LAW OF THREE (56) The Third Force

LAW OF THREE (56)

THE THIRD FORCE

"Imagine how the energies of our planet would shift if we as Christians took seriously our obligation to work with the Law of Three as our fundamental spiritual praxis. Face to face with the vast challenges of our times -environmental, economic, political - we would avoid making judgments (because according to the Law of Three, the denying force is a legitimate player in every equation), set our sights higher than "winers and losers" (or even negotiated compromise), and instead strive in all situations to align our minds and hearts with the Third Force."

Cynthia Bourgeault

What is the significance of the Third Force?

The Third Force 'allows' the power of 'direction' to enter all spheres of creation.

In a car the accelerator (active) and the brakes (passive) are forces that move in opposing directions or against each other. Only the presence of a third force, or the steering wheel (reconciling force),  can reconcile accelerator and brakes and direct the car in the chosen 'direction' *

* Accelerator, brakes, steering wheel represent three distinct and independent movements in a triad working as a unit. At the centre, the driver (the will) decides in every moment which of the three forces will be active, passive or neutralising and in doing so he (the will) maintains direction.

LAW OF THREE (55) The Observer

LAW OF THREE (55)

THE OBSERVER

"In non-duality the separate self sense is greatly reduced and even disappears. Everything that happens is the direct experience of reality. It is being able to lead ordinary life without thinking of oneself. When you look at a tree, it is a tree, and not you looking at a tree. The latter is the response of our rational intellect.  "Thomas Keating 

Who is looking at a tree?

"That which makes the eye see, but needs no eye to see, that alone is Spirit."  

The Kena Upanishad:

The observer that can be observed is not the observer.

David Finkelstein

In observation' we can discern three independent forces: the seer, the seeing, and the seen.  Our individual power of attention enables us to exert the power of seeing just by focusing the attention to an object  However the source of sight does not come from ourselves. The power of 'seeing' is given. 

Full attention without reference to the ego (felt-self-sense) gives rise to those rare moments of experience without thought. In the absence of thinking you are simply seeing.You see the tree and not you looking at a tree.  This is the experience of the unity of seer-seeing-seen.

LAW OF THREE (54) The I and the Will

LAW OF THREE (54)

THE I OR THE WILL

"We have various, of what Gurdjieff called, 'centres' or 'intelligences'; but, ordinarily, these are in 'discord' They do not agree with each other in what they see or want. They are at cross purposes. The aim of 'work on oneself' was to clean up the centres and bring them into a co-operative state. It is so that they then coalesce and create something new, this is to create or realise one's true 'I'."

Gurdjieff's psychology

From the perspective of the Law of Three we may consider a car to be a three-fold unit in which three independent and mutually necessary forces give rise to an instrument capable of operating in the world of time and space. In this example the accelerator is the active force, the brakes the resisting force and the steering wheel the neutralising force. When these three powers are in tune, the driver, that is, the true I or the will, can direct the car in the direction he choses. We may consider the driver to be a 5th force which can only operate when the three sides of the triad are brought into a co-operative state (a triadic unit or No.4)

Why the 5th force?

Gurdjieff's example of Man nos. 1,2,3,4,5 etc, (blog 47) may help to answer this question. According to his scheme man number 5 can only manifest when Man, nos. l,2,3 are in balance giving rise to Man No.4. When the three have become one, at Man no 4, Man no. 5, a true "individual" or 'will' can operate.

Another useful example of three forces giving rise to one unit or 'articulation' can be found in the arising of understanding. In the arising of understanding, when sensations (no.l) feelings (no2) and thoughts (no.3) have become one, 'understanding' (no.4) , then the I or the will (no.5) can enter and act.

Metaphorically speaking...

If I can manage my three energy centres I can manage everything else. If I cannot, then everything is hard and has to be forced. If I do not know that the engine can take a car from one place to another, I push it, and this is how most of us do things: we push our machine about like a person pushing a motorcar, and then it can easily happen that the steering wheel is out of reach.