Imagination and Identification as Intervals

Imagination and Identification as Intervals

Rising from the second state to the third, from sleep to presence, is an octave and, like any ascending octave, the two intervals will need to be bridged if the octave is to achieve its intended aim.

Gurdjieff’s ‘food diagram’ contains this particular octave in the form of the digestion of incoming impressions, which is one way of saying ‘becoming present to what is before you’. Without going into any discussion or explanation of the diagram itself, we can observe the nature of these two ‘conscious shocks’ from our own experiences of our efforts to be present.

Sitting down quietly by the lake, I begin to divide my attention in an effort to raise my state. I become aware of the impressions in the environment. The gently lapping water, the singing of various birds, the sigh of the breeze in the pines....and the metallic clanging of the flag wire against the pole, which I experience with some discomfort. It seems out of place, somehow encroaching upon the serenity of the natural sounds of this otherwise perfect moment, like a dog barking during a choir performance. The 'I's have started...why do we even have a flagpole? The racket is distracting and spoiling the moment. Judgement 'I's about those who insist we fly the flag begin to arise.

I have reached the first interval. To bridge it, I must make a mental effort to separate from the 'I's, from 'imagination'. The steward steps in and brings me back to the sensation of the chair against my body. My aim is recalled, and I remember that it is possible to be present to any impression, whether pleasing or otherwise. I let the ‘I’s go.

However, I do not ‘feel’ any different about the clanging flagpole. I have separated from my thoughts about it, but I am still identified. This is the second interval. The irritation feels like it is ‘me’ who is irritated. That is what identification is. It is a misplaced sense of self, one which prefers certain aspects of Reality and would deny others.

Meister Eckhart speaks about emptying oneself of oneself. We could say that these little selves that we mistake for who we are must be put ‘outside’ of our true Self.

I begin to experience this little false self as simply another impression of the moment, along with the flagpole and the birds and the wind. Something outside of my Self.

The clanging flagpole simply and naturally joins the choir.

Join the discussion