A Harmonically Distributed Sensation, Part VIII

Capital, Moissac

One of the reasons that solar energy, the emanations of the sun, was cited by Gurdjieff as a powerful impetus to enter work for those who undertake their Being-duty is that, properly received, it directly enhances the ability of an organism to sense itself. Human beings who undertake an inner journey always need to begin with alignment with the lunar energies; but ultimately, we seek to come under the influence of solar energies, which is why Gurdjieff once announced that he was in the solar energy business. This isn’t a theoretical matter either, but it can’t be appreciated as an organic question without sufficient inner development in the area of sensation. Once one comes under the influences, they are unavoidable, which creates a new kind of demand.

The entire planet is under this influence, yet it’s likely, I think, that only human beings have lost the ability to sense and feel, in a direct and conscious manner, the influence of the sun, which is constantly working in one way or another to support our inward spiritual effort. This takes place on the spiritual level, not the natural one, and our only familiarity with the sun relates to its natural manifestations — heat, light, photosynthesis, and so on. We don’t understand it as a higher being with the ability to form relationships throughout the solar system. Yet as what one might call “microbes” in the digestive system of the sun, we play, collectively, a central role in its own health, even though it is nearly impossible for us to see that individually.

 I’d like to think a bit more about this relationship between our own microbes, which are essential to every part of our being from our digestion to our psychology, and the relationship we have to the sun, because the analogies by level are very exact and quite accurate. To say that we are cells in the sun’s sensory system, or in the body of God, is not quite as accurate as saying that we are microbes – independent entities – with the duty of serving as assistants in that body. Our own well-being depends on it, as well as the well-being of the level above us.

Going back for a moment to the influence of the sun, it’s worthwhile to keep a close—even daily— eye on the space weather website. Because it closely tracks the various types of solar events that are signals of beneficial emanations of solar energy, such as coronal holes, sunspots, and CME’s (Coronal Mass Ejections, known as solioonensius  in Gurdjieff’s Beelzebub’s Tales to His Grandson), one can know using scientific observations when events that can benefit our inner work have taken place. It is true— not by analogy, but literally — that conditions for inner work improve, sometimes dramatically, when such events take place. 

Different types of events provide different kinds of emanations that, once sensed or felt, support a variety of inner processes related to spiritual development. All of this is closely related to the many complicated explanations of such matters that Gurdjieff gave in his book. Trying to figure all of those things out with the mind first and then understand them is less effective than working through sensation to become more open to the influences. If that happens, understanding develops naturally, rather than as a forced product of intellect.

Wishing the best for you on this day,

Lee

Lee van Laer is a Senior Editor at Parabola Magazine.