basarab nicolescu- systemic thought

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Basarab Nicolescu

GURDJIEFF AND SYSTEMIC THOUGHT

This paper was written as the chapter on Gurdjieff for the Encyclopedie des Sciences Esoterique

Editions Quillet. The biographical introduction has been omitted from this translation.

1 Gurdjieff and Systemic Thought

In 1912, when Gurdjieff appeared again in Moscow and St. Petersburg after long journeys in

Central Asia, Africa, and the Middle East, his teaching was already fully formed. Modern science

-had just . "been "born. In 1900, Max Planck introduced the theory of "the fundamental quantum ofenergy," which was to revolutionize the concept of physics, up till then "based on the idea of

continuity; according to this new theory, energy had a discrete, discontinuous structure. In 1905,

Einstein formulated his Special Theory of Relativity, which revealed a new .relation "between spaceand time which was to contribute to a radical reversal in the hierarchical relation of entity and

energy. Gradually, the idea of particle was to "be replaced "by that of "event," of "relation," and of

"interconnection," the real movement "being-that of energy. Quantum mechanics was established asa theory only much later, around 1930, upsetting the concept of the .identity of the classic particle

a discrete identity as a part separate from the whole. For the first time, the possibility of a

discontinuous space-time was recognized as logically valid. At last, the new theory of elementary

particles was in the process of formation in our epoch, carrying quantum mechanics and the theory

of relativity further, and at the same time trying to go beyond them.

As astonishing as it might seem, Gurdjieff's thought anticipated the evolution of contemporary

scientific ideas, not in a vague and poetic manner-but by a precise and rigorous method.

Gurdjieff had a great respect for "corporeality" for the "signs" which are found in Nature.

"Everything in the Universe is material," said Gurdjieff, "therefore the Great Knowledge is more

materialistic than materialism."'' Certainly, he made a distinction between "matter" and

"materiality," and he introduced the idea of "degrees of materiality": "Matter is the same, butmateriality is different. And different degrees of materiality depend directly upon the qualities and

properties of the energy manifested at a given point."2 "Particles" will then be the local

configurations of energy.

Gurdjieff conceived of the universe as. a great whole, a vast cosmic matrix where everything is in

perpetual dynamic movement and structuring: "Everything issuing from Everything and againentering into Everything."5 This unity is not static; it implies differentiation and diversity: "One of

the most central ideas of objective knowledge ... is the idea of the unity of everything, of unity in

diversity. ... But for subjective consciousness, the world is split up into millions of separate and

unconnected phenomena. Attempts to connect these phenomena into some sort of system in a

scientific or .a philosophical way lead to nothing "because men cannot reconstruct the Idea of .the

whole starting from separate facts and they cannot divine the principles of the division of the whole

without knowing the laws upon which this division is based."4

Thus Gurdjieff formulates some "ide-forces" which are found again, a half-century later, in

systemic science, which tries to extrapolate the most general laws of natural systems.6 Contrary to

reductionism, which -explains diversity "by a substance common to different systems, Gurdjieff

speaks of a common organization, owing to the laws of "division of the whole" (the Law of Three

and the Law of Seven, which will be discussed later). At the same time these laws ensure the in


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variance of the structure of energy and so the stability of natural systems. In short, the different

systems are not simply the sum of their parts. The mutual relationships between their parts are a

reflection of the openness of a system considered in relation to other systems, in a perpetual anduniversal exchange of energy. It is precisely this exchange which ensures what Gurdjieff calls "the

common-system-harmony,"7 "the common-system-harmonious-movement,"8 or "the harmony of

reciprocal maintenance of all cosmic concentrations."9 The openness of a system retards its

degeneration and death. Nonseparability is the safeguard of life. It is well known that every isolatedphysical "system is subject to the principle of Clausiu's-Carnot, which posits the inevitable

degradation of energy, an increasing disorder. For order and stability to exist, there must be

openness and exchange. This exchange can operate between systems of one and the same scale orbetween systems belonging to different scales.

It is not impossible that the profound meaning of the "uncertainty relationships" of Heisenberg is

connected with exchanges between the world of particles and other worlds of a different scale.

