Order

A Talk Given by Tim White at Camp Caravan on 1/13/08

“It is man’s purpose to bring order into the world”

That is quite a bold statement isn’t it? The way that we understand our role in bringing order into the world has a dramatic impact on the choices that we make and the attitude that we take toward the world in which we live. There are, in the world today, two very different interpretations of the idea that it is man’s purpose to bring order into the world. On the one hand there is the fundamentally destructive pursuit of order for our own (mankind’s) benefit. On the other hand is the fundamentally restrictive determination to preserve, at all costs, the “natural order” of things. In the first case the attitude is that it is right and even necessary for us to impose our own concept of order onto the world to serve our own purposes. It is this view that allows for the destruction of the rain forests, the strip mining of mountainsides and the dredging of the oceans to provide the food and materials necessary for human existence. In the second case, there is the attitude that the “natural order” of the world must be maintained at any cost. This view holds that destruction of life and consumption of natural resources by humans goes against the natural order of things and that everything must be maintained exactly as it was found.

At first glance it may appear that these two attitudes represent the full range of possibilities of order and that we must try to find a place for ourselves in between these two extremes. There is, however, a third way of looking at bringing order into the world that is not merely a compromise between indiscriminately organizing and redistributing the earth’s resources and preserving everything unused and unchanged. This third option comes with an understanding of the need for mankind to begin to assume responsibility for bringing order into the world. This third option has to do with coming to see that we are meant to bring order into the world, not to suit our own purposes, but rather in accordance with the purposes of the Higher Powers. There is a recognition that, in the end, something of both destruction and maintenance will be needed in order to accomplish those purposes.

I spent a long time looking for a personal experience with all of this to serve as an introduction to this talk before it became clear that the circumstances where I first heard the phrase, “It is man’s purpose to bring order to the world,” would be the best possible introduction. Many years ago, when I was quite new to the Gurdjieff Work, the group that I was working with had taken on the task of preparing an old field to use for pasturing a flock of sheep. When we arrived, the field was wild and overgrown, choked with weeds, junipers and small trees. It was also full of holes, rocks and other debris that would endanger the sheep – especially the lambs in the spring. In short, the field was unsafe and entirely unsuitable for pasturing sheep. We were presented with the task of removing the dangerous obstacles and rocks, filling in the holes and cutting down everything that lived – weeds, trees, bushes and shrubs alike – leaving nothing but grass and a few shade trees on the edges of the field.

As I was walking out to the field with my head full of these destructive thoughts, I suddenly saw that what I was about to do was an act of wanton destruction, I objected. In response to my objections I was to be told that “It is man’s purpose to bring order to the world.” This struck me then, as it still does now, as a very bold statement. I had to ask, “What is Order?” …and… “Who am I to decide that this order is what is needed in the world?” In other words, “How am I to decide if this ‘ordering’ that we are about to engage in is serving a higher purpose as opposed to some self-willed purpose?” In this case, the answers to these questions were simple. I was told that the owners of the property had taken on responsibility for the care of a flock of sheep and that the pasture needed to be created, brought to order, and maintained to meet the needs of those sheep. That helped a great deal, but it still left me with some very serious questions about my attitude toward bringing order into the world. I found myself, perhaps for the first time, in front the question of “How am I going to work to bring order into the world in the right way?”

From the beginning, it was clear that my attitude toward the task was such that I was quite ready, willing and able to go out into that field and mindlessly kill, uproot and move anything and everything that did not conform to my idea of order. I was ready to engage in a wholesale destruction of life, without any thought except for my own notion of what constituted order. It was only when I began to see and understand that there was a higher purpose for clearing the field – a purpose that had nothing to do with me or my idea of order – that I was able to separate a little from my mechanical attitude. It was this separation that allowed me to choose to connect with the higher purpose that was trying to manifest. I came to see that the task of bringing order to the field, even at the expense of destroying some of the life that was there, was needed to enable the owners of the property to take responsibility for bringing a higher order to one small corner of the planet. I was given an the opportunity to see, for myself, the difference between working toward order from a place of connection with a higher purpose as opposed to working toward order from a place of self-will.

