" The narrative structure of the text of The First Discourse provides further support for this reading of the Four as the outline of a trajectory of practice rather the conceptual foundations for a system of belief. The text breaks down into four principal stages: 1. The declaration of a middle way that avoids dead ends. 2. The definitions of the Four. 3. The presentation of the Four as tasks to be recognized, performed, and accomplished. 4. The declaration that peerless awakening is achieved by the recognition, performance, and accomplishment of these tasks. "

― Stephen Batchelor , Secular Buddhism: Imagining the Dharma in an Uncertain World