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Centers (Fourth Way) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Planes of existence

In G.I. Gurdjieff' s Fourth Way teaching, also known as T he Work, centers or centers or brains refer brains refer to separate apparatuses apparatuses within a being that dictate its specific functions. There are three main centers: intellectual, intellectual, emotional, emotional, and moving. moving . These three centers centers in the human b ody are analogous to a three story factory: the intellectual center center being the top story, the emotional center being the middle story, and the moving center being the bottom story. The moving center, moving center, or the bottom story is f urther divided into three separate separate functions: sex, sex, instinctive, instinctive, and motor. motor. Gurdjieff classified plants as having one brain, animals two and humans three brains. In Beelzebub's Tales to  His Grandson , Gurdjieff greatly expanded his theory of hu mans as "three brained brained beings". In the book The Fourth Way , Ouspensky refers to the "center of gravity" as being a center which diff erent people primarily operate from (intellectuals, artists, and sports enthusiasts, for example, might represent represent each of these centers). centers).[1]

Gross and subtle bodies Theosophy Full list 1. Spiritual plane: Divine Spirit / Word 2. Spiritual plane: Oversoul / Holy Spirit / Word 3. Spiritual plane: Spirit / Word

Contents

4. Spiritual / Causal plane: Human spirit, Soul / Causal body

1 Centers 2 Higher centers 3 Subtle bodies 4 Types of Attention 5 Dif ferent approaches 5.1 Rodney Collin 5.2 Other authors

5 Mental / Causal plane: Mind, Causal body, Mental body, Projection / OBE 6. Astral-Ethereal plane: Life / Ether-Astral body, Projection / OBE 7. Material plane:

6 The Importance of Centers in the Fourth Way 7 References 8 See also

Material body Neo-Theosophy Full list

Centers Intellectual or Intellectual or thinking center. center. This center is the faculty which makes a being capable of logic and reasoning. This one is lo cated in the head. Moving or Moving or physical center. This brain is lo cated in the spinal column. Thi s brain makes beings capable of physical actions, and can be further divided into three distinct centers: Motor : Controls motor functions. The acts of walking, the physical aspects of talking, as well as even functions that are considered "reflexive," "reflexive," are all part of this sub-center. Instinctive : Controls faculties which are completely completely involuntary. This d oes not typically encompass "knee-jerk" "knee-jerk" reactions, nor what we would typically consider reflexes. A common example of the functioning of this center is the contracting of blood vessels to facilitate the pumping of blood. Sexual . Controls sexual functions. T his one is exceeding complex, encompassing encompassing conversion of  energies energies within a being. This center is implicated in abnormal human development. The Fourth  Way  uses  uses the disharmonious f unctioning of this sub-center to explain a very large array array of  issues. Emotional or Emotional or feeling center. This faculty makes beings capable of feeling emotions. This brain is dispersed throughout the human body as nerves which have been labeled as the "nerve nodes" nodes" . The biggest concentration of these nerves is in the solar plexus.[2]

Higher centers While the lower centers are considered considered separate faculties of one's material material body, o ne can think of these higher centers as being faculties f or "higher bodies". Higher emotional center: center: faculty of the astral body. body. It enables one to h ave sustained states of  self-consciousness, self-awareness, self-awareness, and other deep f eelings. It does not replace, nor is it an "upgraded" version of the emotional center, as it a completely separate center. Higher intellectual center: center: faculty of the mental body. body. It enables one to have sustained states of  objective consciousness and superior intellect. As above, it does not replace, nor is it an "upg raded" raded" version of the intellectual center.

Subtle bodies The Fourth Way acknowledges the existence of four p ossible bodies of man, composed of increasingly rarefied matter, inter penetrating one another. [3] According to the Work, all people have the first body. The other three are are obtained through the correct type of effort. Th e bodies are as follows: The Material Body (Normal Body (Normal Human Physical Body). This body is considered the seat of the lower five centers: intellectual, emotional, emotional, physical, instinctual, and s exual. The material material body' s actions are purely automatic and depend completely on the influences coming f rom outside factors, and its perception perception is confined to observation in a "subjective" manner. manner. When the material body dies, then it returns to the earth from which it came, and nothing o f it remains. The Astral Body This Body This body is also sometimes called the Emotional body or body or the Kesdjan Body. Body. This body, by itself is not subject to the laws of automation; that is to say, the astral body is capable of a degree of free will. Also, the perceptions of the astral body are capable of being of an objective nature in matters regarding regarding one's self. An astral body is considered a prerequisite to maintaining a state of "self-consciousness". The lifespan of the astral body is unknown exactly, but it is far larger

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Besant & Leadbeater (BL,)  Arcane School School (AS) (AS) 1. Adi (BL) / Divine plane (AS): Divine Spirit / Word 2. Anupadaka (BL) / Monadic plane (AS): Oversoul / Holy Spirit / Word 3. Atmic plane (BL) / Spiritual plane (AS): Spirit / Word, Human spirit 4. Psychic plane: Soul / Causal body 5a. Mental / Higher mental: Higher mind 5b-d. Mental] / [Causal plane: Mind / Causal body 5e-g. Mental plane: Body, Projection / OBE 6. Astral:  Astral body, Projection Projection / OBE 7a-d. Ethereal plane: Life / Etheric body, OBE 7e-g. Material plane: Material body Rosicrucian The 7 Worlds & the 7 Cosmic Planes The Seven-fold constitution of Man The Ten-fold constitution of Man Thelema Body of light | Thelemic mysticism Surat Shabda Yoga Cosmology Sufism Sufi cosmology Hinduism Talas/Lokas - Tattvas, Kosas, Upadhis Upadhis

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Centers (Fourth Way) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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than the lifespan of the Material Body because it continues living after the death of the material body.  According to the Fourth Way, a man is not born with an astral body and an average man does not have one, while even if someone does, it's in a very immature state, and has no contact with it whatsoever in his daily life.