My intention today is to share with you, from several different points of view, my understanding of order. I will begin with the basic questions that I brought up earlier about the nature and purpose of order and our connection to it. From there we can make use of Mr. Bennett’s study of Systematics to see how the Triad of Order can be regarded as a manifestation of a creative triad, the Triad of Involution. Finally, I want to look at some examples of the creative process drawn from our work here at Camp Caravan in order to illustrate the principle of order in practice as opposed to theory.

In order to address the question, “What is Order?” it will be necessary to find a way to begin to close the gap between the human concept of order and an understanding of order as a manifestation of the active creative impulse of the Higher Powers. We will begin then with the ordinary definition of order. In the dictionary, order is defined as “A condition of logical or comprehensible arrangement among the separate elements of a group.”[1] According to this definition, there is no difference between the order of a group of randomly thrown coins that all happen to land ‘heads up’ and bringing order to a field to pasture sheep. Both of these examples satisfy the dictionary definition of order, but the example of the coins is a random pattern formed by mechanical chance that has neither significance nor value. However, the second example of order – that of a cycle of work initiated intentionally and manifested by people who were knowingly and willingly serving a higher purpose – has both value and significance in that there is an effort to connect with a higher purpose. When we include intention in the definition of order, we begin to move from the human concept of order toward an understanding of order on the cosmic scale.

If intention is a part of the definition of order, the question must be asked, “What is intention?” In my experience, it is necessary to make a distinction between a connection with a higher purpose and sharing in a higher purpose. That is to say that to have intention in the creative process it is necessary to have more than a simple connection with the higher purpose. It is necessary to come to actually share that purpose. When we come to the point where we are sharing a higher creative purpose, it becomes possible to have the intention to carry it out. In this way, the intention to bring order into the world comes from a Will higher than our own and the act of sharing that purpose makes it our own.

Why is it necessary for us to share in the purposes of the Higher Powers and how is this to be accomplished?” Mr. Bennett spoke to this question in a talk given at Sherborne House in the 1970’s, where he said that there was a time, coming soon, where humanity would need to take responsibility, not only for its own evolution, but also for the governance of the development and evolution of the planet. This was spoken about in the context of what he called “the master idea for the new epoch.” He said that we were now entering a new epoch and that mankind would need to enter into a “synergistic relationship with the Demiurgic Powers responsible for maintaining the biosphere.”[2] In the third volume of The Dramatic Universe Mr. Bennett speaks of man as “the agent of order.”[3]He indicates that “The maximum deployment of the human potentialities consists in man’s fulfillment of his cosmic duty to order and regulate the regions entrusted to his care.”[4]He also connects the responsibility for creating order in the world with man’s higher nature which “…corresponds with the Demiurgic Intelligence [as opposed to his lower, animal nature.]”[5] In this way we can begin to see that man’s higher purpose or cosmic duty and the development of human potentiality depends on a sharing in the purposes of the Higher Powers. That is to say that one of the keys to understanding our role in the creative process is the idea that man’s purpose is to be an agent of order.

To begin to understand how we are take on a role as an agent of order in the world, it will be helpful to look at some of the ways in which we typically experience the SI-DO interval of a creative cycle. Sometimes it happens that we must work to finish a cycle that we did not begin ourselves in order to be able to initiate a new cycle. This is often spoken about as “completing the SI-DO interval of a previous cycle so that a new DO can be sounded.” At other times we either complete a cycle that we have initiated, or we bring it to a place where it can be maintained until the next cycle is begun. In either case, the “field of action” is clean and ready for a new cycle to begin. Objectively, there is little or no difference between the two, as in both cases a cycle is completed before a new one begins. However, our experience of the SI-DO interval is quite different depending on where we enter into the cycle. Our arrival here at Camp Caravan will serve as an illustration of both of these aspects of order.

