There does exist a strong relation between the Sufi Path and the path of the “Fourth Way”
Much of the impact of each of these systems is experiential, so written comparisons of this sort are essentially faint echoes of actually being there on either path. Even with these limitations in mind, however, the correspondences between the Sufi path and the “Fourth Way” paths are striking and the divergences and contrasts revealing.

Just as many religions have been introduced during the current cycle of humanity, there have also been esoteric teachings, which teach how to do what the exoteric part of religion preaches. Gurdjieff said an esoteric teaching is "preserved in secret in special schools and with its help it is always possible to rectify what has been distorted or to restore what has been forgotten."

All the religious revelations failed to create the New Type of Man needed to fill the enlarging gap. According to Gurdjieff: humanity has reached a standstill and from there is a straight path to downfall and degeneration. For him there is nothing that points to further evolution. On the contrary we clearly see a growth of ego at the cost of essence, a growth of the artificial, the unreal, and what is foreign, at the cost of the natural, the real, and what is one's own. People are losing their acquired habits of independence. Man is becoming a willing slave. He begins to grow fond of his slavery, to be proud of it. And this is the most terrible thing that can happen to a man.

Gurdjieff predicted that the eastern world would again rise to a position of world importance and become a threat to the new culture of the western world dominated by America, a country that was at his time already strong but also very young.
The world is for him only a reflection or an enlargement of the individual world in each of us. Just as there were two sides to a person, there were two sides to the earth. To bring each of these sides together to become able to live in peace and harmony was for him the one fundamental purpose of all messiahs and messengers from the gods. As many before and after him he stressed that the time was very short to change things and to avoid the abyss. That it was necessary to achieve this world harmony as soon as possible to avoid a complete disaster.

For the current cycle, Gurdjieff brought the ancient teaching of The Fourth Way a sacred and scientific teaching of self-transformation, which speaks directly to our situation and gives the principles and practices by which human beings individually and collectively come to a new awakening.

The Fourth Way is a teaching that shows seekers how to use their ordinary life to come to real life. While an ancient teaching, The Fourth Way is self-supporting and independent of other spiritual lines. Unlike the three classical ways—the way of the body, hatha yoga; the way of the heart, the monk; and the way of the mind, jnana yoga, which all three are working exclusively the “Fourth Way” works with all three centers at once. Thus, there is a harmonious development of the centers. The “Fourth Way” is not a retreat from life, but instead teaches students how to consciously experience and engage in ordinary life. In doing so, each seeker verifies for him/herself the truth and applicability of the practices and ideas in their own lives.

As with any movement, the “Fourth Way” has been utilized by groups, without real connection to the origins. Because of their coercive measures, including financial and sexual exploitation, the reputation of The Fourth Way has been tarnished to some extend.
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There is also a confusion among those, who would like to merge the teaching with Theosophy and Western occultism. On this point Gurdjieff was very specific. He said they have resulted from a mixture of the fundamental spiritual lines. Both lines bear in themselves grains of truth, but neither possess full knowledge and therefore attempts to bring them to practical realization give only negative results.

The present period of culture is, in the whole process of perfecting humanity, an empty and abortive interval.

Humanity, Gurdjieff realized, had entered a precarious new period in its evolution. The world would be destroyed, Gurdjieff warned, unless the 'wisdom' of the East and the 'energy' of the West were harnessed and used harmoniously. To effect the necessary awakening Gurdjieff introduced to the West a unique and powerful esoteric teaching of self-transformation.