The original groups of essays were written quickly, but in many cases as the result of long thought on the subjects. In three bursts of one or two months within two or three years (at the close of the 20th century), I had written, illustrated, formatted and posted 38 essays, and produced the first fourth way web site. But with the third group I felt the relief of finishing, and that relief lasted for about two years.
Inevitably, I suppose, I began to think of a few additions and changes, and received questions and comments leading me to want to clarify and correct various statements. Hence my dilemma - do I:
1) Edit the essays piece-by-piece over time. I did make a few changes this way.
2) Leave it as a thing done. I had said in my introduction that "these essays represent my thought at the time of their writing" and so had to some extent disavowed further responsibility.
3) Rework the whole thing in total, leaving the originals and making a new edition.
After some thought, I chose the third option, little realizing how difficult it would be. On the other hand, I found that with the wide range of topics discussed, I could almost always find a place for new discoveries within the existing "framework" (such as it is).
In general, the essays are revised both in content and format. The order of the essays has been changed to create the Psychological, Cosmological, and Miscellaneous groups. A number of quotes have been added throughout in developing my original idea of these essays as inspired by the essays of Michel de Montaigne. The revision of content varies from minor to major.
All pages © Copyright John Raithel