When we purchased this property, it had been abandoned, unused for more than 15 years. No maintenance of any kind had been done in all of that time and we found most of the buildings open to the elements. The grounds were littered with trash, choked with weeds and small trees. In fact, many of the buildings were littered with trash, choked with weeds and small trees. Restoring Camp Caravan to anything close to its former level was clearly going to be a monumental task because the whole of the property was very near to the point of final collapse. The magnitude of the task that needed to be accomplished put us in front of the question, “How and where do we start to bring order to Camp Caravan?”

There was so much to be done and it all needed to be done now. There were buildings that had leaky roofs, bad foundations and gaping holes in the walls. Some were so near to collapse that it was unsafe to be around them much less to be in them. While it was clear that we needed to start somewhere but it was not so clear where that starting place should be. In the course of our discussions someone spoke up and suggested that “because the hearth is the heart of the home, perhaps we should start by bringing the kitchen to order first.” With this simple suggestion we not only had a place to start that “felt right,” but it also brought an overwhelming task down to a size that we could manage.

Of course, the kitchen was in much the same condition as the rest of the property. After years of neglect, what was once a commercial kitchen, fully outfitted with solid, utilitarian appliances and workspaces was rusty, covered with paint chips, dried-on grease, animal droppings, and general debris. We thoroughly scrubbed and cleaned the whole kitchen. The appliances were brought back into working condition. Pots, pans and utensils were brought in and the pantry was stocked with food. Order was restored, and with all of the necessary elements in place, the kitchen was once more able to serve its purpose as the center for the overall activities of the community. This effort to bring the kitchen at Camp Caravan back to order was the completion of the SI-DO interval from a previous cycle, that is, the completion of a cycle that we did not initiate. It was the completion of the cycle to restore the kitchen to order made it possible for us to initiate our own creative cycles – cycles that we were able to bring through to completion from beginning to end.

To begin to connect our experience of the SI-DO interval of the creative cycle to our role in the process, I would like to look at the creative cycle as a whole from the point of view of Systematics. This will allow a clearer picture of how order, and in particular the Triad of Order is a manifestation of the creative cycle. In his book Elementary Systematics, Mr. Bennett suggested that we could examine any triad more closely by looking at each point in turn with the idea that each of the three forces of the triad is, in itself, the initiating force for its own “triad within a triad.”[6] That is to say that at the place of each of the three shocks in an enneagram, there is a subordinate triad, each initiated by the force that provided a shock at that point. This means that the Force that initiates a cycle forms a subordinate triad at DO.[7] The Force in the second position initiates a second subordinate triad, at the interval between MI and FA. The Force in the last position initiates a third subordinate triad at the interval between SOL and LA – the place that Gurdjieff calls the Harnel-aoot.[8] What I want to show is that in the creative cycle the third subordinate triad is a manifestation of the Triad of Order. In developing this idea fully, it will be necessary to speak about each of the three triads associated with the creative cycle in turn.

The triad within the enneagram of the cycle of creation is the 1 – 2 – 3 triad, the Triad of Involution. Here, the First Force, the Affirming Force provides the shock that sounds the DO for the cycle and so the subordinate triad formed at DO is initiated by the Affirming Force. There are two triads that are initiated by the Affirming Force. One is the Triad of Interaction, the 1 – 3 – 2 triad and the other is the Triad of Involution, the 1 – 2 – 3 triad. In the Triad of Interaction the Affirming Force and the Denying Force are not able to work directly on one another to produce a creative result because the Third Force stands between them. In addition, because the Triad of Interaction ends in Denying Force, it is static and will not continue on or reproduce itself because it cannot provide a strong enough affirmation to initiate further creative triads. In the 1 – 2 – 3 triad or the Triad of Involution the Active Force acts upon the Passive Force and results in a manifestation of the Reconciling Force. When the subordinate triad that sounds the DO for the 1 – 2 – 3 triad of the creative cycle is itself also a 1 – 2 – 3 triad, it will provide the force necessary force to generate successive 1 – 2 – 3 triads. In addition, the Reconciling Force that manifests as a result of this subordinate triad carries the pattern of order that will enable the succeeding 1 – 2 – 3 triads to manifest with the same pattern as the original. For this reason, the 1 – 2 – 3 triad is more suitable as the subordinate triad appearing at the place of the first shock in the creative cycle that we are looking at now.