Buddhism Buddhist cosmology Kabbalah  Atziluth -> Beri'ah -> Yetzirah -> Assiah

The Intellectual Body This body, by itself is not subject to the laws of automation; that is to say, the intellectual body is capable of a degree of free will beyond that of the astral body. Also, the perceptions o f the intellectual body are capable of being of an objective nature in matters regarding both one's self, and things outside of one's self. An intellectual body is considered a prerequisite to maintaining a state of "objective consciousness" which is the fourth possible state of man. The lifespan of the intellectual is also rather incalculable. According to Gurdjieff, an average man does not have one. The Divine Body Gurdjieff in his writings sometimes referred to this body as a "higher being body" or "highest being body." Many aspects of this b ody are largely unclear. What is known is that this body is in no way subject to the laws of automation. It possesses complete free will. All perceptions of the div ine body are in their very nature objective. A divine body can sol idify a state of "objective consciousness" in a being which is entirely permanent. The divine body has no lifespan. It is entirely immortal within the confines of the universe. According to Gurdjieff, an average man does not have one. The fact that the divine body is not used as a "seat" of any functions of a higher nature (such as the higher emotional, and higher intellectual centers) further demonstrates is drastic departure from anything else in the n ature.

Sephirot Fourth Way Ray of Creation The Laws Three Centers and Five Centers Castaneda The Double Body The Second Attention The Third Attention The Dream Attention The Realm of Inorganic Beings

Types of Attention One important aspect of the study of centers is the types o f attention. The Work teaches that there are three types of attention possible for each of the centers: no attention/wandering attention attention held by the object attention held by effort; directed attention The Work teaches that the higher bodies discussed above are only a possibility  for man. In order to form higher bodies, the correct type of effort is required. Directing dispassionate attention to each of the centers (also known as "self observation"), is one such effort. Wandering attention, or attention held by an ob ject, are insufficient for true self observation. They are also insufficient f or obtaining free will, which is one component of th e higher bodies. Wandering attention and attention held by the o bject are sufficient for the first bo dy, the Material Body. In other words, the Material Body does n ot need directed attention in order to function and fulfill its role in the Ray of Creation.

Different approaches Rodney Collin Rodney Collin in his book "The Theory of C elestial Influence"  says that he b elieves that the three centers seem to be a simplification of four centers: the emotional center, the instinctive center, the moving center, and the intellectual center. He believes that there is a clear separate existence of an instinctive and a moving center, as the instinctive center is born complete: nobody teaches the newborn baby how to breathe at birth, or to suck to b e fed some hours later; however, it has to learn how to hold his feeding bottl e some months later, or to stand and walk  by himself so me time later yet.

Other authors Susan Zannos in her book "Human Types: Essence and the Enneagram ", writes that the four suits o f the common deck of playing cards represent the four lower centers: diamonds for the int ellectual center, hearts fo r the emotional center, spades for the moving center, and clubs for the inst inctive center. She shows how the three court cards (jack, queen and king) are used to represent three levels of attention within man for each of the lower centers. She states that the sex center is represented by the ace of each suit, in dicating how sex energy enters the o ther four lower centers.[4]

The Importance of Centers in the Fourth Way In the Fourth Way, study of th e centers is an important part of self-development. Students of that path must observe themselves. Study of the centers gives a framework and context f or two things: What to observe. In the Fourth Way, dispassionate self obs ervation must begin somewhere. The study of centers gives students a place to begin. What is actually being observed. When observations are made, students may frame the observations using t he concept of "the centers." For example, a student may observe an in creased heart rate and increased respirations while watching a sporting event. In Fourth Way terminology, the student might say, "The body had a definite reaction when the team made the touchdown." Placing self observations within the language of the centers helps students become dispassionate about what they observe, or, to use Fourth Way terminology further, it helps students "not identify" with what they observe.

References 1. 2. 3. 4.

^ Ouspensky, P. D., The Fourth Way , Vintage new edition (February 1971), ISBN 0394716728 ^ Gurdjieff, G.I., Beelzebub's Tales to His Grandson , Chapter 17, Penguin (Non-Classics); new edition (August 1999), ISBN 0140194738 ^ P.D. Ouspensky (1949), I n Search of the Miraculous ^ Susan Zannos, Human Types: Essence and the Enneagram , Weiser Books (September 1997), ISBN 0877288836

See also The Fourth Way Fourth Way Enneagram Ray of Creation Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centers_(Fourth_Way)" Categories: Fourth Way terminology This page was last modified on 29 May 2010 at 13:06. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. See Terms of Use for details. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a no n-profit organization.

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