively. It can also be deflected through self-calming, reinforcing the buffers and one’s subjectivity.
If properly used, repeated shocks can allow one to build knowledge of self and control over its mechanical reactions. “From the fire comes light.” Shocks are the only means of sufficiently ‘heating the crucible’ for the fusion of a permanent, real I to take place.
Role in cosmology
Another meaning of the word shock has to do with the Law of Seven. All processes are octaves, and there are two shocks in each octave: one between the notes Mi and Fa, and another between the Si of the preceding octave and the Do of the next. A special influx of energy or shock is needed for the octave to continue its progress over these special intervals.
In the Work, the activities of self-remembering and transformation of negative emotions have to do with providing shocks helping the psychic metabolism to do its work.