Start at page 70 for reformat of pictures
Download 1.48 Mb.
|
- Navigate this page:
- Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Monday, August 20, 2007One Henri Trachol was one of Gurdjieff's personal associates. I did not know him well at all, but I met him on a number of occasions when he was invited to sit with our group back in the 1990s.
My impressions of him were always intense and favorable. During that period, I had the opportunity to ask him several questions personally. His answers were always well informed and had a tangible humor to them. Last year, Andre Ennard told Neal and me an amusing story about him. It seems, according to Andre, as though at the end of his life he got quieter and quieter, saying less and less. There was one moment where he was giving a sitting, and all he ever said during the entire sitting was the word "un" (one) at the beginning. This kind of blew people away. It prompted his wife to ask him, at the end of the sitting, "one What?" He smiled, but did not answer. I am recounting this tale because it relates to an understanding I discussed last night with my wife and a close friend. When one reads the chapter, "From the Author" in "Beelzebub's Tales to his Grandson" one discovers that Gurdjieff openly confesses he changed the language from an existing system in order to define his own. How far does one need to look to know what system that was? ...Not very. It's fairly obvious that he took existing yoga terms and concepts, and changed the language so that it would be more precise. The ideas themselves were still identical, more or less, to those of the yoga schools. (Anyone who doubts that need only refer to his extensive references to how man's inner organization can be likened to a horse, carriage, and driver. The whole story is lifted straight from a classic yoga sutra.) In intentionally changing the language of yoga, Gurdjieff removed a certain degree of subjectivity. The enneagram is one area where this was of critical importance. The enneagram, as I have explained on numerous occasions, is a map of the inner structure of the human body-- among other things. That is to say, you have an enneagram inside you that functions, or at least should function, under ideal circumstances, in the exact manner that the diagram depicts. I am well aware of the fact that this idea seems exceedingly theoretical to most people. I was discussing this with our good friend last night, who was surprised that I could say that there are specific correlations one can observe in terms of the inner organs, or centers, the flow of energy, and the meaning of the diagram. All I can say, for those of you who are skeptical, is that this information is both tangible and available. Instead of assuming that it cannot be found, the important thing is to look around inside yourself and see what can be found. I daresay your work will progress in significant ways if you begin to understand this in a more direct manner, instead of continuing to treat it as an intellectual abstraction. Gurdjieff's change in the language of yoga was absolutely critical in this area because he removed the names that people use for centers -- that is, both the word chakras, and the labels for the various chakras -- and replaced them with numbers. The numbers not only depict an objective relationship between the various centers, they offer a strict non-verbal logic, and they erase any associations we may have. This means that when we look for the "chakras" or "centers" in ourselves, we no longer look for something called a chakra or a center. Instead, we look for one, or four, or two, and so on. In seeking a number, we seek something unknown, something objective. As we turn our attention to the physical locations of these various organs, instead of thinking of them with words -- which I must confess I still often do, especially with the heart -- we seek instead the number. This creates an open ended question, because there is no definition here, just a number. We might discover anything in relationship to that. Where is the "one" in us? How do we discover it? We can move on from that question to ask the same question of all of the numbers, even the multiplications themselves. Tomorrow, we'll discuss an understanding of the concept of the vessel in relationship to the enneagram, and we'll discuss what the implications of vessels, containment, and receiving are when viewed from the perspective of this diagram. May your hearts be open and your lives be full. Tuesday, August 21, 2007mustard seeds
In order to appreciate the idea of containment in relationship to the enneagram, we begin with the idea that the body we inhabit is a vessel. By vessel I mean a container which is designed to receive and store materials. When Christ discussed the idea of putting new wine in old bottles, he was alluding to this idea of man as a vessel. The idea of changing water into wine refers to the idea that there can be a physical transformation of the vessel's contents. The diagram has a great deal to tell us about this. When we view the enneagram, we see that it is circumscribed by a circle. Everything takes place within that circle. Imagine the circle as your body. There's your "sealed vessel." There are two geometric figures within the circle. One of them, a rather distorted version of a hexagram, consists of the notes--with the exception of "Do." The other--a triangle-- includes both the note "Do" and the two conscious shocks. These two geometric figures represent intersecting energies from two different levels. Each of the notes on the circle represents a specific organ within the body, that is, a center capable of receiving vibrations. If you go back to the last chapter of Beelzebub, which I am currently sound editing, ("From The Author") you will see that Gurdjieff specifically refers to the six inner centers (I call them the six inner flowers) as being organs belonging to the emotional "brain" of man. When Gurdjieff says that emotion must begin to enter a man's work before anything real can begin to happen, I believe it's quite clear he's referring to the work that takes place within this system. The inner work that man needs to undertake for himself is the work within this "emotional vessel," consisting of the six notes and their relationship to one another. These notes need to be brought into increasing harmony in order for the vessel to be durable enough to hold anything. OK, now to the crux of this discussion. In many esoteric works, the Gurdjieff work included, there is an understanding that energy can be taken in through the top of the head, or, the seventh chakra. (In the enneagram, this is the note "Do.") Most people's experience, if they have one, is that this energy arrives during a meditation session. It generally does not have a durable quality -- it does not last. Everyone who does this kind of work is familiar with the sensation of something quite miraculous, but fleeting and transient. Why doesn't it stay with us? Essentially, this is because the vessel the energy is being poured into--us-- is leaking like a sieve. Unless our six inner flowers, or centers, represented by the notes are working in a sound harmonic relationship, the shocks provided by the energy are all but worthless. They temporarily produce interesting sensations and wonderful feelings. That's about it. In order for the energy to produce any lasting effect, many years of work are required. The six inner flowers must be brought into relationship. As the diagram clearly shows us, that work belongs to this level. All of this work is work to prepare the flowers for their real and ultimate work, which is the receipt of energy from a higher level. Once the system gains integrity, that is to say, the energy being exchanged between the six inner flowers is in a more whole and unified relationship, another energy from a higher level can enter and find a place to stay. When one achieves this unity, one has fashioned a new vessel for the new wine which arrives. In this case, it can stay throughout the day and manifest during ordinary life, at any time, not just when one’s eyes are closed and one is sitting on a cushion. And that is the greatest wish of the Holy Spirit- to be born within life.
We might recall the words, "On earth as it is in heaven." Of course, this is a lofty goal. It may not be achieved but once in a thousand lifetimes. We don't know. What we can know, what we need to know, is that the vessel we inhabit contains a structure and functions according to a set of laws. Already no one likes this idea. As human beings have proved over and over again throughout the course of history, no one likes laws of any kind unless they are laws that they wrote themselves. The idea of being under natural law, whether biological or spiritual, rankles people.
This distressing state of affairs brings human beings to a point where everyone wants to believe that just about anything is possible at any time. For example, as though we could grow our flowers with no water, in the desert, and yet have them bloom. And in a man's life--even in the Work--ignorance of the law usually becomes the excuse for everything. In the Gurdjieff work, the idea is we study laws so that we can actually understand what our real possibilities are, and where we stand. Imagination and dreaming do not help much. Instead, a much more specific attention to the facts and to our inner arrangement is necessary. It's certainly possible to open the top of the head. The question is exactly why we would do that and what it serves. If that "sacred mustard seed" we acquire as a gift from the note "Do" falls onto ground that is not prepared, it will not grow. This is why cultivating a deeper understanding of the inner relationships being discussed here is necessary. May your hearts be open, and your lives be full. Download 1.48 Mb. Share with your friends:
|