LAW OF THREE (53) Decision

LAW OF THREE (53)

DECISION

"God made man so that He could know Himself." G.I. Gurdjieff

WHO OR WHAT DECIDES?

The nature of decisions beyond ordinary day to day choices has occupied my mind for a long time.  For example:  Did I decide to be born?   A question that obviously cannot be resolved with my ordinary level of consciousness (or by the ego)

 I can differentiate two kinds of decisions: 1. Decisions that come from the Ego, the Me, or the False self and relate to the issues encountered in the ordinary world of duality. 2. the decisions that come from an I, or Self, which is (or resides) beyond the sphere or the limitations of the ordinary self-conscious ego. The question of: did I decide to be born?, is meaningless to the ego,

Another decision coming from a differente plane could be this:

As a young man at the age of 26, I was walking down a local street, when a decision struck my being. I was to leave my comfortable life in Spain and move to England! The decision came out of infinity. And even though such possibility had been playing in my mind for years the enabling power and force of the decision had not entered my awareness until that precise instant. From then on the pattern of my life was to be completely restructured

Strictly speaking, I did not take the decision... and yet.... something beyond myself... which is at the very core and centre of myself ... took the decision... which I was bound to obey!  "To hear is to obey" says the Rule of St Benedict.

 

Law of Three (52) Centering Prayer and The Law of Three

THE LAW OF THREE (52)

CENTERING PRAYER AND THE SPIRITUAL JOURNEY

"Just by the very nature of our birth, we are on the spiritual journey" 

Thomas Keating.

 Thomas Keating says:

"Our basic core of goodness is our True Self."

"The acceptance of our basic goodness is a quantum leap on the Spiritual Journey."

"This basic core of goodness is capable of unlimited development, indeed of becoming transformed into Christ and deified."

Centering Prayer and the Law of Three forces

The Law of Three stipulates that nothing is brought about, changed or accomplished unless three independent forces are involved.  In Centering Prayer the intention is to consent to God's presence and action within ourselves.  The three forces are:  i. intention (the active or initiating force); ii. thoughts (the passive or resisting force); and iii. consent (the reconciling force). When these three independent forces act in harmony, a "gate of consciousness" opens to permit Gods action  

It is essential to distinguish the two different forces which intervene in C.P :  intention and consent. Intention comes from the Ego and Consent from the True Self *)

True consent may give rise to unsuspected events:

"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.

LAW OF THREE (51) Power in Weakness

LAW OF THREE (50)

POWER IN WEAKNESS

"The only self we know is the false self that developed in infancy under the influence of the three emotional programs for happiness and especially under the influence of a separate-self sense. The infant after six or eight months of depending on its mother, begins to realise that she is not going to do everything for ever, so it begins to take care of itself. It then needs to feel secure, loved, and free to experience power and control in some degree." Thomas Keating

In the first months of life we are unaware of ourselves, our needs, or our existence. The needs and weakness of the infant is a force that commands the attention and assistance of those around him.

As memory grows the child learns to speak, with speech comes self-awareness and the need for some degree power or control. Gradually we identify with the thoughts, feelings an sensations until we claim ownership of "my thoughts. my feelings, my sensations ."  With the inevitable arising of the ego our essence is forgotten.

In our essence is our strength.   The recognition of the commanding power of essence is evidenced at birth.  The needs of the child command immediate response.   In T.K's words with every birth enters a: core of goodness is capable of unlimited development, indeed of becoming transformed into Christ and deified." 

Does St. Paul have in mind the the power in the helplessness of the new born child? "For my strength is made perfect in my weakness. Most gladly, therefore, I will rather glory in my infirmities, so that the power of Christ may rest on me" Cor. 12:9

LAW OF THREE (48) Background to the Law of Three

THE LAW OF THREE (48)

BACKGROUND TO THE LAW OF THREE

The law of three states that very phenomenon and every event in creation is the work of three independent forces.

When we see the action of three independent forces in every event and phenomenon, then we see the world as it really is.

In order to produce any phenomenon or event the three independent forces meet in a relationship of positive, negative and neutralising

Considered by itself, every force in the universe is positive or active.

Only at the point of meeting do the three forces become structured in this relationship.

We can see very easily the positive or active force in any event or phenomenon.

Sometimes we are aware of the negative or resisting force as well.

But very rarely are we aware of the presence and action of the third neutralising  or reconciling force. 

Background to the concept of the Triad

The Law of Three was introduced by Gurdjieff about 100 years ago during his teaching period in Russia just before the Bolshevik revolution. These ideas were taken up by groups run by Gurdjieff's one time pupil Ouspensky. Other teachers operating within the same circle, like J.G. Bennett, developed the study of the Triad in their own ways.

Gurdjief idea of the triad was very simple and direct. It was about how things change, and how change was at all possible. His originality was to insist that: nothing is brought about, or nothing is really changed unless there are three independent forces involved.

Ouspensky said: There are ideas that could all stop al quarrels, such idea is the Law of Three

He also said that: In order to penetrate in the experience of the Law of Three we must be present fist (the three forces operate in the present, now)