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 go against each other. Only the presence of the steering wheel (reconciling force), can reconcile the accelerator and the brakes and direct the car in the deciding '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,

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 observing 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 the rare experience of seeing without thought. In the absence of thinking you are simply seeing.You see the tree and not you looking at a tree.  You experience of the unity of seer-seeing-seen (without being identified with the seer).

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, ( numbers 1,2,3,4,5 etc in 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 have to push it, and this is how most of us do things: we push our body machine about,  like a person pushing a motorcar, and then it can easily happen that the steering wheel is out of reach.

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 refer to the known self as taking the decision... and yet.... something beyond my known  self... 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)