LAW OF THREE (35) In The I Am of God

LAW OF THREE (35)

IN THE I AM OF GOD

"God will bring people and events into our lives, and whatever we may think about them, they are designed for the evolution of His life in us." Thomas Keating

God is immanent in all areas of our life:

  In Centering Prayer "We are invited to give God a chance to experience Himself in our humanity, in our difficulties, in our weakness, in our addictions, in our sins." by consenting to God's presence and action.

A dual perception persuades us that our spiritual salvation depends entirely on our "good works." but our experience shows us that "good works" are hard to achieve.

St. Paul knows that: "For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do " Romans 7:15:25

A classic example of the play in ourselves of the contradictory forces of: love-hate, good-bad...etc. leading which leads us to states of anxiety, frustration and guilt. 

Frustration and guilt are tricks of he ego   TK says that if guilt lasts more than half a minute, it is neurotic guilt.   "Pervasive, prolonged, paralysed guilt - that is the superego- That is our emotional judgement of what is right and wrong, and that is not our true judgement."

Letting go of our identification with the contradictions and tricks of the talkative ego,  may lead us to a sudden revelation "we suddenly realise who we really are!  I am not in the "I am " of myself,  but in the "I AM" of God" Thomas Keatting-

LAW OF THREE (34) Why? What? How?

LAW OF THREE (34)

WHAT? HOW? WHY?

"Yes" is of the mind . "No" is of the body. The reconciling is of the emotions. Body knows the "how" of things. Mind knows the "what" of things. Emotion, plus mind and body, understands the "why" of things. Scientists are interested in the "how" of things, not in the "why" of things. S. Nott

Understanding phenomena requires the answer to three questions : what?

How? Why?

The Law of Three identifies 3 forces: "why"is the active force of the action; "How" is the resisting force of the action, and "what" (or thus) is the reconciling or outcome of the action.

The active force refers to the initiation of an action, the resisting force refers to its process , and the reconciling force refers to the result or the thus of the action.

As simple example:

Building of a house

i Why? We want to built a house because we need shelter, etc. (+);

ii How? Refers to site, materials, labour, cost, etc. or conditions to build the house (-)

iii What? The final outcome or the thus of the action: here is the house!! (=)

Finding ordinary examples of the play of What, How, and Why in the material world is not difficult. But there are perennial questions which have been active inner forces ever since mankind acquired self reflective consciousness:

What is Man?  How did Man come to be?  Why of Man?

What am I?  How did I come to be?  Why am I ?

What is this creation?  How did it come about?  What (why) is its purpose?

LAW OF THREE (33) The Third Force

THE LAW OF THREE (33)

THE THIRD FORCE

"We have no conception of a pure affirmation that does not depend upon a denial. Neither can we conceive a receptive impulse that could sustain its own character except in opposition to an affirmation. Nor can we visualise a reconciling impulse that does not need the presence of opposing forces to elicit its quality. P.O. Ouspensky

THE THIRD OR CONNECTING FORCE

1 The three forces in a triad are interdependent.  

2 Two forces cancel each other. No movement is possible.  Only the entering of the third force gives a triad movement and direction.

3 The 3rd force may be more or less conscious.  The 3rd force enters to complete a triad, when the triad needs to move forward to overcome an impasse.  The 3rd force enters our consciousness in the form of information.   If the information comes from memory,  the ensuing movement would be determined by the limits of the past information.  However, the arising information could also be an inspired insight, coming form of deeper source, in which instance it would lead the triad into a new and unchartered direction.  Such is the nature of the creative triads.

The entering of the third force can show us the new step necessary to unstuck an immobilised situation to keep us moving.  But we cannot rush.  Past information may be overwhelming.  The cue of waiting 3rd forces in the form of thoughts aiming to keep us moving may be long but...

"...be quiet, until the appropriate action arises by itself."  Tao-te-king. Chap 15

THE LAW OF THREE (32) Welcoming Obstacles (The Enneagram)

THE LAW OF THREE (32) WELCOMING OBSTACLES (THE ENNEAGRAM)

LIKES AND DISLIKES 

"If we were deprived of like and dislike - if we had no polar nature at all - we shouldn't have anything from which to draw force. It is like the poles of a magnet. In order to get force from the poles of a magnet you have to hold yourself right in the field of action of its two poles. In the same way, in order to get force out of the dualism of our nature we have to hold ourselves in the field of it - not let ourselves be drawn to one side or the other, because this simply neutralises their polar force" J.G. Bennett

WELCOMING OBSTACLES

A wisdom teacher suggested that the game of golf was invented by someone who wanted to remind people of what life is like. "The game called golf consists in getting a little ball into a hole while at the same time overcoming all kinds of pitfalls and obstacles that prevent the ball getting into a hole too easily."

Our lives compare to a game of golf. The tensions provoked by the obstacles or hazards we encounter are part of the mechanism required to generate the energy necessary for life. Our freedom consists in the ability not to be drawn to either one side or the other of the two poles of duality (good-bad. like-dislike, pleasure-pain) and develop the capacity to bring into a conflicting situation the power of reconciliation and new direction..

TRAPPED BETWEEN TWO FORCES

Those familiar with the Enneagram* (the circle of 9 points) will note the inner triangle which is formed by the numbers 3-6-9. Numbers 3-6-9 refer to the three independent sources of energy which keep the wheel of creation "going round" (active-passive-reconciling)

Point 3 refers to the force or impulse of habit. Habit ensures repeating patterns of behaviour.

Point 6 refers to the force of the emotional pattern of responses: the likes-dislikes  If we are invited to eat something we dislike the look of, our habit, point 3,  is challenged. If we like fish and chips and our good friends prepared cooked snails our emotional mechanism, point 6, is triggered. 

Point 9 refers to the power of choice and decision. Rarely this power is acted by a conscious and independent Self.  The power of choice is normally exercised by the ego whose partiality lends its power to one of the opposing forces of duality to avoid stagnation. (see L3:5).

Only when No 9 does not allow itself to be drawn to one side or the other of our polar nature can our true will (True Self) free itself from dualistic domination and act as a true agent of reconciliation,

* Gurdjieff and Ouspensky