The Denying or Receptive Force in the second position of the Triad of Involution provides the shock that occurs between MI and FA in the creative cycle. There are two triads that could form a subordinate triad here, the Triad of Evolution, the 2 – 1 – 3 triad, or the Triad of Identity, the 2 – 3 – 1 triad. Because the 2 – 1 – 3 triad is one that rises up the scale of existence, returning to essence as opposed to expanding into materiality, it is clearly not suitable as the central force in the creative cycle that we are looking at today. This means that the subordinate triad in the central position of the creative cycle must be the Triad of Identity, the 2 – 3 – 1 triad.

This brings us to the essential place in the creative process. It is here, at the center of the creative process that an agency is required by the Higher Powers to carry out an action in the world. It is at just this place in the creative process that three-brained beings, that is to say mankind, is needed to fulfill this particular role in the world. The 2 – 3 – 1 triad illustrates how this is, as well as what is required of us, in the creative process. In the 2 – 3 – 1 triad, the Third Force stands between, separates and holds the Denying Force apart from the Affirming Force and maintains the tension between them. The Third Force in the central position of this triad allows for the most important quality of agency, discrimination. It is discrimination – as an act of Will connected with conscience, or an intentional opening up to the Will of the Higher – which allows for the possibility of conscious choice. It is discrimination that gives us the ability to make significant choices between the possibilities offered by different Affirmations. When choices are made consciously, with discrimination and intention, it becomes possible for us to become what Gurdjieff refers to as “responsible beings” and to become free agents in the creative process.

The third shock in the 1 – 2 – 3 triad is provided by the Reconciling Force, which falls between SOL and LA on the enneagram of the creative cycle. There are two triads that begin with the Third Force that could initiate a subordinate triad here. The first is the Triad of Freedom, the 3 – 2 – 1 triad and the second is the Triad of Order, the 3 – 1 – 2 triad. Because the Triad of Freedom allows for escape from the laws of materiality, it simply does not fit as a subordinate triad here. On the other hand, the Triad of Order, the 3 – 1 – 2 triad is a much better fit in so far as this triad is concerned with the underlying pattern of creation. Mr. Bennett says of the Triad of Order, “The pattern [manifested by the 3 – 1 – 2 triad] is virtual … ‘protected’ from [existential] influences … and yet it can attach itself to different states of existence.”[9] It is the virtual, non-material, quality of order that allows the essential pattern of existence to manifest at all levels of the scale of existence without regard to law or restriction. It is this virtual quality that allows an essential pattern to be transmitted through a succession of creative triads.

In the Dramatic Universe, Mr. Bennett says that the outcome of the creative cycle is a manifestation of this essential pattern. He says that “… in the Law of Expansion [Involution] there is implied the presence of a plan or pattern. It is not a formless explosion, scattering fragments of the primeval unity at random through space and time, but rather the exfoliation of a pattern that is already contained in the germ.”[10]The Third Force manifests as a pattern, providing the fertile seed for the subsequent Involving Triad. This pattern of order, arising from the Third Force at the SOL-LA interval continues to influence the cycle through its completion at the SI-DO interval. At the SI-DO interval the essential pattern of that cycle is transmitted to the Affirming Force of the succeeding cycle. The creative cycle is completed only by passing through the SI-DO interval and a new cycle is begun.

