The Seven Psychic Factors, Part II

Let's map these three forces Am, Wish, Can on the enneagram, as follows:

Re: The entire sensing of the whole of oneself (in yoga, the root chakra is located at this point.) For the sake of brevity, “Organic Sensation.”

This represents the first or foundational note on the enneagram, materiality. In a general sense it represents moving center.

The material exists before anything else can take place, and its reality must be fully established and inhabited for further action within the diagram. In a metaphysical context, things must first be, their material must be manifested; and the entire sensing of the whole of oneself represents the completed octave of materiality within man, that is to say, the subordinate octave of the note Re is in fully developed relationship and becomes a whole or single thing: indivduality. 

Much could be said about this, because it indicates quite clearly that man’s sensation has seven different aspects of force within it and can develop at one of seven different levels within a human being before the note is mature and whole in its own sense —an action necessary if it’s to participate fully in the further development of its superior octave.

Note in passing that Gurdjieff’s idiosyncratic understanding of yoga and the Tantric system thereby assigns greater power and force to the root chakra, located at the base of the spine, than it does the abdomen, which is the traditional source of spiritual force and power in Eastern systems, notably esoteric Buddhism. This highlights a singular feature of Gurdjieff’s work, which differs from related esoteric works specifically and primarily because of its emphasis on sensation as the first and most important principle of Being. He iterates that point quite clearly in this essay, which makes it notable for that reason alone.

Mi- Wish 

This is the second note on the enneagram of man, representing desire (in chakra practice, the sex center.) It’s the source of fecundity in human beings, whether material or spiritual, and carries enormous force. In a general sense this note represents emotional center.

Fa- Can

This third note represents the third chakra, located in the abdomen. It represents power, ability. In a general sense it represents intellectual center.

From this brief recap, we see that the three initial psychic forces Gurdjieff sites as “exclusive to man” follow the three forces on the right side of the enneagram: material, desire, and power. These all belong to the right hand or “natural” side of the diagram and represent the three forces (along with the shock of conscious labor) that are necessary in order for a man to complete passage from Fa to Sol and develop being, a “real I.” 

Hence Gurdjieff’s citation, later on in the text, of the following paradox: “…on the one hand, these impulses can exist almost exclusively when one has one's own genuine I and, on the other hand, the I can be in man almost exclusively when he has in him these three impulses.“ This iterates the reflexive and codependent nature of the action of these forces in the context of the enneagram. 

In this sense the apparent paradox is not contradictory, but arises because of the interdependent nature of the forces. It’s worthwhile to consider Ibn Arabi’s conception of spiritual forces, which appear to be separated and independent of one another but which are all part of a single whole. Forces which appear on our level to be different from one another are all actually manifested aspects of a single force from a higher level; the presence of subordinate octaves and the fractal structure of the enneagram (see diagram) underscores this fact. Although Ibn Arabi did not use the enneagram to describe the situation, he probably knew of it.

I should mention in passing here that the six psychic forces (of which more in a moment) iterated in the diagram are usually approached like oatmeal: there is no organization to material, desire, power, being, purification, and wisdom in secular and ordinary spiritual analysis of the forces. The enneagram puts them in a context and relates them to one another according to a structural system where the interactions are not random and accidental, but lawful.

Gurdjieff gives further clues to the essential role of sensation in his passage where he remarks, “Only such a man, when he consciously says "I am"—he really is; "I can"—he really can; "I wish"—he really wishes.” We can hereby relate “I am” to the action of sensation, the note Re. This may be of merely technical interest; but perhaps not. “I am — I wish to be” would therefore become the relationship of the notes Re and Mi; and “I can” — known from movements incantations, less so in writings — relates to Fa. “I can” thus represents the role of the intellect in this triumvirate of forces.

All of these relate, as I said before, to the right or natural side of the enneagram, the descending octave in which the material world is created (in man, organic sensation of being) and then plunges itself into the inevitable consequences of relationship, wish and power, that is, desire and impulse. This is the worldly existence we dwell in; and just as there’s an organic sensation of being at the beginning note of this octave, so is there an organic wish and and organic intelligence — forces which we rarely, if ever, encounter in ourselves. Gurdjieff wished for us to develop organic sensation, organic wish, and organic intelligence, because these three “crystallizations” (completed functions, whereby we can understand that the word “crystallization” means, precisely, “completed subordinate octave” —casting considerable new light on that term) are what engender Being, Sol, real “I.”

with warm regards,

Lee

Lee van Laer is a Senior Editor at Parabola magazine.