This particular essay is especially for those interested in the relationship between science and Gurdjieff's ideas. It turns out that the enneagram perfectly describes what's called the Heisenberg uncertainty principle, as long as one understands the forces that it depicts. You'll be surprised at how easy it is to demonstrate this.
The force of materiality occupies the note Re, or the position 1. This particular note represents material reality, in our case, a particle. This is equivalent to mass, or, physical existence. The analogy is useful in understanding the meaning of the note overall, since its meaning is consistent across all the levels of the octaves it applies to.
In physics, roughly speaking, a particle has two other properties that can be measured: position and momentum.
The note Mi, position 2, represents urge, or desire. In physics, this is represented by position.
The note Fa, position 3, represents power, motive force, or will. This is the equivalent of momentum.
As we know, once one understands particles mass, position, and momentum, one has achieved a summary of its material existence by describing it, more or less. And it is this description that determines what else one can know about the particle and its behavior; without this description, further experimental analysis is impossible.One might say, again roughly speaking, that a particle that has not been described is a stupid particle; but one that has been described has acquired another level of intelligence, or meaning, because a higher level of intelligence has scrutinized it.
The Heisenberg uncertainty principle states that the observer affects the outcome of any experiment to measure the second and third quality — position and momentum. One can know position, but then the measurement of momentum becomes uncertain. And if one knows momentum, position is an uncertainty. Roughly stated, the quantum state folds these three qualities together into an unresolved set of probabilities. Only when these probabilities "collapse," which Gurdjieff would have described as reconciliation (third force) does what we call the standard model of physics— reality as we know it — arise.
The diagram shows that the observer occupies a place in this exchange, and that the place is specific. That particular location is what Gurdjieff called the first conscious shock. The observer is necessary in order for the collapse of the quantum state to take place in a whole way. In other words, no meaning can be imparted to the system without the observer, and without meaning, the system is less intelligent. So intervention from a higher level is necessary in order to impart meaning; and we can actually infer the entire structure of the cosmos and the Gurdjieff system from this one point.
At this level of reality, which is the most basic and foundational building block of the universe, an observing intelligence—which one might say is far more refined, immediate, and radical than that of any human intelligence—is present. This is the inherent intelligence of the universe, which increases itself according to emergent principles during the organization of matter on different scales.
At this level, it functions more or less automatically, and invariably discriminates by inserting conscious labor directly from the emanations of the Absolute. This is because it is a force that exists immediately and only because of the tangible proximity of the Will of God. In this single instance, the Observer is what we would call a given. In the emergent condition of reality from the quantum state, however, the will of God has entered an extremely diffuse ( physics would call it a "weak") state, in which it can only have an effect on the quantum level and its emergent phase. This Will consequently has to be concentrated in successive levels in order to have an action.
What the
enneagram tells us about this relationship is that mass and velocity can't acquire intelligent direction without the intervention of the observer. If the material does not have an observer, it has power, but no aim; or, rather, the aim is aimless, in the sense that it is an
urge, or, an unintelligent force.
Physics calls this tendency entropy — the tendency of everything to wind itself down to the lowest energy state with the least amount of order. It's the force that dominates everywhere without the further intervention of a conscious influence— an observer. This is because of the interactions between these three forces, which are perhaps best visualized by looking at the diagram and attempting to intuit what happens with and without the conscious shock.
Consequently, we divide what is called Einsteinian, or conventional, reality into two classes: one side which is dominated by entropic forces, and another which is dominated by emergent, or intelligent forces.
This tells us something interesting, because it shows that the natural tendency is for the majority of manifestations in reality to be dominated by entropic forces; and this is, indeed, what our physicists see. It explains that the condition man finds himself in, where entropy seems to dominate and conscious direction is minimal, conforms to a lawful arrangement that can only be counteracted by the action of an observer, which inserts an intelligence into the activity.
The iteration 1428 furthermore demonstrates that as soon as this triad completes itself, a new level of intelligence — a higher vibration — can insert itself in the form of the note Si, position 8. Consequences which can be left up to the reader to discern ensue.
If, after reading this essay, you are left with a subtle but distinct impression that the act of self observation is somehow actually a matter related to quantum physics, and the nature of reality itself —
well then, you have understood something.
I respectfully hope you will take good care.