The Reality of Being
In our lives we never fully accomplish what we intend to do. All our movements and actions are subject to the Law of Seven. They begin in one direction but cannot pass the interval in the octave. We go up to the note mi and return to do. To go further, there must be an additional force from within and from without. —84. The intensity must increase
In Search of the Miraculous
“…the structure of the musical seven-tone scale gives a scheme of the cosmic law of ‘intervals,’ or absent semitones. In this respect when octaves are spoken of in a ‘cosmic’ or a ‘mechanical’ sense, only those intervals between mi-fa and si-do are called ‘intervals’
“If we grasp its full meaning the law of octaves…explains…why we can neither think nor do… why everything happens with us and happens usually in a way opposed to what we want or expect. All this is the clear and direct effect of the ‘intervals,’ or retardations in the development of vibrations.
“…A deviation from the original direction takes place…although we do not notice this, and continue to think that we are doing the same thing that we began to do.
“…’intervals’…cause the line of the development of force constantly to change, to go in a broken line, to turn round, to become its ‘own opposite’ and so on.
“Such a…change of direction, we can observe in everything. After a certain period of energetic activity or strong emotion or a right understanding a reaction comes, work becomes tedious and tiring; moments of fatigue and indifference enter into feeling; instead of right thinking a search for compromises begins; suppression, evasion of difficult problems. But the line continues to develop though now not in the same direction as at the beginning. Work becomes mechanical, feeling becomes weaker and weaker, descends to the level of the common events of the day; thought becomes dogmatic, literal… (It) goes round in a circle, repeating what was known before, and the way out which had been found becomes more and more lost…
“We have spoken so far chiefly about the discontinuity of vibrations and about the deviation of forces. We must now clearly grasp…the inevitability of either ascent or descent in every line of development of forces….
“…Ascent or descent is the inevitable cosmic condition of any action. We neither understand nor see what is going on around and within us, either because we do not allow for the inevitability of descent when there is no ascent, or because we take descent to be ascent…
“…(I)f at the…moment when the…octave passes through an ‘interval,’ there enters into it an ‘additional shock’…it will develop further…along the original direction, neither losing anything nor changing its nature.
“…(T)he ‘additional shocks’ which make it possible for the lines of forces to reach a projected aim…may occur accidentally. Accident is of course a very uncertain thing… A man can win at roulette. But this would be accident… A man can very easily deceive himself, and take the result ‘obtained’ as the result desired…
“…(O)r he can learn to recognize the moments of the ‘intervals’ in all lines of his activity, and learn to create the…’additional shocks’ at the moments necessary…
“(This) possibility…gives a practical meaning to the study of the law of octaves, and makes this study obligatory and necessary if a man desires to step out of the role of passive spectator of that which is happening to him and around him.
“The ‘man-machine’ can do nothing. To him and around him everything happens. In order to do it is necessary to know the law of octaves, to know the moments of the ‘intervals’ and be able to create necessary ‘additional shocks.’ —Chapter 7
Gurdjieff’s Emissary in New York-Talks and Lectures with A.R. Orage 1924-1931
Octaves are never mechanically completable. The two intervals are efforts—shocks. In some cases, they can be given from outside in other cases they must come from will. The second interval is always an act of will. —Consciousness, Individuality and Will (notes Annette Herter)
Wish is in relation to an object; or…an image of an object… No object (or image), no wish. This is purely mechanical… In relation to the object, we are like an iron filing to a magnet… Will is choice (according to reason, and not according to wish). In wish…there is no choice.
…At each fork…of the road, there is will vs. wish… —Tuesday, 14 April 1931 – wish vs. will
Question: In what does “doing” consist?
Orage: Always pressing against the yoke… Psychological effort, not merely physical effort… Voluntary suffering is a voluntary effort… Not merely resisting inclination but substituting a positive… (T)he purpose…is not the overcoming of resistance but arriving at a goal. Our goal is consciousness, ability at will to regard the planetary body with non-identification… —Tuesday, 6 May 6 1930
The Reality of Being
In the ascending octave toward consciousness, remembering oneself is the shock that is necessary to pass the interval between mi and fa the first conscious shock. It brings a force that can only come from the wish, the will. We must make the will grow degree by degree, step by step…
All the centers are involved…in front of the interval for the intensity of vibration to increase. The relation between the centers is the shock necessary to pass the interval, which will never be passed without it…
…the question of the second conscious shock can appear only when I have been consciously present for a sufficiently long time. In this effort of Presence, my feeling…purifies itself, and my emotions become positive. But…my emotions fall back and again become as usual. This shows that what in me observes…has no will. The interval between si and do is very difficult to pass.
…for my functions to obey…there is a need for will… —86. First and second conscious shocks