Welcome to "NAW Aware - School or Scam?"
What is NAW Aware?
This web site is here to inform you about a group known by the following names:
Their original name was "The New American Wing", and it was actively used for at least seven years. Since late 1998, they have been using various fake names, but for convenience here they will be called "The NAW".
The NAW is a consciousness cult based on "The Fourth Way", a system of psychology and spirituality popularized by P.D.Ouspensky and G.I.Gurdjieff.
This site is necessary for several reasons.
First, it is aimed at current members of the NAW. If you are in the NAW now, you must understand how little access you have to information critical of the group. You are so busy with your chores that there is hardly any time left to do anything, much less read or browse the net. You are increasingly distant from your family, if not cut off completely. You are only allowed to read books sanctioned by the leaders. No one else there speaks out against anything. If you browse the Internet, say, at the office during the day, chances are very high that you limit yourself to searches relating to the Fourth Way, and even then, most of what you find out there is just more of the same propaganda and proselytising which may, even without your knowing, have dramatically limited your thoughts, your actions, and your true evolutionary possibilities. In the small chance that you have stumbled upon this place, you will find information which "the teachers" have intentionally kept secret, and more importantly, you will find a perspective that is highly critical of those leaders and of the entire social structure which has developed.
Secondly, this site is a resource for those of you who are considering the possibility of joining this group. As a new recruit, you will probably not find out about the true nature of the organization until you have been involved for months. By then, you may already feel a powerful sense of belonging, and your critical thinking may be impaired. At that point it may be very difficult to recognize how destructive the cult can be. However in the early stages, you are more likely to seek out information about the NAW, and also less likely to blindly dismiss the information. This site will let you know what you are really getting involved in, while you are still detached enough to listen.
Finally, the NAW is not fundamentally different from other cults. They may give lip service to Gurdjieff and Ouspensky, but their actual behavior has much in common with other groups. Thus, the NAW can be used as case study for understanding cults in general.