There are then, two key aspects of the SI-DO of a creative cycle, completion and maintenance. The first aspect, completion simply means that the cycle must be brought all of the way to a conclusion. Nothing further can happen; there can be no further result from any creative cycle if the SI-DO is not completed. The second aspect of the creative cycle, maintenance, means that that which has been created must also be maintained. That is to say that the order that results from a creative cycle has a “life” that must be maintained once it is established. It is important to understand that this is not an effort of maintaining order for its own sake, but rather an effort to maintain order so that subsequent creative cycles can be initiated. If the cycle is not finished and maintained, all of the efforts that went into that creative cycle will be lost.

A description of the process of creating the Village School here in Royalston will serve as a final illustration of the Triad of Order as the manifestation of the 1 – 2 – 3 triad within a creative cycle. Founded on principles of the Fourth Way, gathered from Gurdjieff, Bennett and others, the school can be seen as a manifestation of the pattern of the work of the community here.[11] The process of the creation and the manifestation of the Village School illustrates all of the triads that have so far been associated with the Triad of Involution; the Triad of Involution as the initiating Force, the Triad of Identity as the central, essential element and the Triad of Order as the result or manifestation.

The Affirmation that initiated the Village School was the need for creating a school for children that would allow for the possibility of what Mr. Gurdjieff referred to as a “normal education.”[12] The intention to bring order in the form of a normal education for our own children as well as the children of the larger local community became an aim of the community here. The manifestation of this impulse has certainly been in accordance with Mr. Bennett’s definition of order as a “cosmic duty to regulate the regions entrusted to his [mankind’s] care.”[13]

In response to the Affirmation to provide a normal education for children, a community was formed to serve as the agency responsible for manifesting the Village School. I say that a community was formed because, as a rule, communities are never fixed or permanent. They are entities that form and dissolve over and over again in accordance with the needs of the moment. In the case of the Millers River community, much of the time we are merely a group of people sharing common interests. It is only when there is a call to serve a need in the world that the group forms into a community. It is important in this context to make a distinction between a group, consisting of people who share outward connections and functional goals and a community which is formed when a group is called upon to act as an agent for a Higher Power. When a community is called into existence it is because there is the need for a group of people to take on a particular role in the world in order to accomplish a specific purpose or task. The group here became a community, that is, an entity with identity and being, when the choice was made, to take responsibility for and share in the intention to create and manifest the Village School.

If the Affirmation for the Village School was the need to provide normal education for our children and a community was formed as an agency to enable this to manifest in the world, what is the nature of that manifestation? In fact, this impulse has both an inner and an outer manifestation. The outer manifestation has taken the form common to all creative endeavors, that of an ever increasing expansion of physical order. The school has grown in size, both in terms of the number of people – students and faculty – as well as in physical space. This growth has reached the point where it has become necessary to begin construction on a new building dedicated to the purposes of the Village School.

The inner manifestation of order brought by the Third Force at the Village School is not found in the building, the faculty, the staff or the curriculum, but rather in the seeds of understanding that have been planted within its students themselves. This virtual pattern is hidden from view and will only be revealed in the future growth of the understanding and manifestations of the students. It is intended that the direct, personal experience of a higher order in the natural world that the Village School brings to these children will lead, at least some of them, to an understanding of the place of responsibility that mankind must assume in the creative process. The creative cycles that the children of the Village School initiate in the world will be patterned, at least in part, on the understanding of Order that developed in them through their education here.

It is man’s purpose to bring order into the world and to maintain it in the right way. This is our purpose in the world, our place in the creative process and it is a role that we will fill, willingly or unwillingly. If we take responsibility for this role and work it out as intended, it serves not only the needs of the creative process, but also makes it possible for mankind to continue to grow into his proper place in the scale of creation. Conscious and intentional efforts to bring order into the world are needed to insure that the creative process produces manifestations that encourage and enable further creative cycles. The Higher Powers cannot work directly to bring order into the world, nor can they make the necessary efforts for us. The Higher Powers can only provide the impulse toward a manifestation of order; it falls to mankind to choose, freely and with intention, the proper affirmation and to share in the responsibility for properly manifesting and maintaining order as required by the Higher Powers.

January 13, 2008

Camp Caravan

T. White

Edited February 17, 2008

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