Following up on the post about
the hidden ways (june 6), some observations regarding the nature of work on both sides of the enneagram.
In both the spiritual and the natural realm, a distinct kind of three centered work takes place; put differently, the diagram—and the kind of inner work required—mirrors itself. This is reflected by the two triads 142 and 857. Each one represents a combination of emotional, moving, and intellectual qualities that must harmoniously blend together. However, this three centered work acquires a different set of aspects on the left, or spiritual, side of the diagram.
Work within the conscious, or spiritual, half-circle of influences begins not with materiality, which is the lowest level of vibration anything can start with, but with a
feeling quality, that is, a work from the heart, a sensation of Being from an emotional point of view. The position on the diagram, as well as Gurdjieff's comments, make it clear as to why no real work can take place in the spiritual or conscious arena until feeling enters.
What is most interesting to me about this is that the next position after feeling, or emotion, is clearly purification — and this has to take the place of the physical work, that is, in this case, the movements. So the movements that Gurdjieff brought us are actually intended as a ritual of purification: that is, prayer.
These appear at the level of the throat chakra, which traditionally represents speech. Because the left side of the diagram represents an inversion of the traditional understandings of these things — The transformation of the natural to the spiritual changes and mirrors each of their qualities — it actually represents silence, which implies that the Egyptian god Horus presides over this particular note.
It does, however, still denote language, because Gurdjieff's movements are in fact an extremely complex and extraordinarily beautiful language, a kind of poetry which is written with the body, in conjunction with the mind and the emotions. This is a
new language of prayer, not of the mind, but of the body — in other words, an excursion into the exact realm that we consistently refer to when we say that many understandings lie within the range of a language... but that this understanding lies in a range without words.
The movements are intended to purify; and there are, I think, some interesting questions to explore on this point.
All indications would suggest that once we come to a Being-Feeling sense of real "I," we must inevitably begin to engage in an exchange that includes
more than ourselves: and this is why the movements are practiced exclusively in community, in the realm of "we"—the territory that "I" must move into as it surrenders its ego to a higher place. The movements actually represent, in a certain way, Swedenborg's love for one another, which he cites as an absolute necessity in heavenly or spiritual endeavors— along, of course, with a love of God. Put in other words, they are an objective
form of unselfishness.
Anyone who has participated in the movements understands this emphasis, which is explained by the role of the movements in this second phase of work, indicated by its position on the diagram. The movements also represent part of the whole force of intentional suffering — which, among other reasons, is located early in the diagram, in the wrong location, in order to indicate that intentional suffering
must suffuse the entire arena of work in the spiritual realm.
As to the final note
Si before
Do, wisdom, or knowing, we come here to the highest that can be attained by a human being who is working, as Ibn Arabi explains. But even this must be penetrated by intentional suffering — because the feeling quality with which this side of the triad opens at
Sol, mediated by the opening of the heart, sets the dominant tone for all of the work that must follow.
This idea of the shocks—which, of course, are higher influences—"setting the dominant tone" for the work on each side of the diagram is worth pondering at greater length.
May your soul be filled with light.