What is the body for? Why do we need it? Is a work effort an effort to become free of the body and its limitations?
It may not be obvious at first, but there are clear implications and connections between the work of sensation and the creation of the universe.
The universe was created because God found himself in opposition to Time, the merciless Heropass. This was a world of only two forces. The universe, the world of material reality, was created in order to form a third force so that the law of 3 could come into existence and operate. That action was what made it possible to overcome time in the first place. There had to be a physical reality.
The physical body of the material universe was the necessary lightning rod, or grounding force, to resolve the contradiction between the intelligence of time (which forms information through successive relationships) and the infinite love, or emotional quality, of God.
Time, Matter, and God are reflected in the three centers of man: Intellectual, Physical, and Emotional. In man, without a grounding in the physical, the intellectual and the emotional are perpetually in conflict. Gurdjieff addressed this fact in the chapter on Influences from
Views From The Real World. How to resolve this conflict? A close reading of this chapter says a great deal about thinking and feeling, but very little about sensation—yet thinking and feeling can never resolve themselves without the grounding force of sensation. The universe needed a body in order to take in impressions (
perceive or
see), slow down the flow of time, and create a meaningful relationship that balanced time against not one but two opposing forces. In the same way, man needs his body to support his work, or there is no balance.
Inner work is not about floating off into some astral space. That is, of course, possible—yet it is not the point of this existence. Years of strenuous yogic exercises to allow astral travel? My advice is, scratch that off your to do list. The objective is to inhabit the body, not get away from it. Within the limited context of the sphere we find ourselves in, it is a gift we have been given. We need to work with it intelligently and actively.
If you think about it a bit more, you will probably see that the creation and growth of our own body is identical in form to the creation and growth of the universe. We have been given custodial status over this singular universe of a body, with consciousness residing in it; it is up to us to create, maintain, and support this "limited yet universal creation" to the utmost of our own effort. If we don't do that, why would we think ourselves eligible for any further work?
I respectfully hope you will take good care.