Moreover, it is reasonable to suppose that there is a relationship between the systemic unity of the

world and the meaning of Goedel's theorem (1931) concerning the structure of mathematics: asystem of axioms that is self-sufficient and without any internal contradiction is necessarily open

and will always give accurate results, even if they are not demonstrable. Thus a closed system that iscomplete is necessarily a contradiction in terms.

"Everything eats something and is eaten by something," said Gurdjieff.10 He gives the name of

"Trogoautoegocratic process" to the process which ensures the "reciprocal feeding" of everything

that exists, and which is "the true savior from the law-conformable action of the mercilessHeropass." 11 And when we know that with Gurdjieff "Heropass" means Time, we can understand

the deep meaning of his statement: the unity of the indefinite sequence of systems escapes the action

of time; it is, outside of space-time. The space-time continuum is thus a kind of approximation, a

subjective phenomenon, bound to a subsystem, when it is considered by itself. Each subsystem

corresponds to a certain "degree of materiality" and possesses its own space-time. Time, that

"Ideally-Unique-subjective-phenomenon, "12 as such, does not exist: "there is only the totality ofthe results ensuing from all the cosmic phenomena present in a given place."15 The time associated

with a subsystem will be the "breath"14- that is characteristic of this particular subsystem in the

unity of the universe.

Gurdjieff*s "Trogoautoegocratic process" presents remarkable analogies "to the "bootstrap" theory

of physics, formulated around 1960 by the American physicist Geoffrey Chew. The "bootstrap"theory is a dynamic law according to which the characteristics and attributes of a definite physical

entity are the result of interaction with other particles existing in nature: a particle is what it is

because of all other particles existing at that instant. The "bootstrap theory" conceives of nature as a

global entity, nonseparable at a basic level, without any "complexity." Complexity gives rise to

observable reality; and the "real" world, with its own space-time continuum, thus appears as an"approximation." According to this theory, the description of physical Reality calls for the

introduction of dimensions other than those of space-time.

For a universal interconnection and a permanent exchange to be possible, each system must possess

a certain degree of "intelligence" and "subjectivity." For Gurdjieff, "Nothing is dead or inanimate in

nature, there are simply different degrees of animation and different scales.... All the matter we

know is living matter and in its own way, it is intelligent."15 Contemporary science has barely

begun to discover this fundamental truth. The stupefying quantity of information found on the scaleof the infinitely small shows that it is. practically impossible to draw the line between the living and

the non-living. The quantum particle has its own subjectivity and its own intelligence in the

complex relationships of perpetual combat and of continual creation and annihilation which it

maintains with all other particles. Thus it can equally be understood why Gurdjieff, like Kepler,

considered that the earth, the moon, the sun, and the planets are "living beings" and that organic life


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represents "the organ of perception of the earth" and, at the same time, "an organ of radiation.".

Man himself is a link in this majestic cosmic chain. His life plays a -role in "the reciprocalmaintenance of all that exists."17 In this sense he can be characterized as a "transmitting station of

forces."18 Man does not live in one world only, but in several worlds at once, contained one within

another, a veritable "system of systems" as Lupasco would say. Man is therefore an image of the

world. "Man has everything within him. I have .inside me the sun, the moon, God. I amall life inits totality.

"To understand one must know oneself."19 Man possesses relative "freedom" as a participant in aself-organizing subsystem (the earth). But at the same time, he must submit to laws which regulate

the interaction between systems. The unavoidable result of systems of systems in interaction is

evolution, the growth of order and of the structuring of energy. Consequently man is an "unfinished

world."20 jje evolve or disappear: "the evolving part of organic life is humanity....If humanity does

not evolve it means that the evolution of organic life will stop and this in its turn will cause the

growth of the ray of .creation to stop....In this way the cessation of evolution may mean thedestruction of humanity."21 Gurdjieff accords a great importance to cosmology: "...it is possible to

say that science and philosophy, in the true meaning of these terms, begin with the idea ofcosmoses. "22 Each manifestation must be understood according to its place in the cosmic order and

with respect to its relation to other manifestations. The idea of scale is crucial to an understanding of

the structure of the universe. In a word, the dynamics of the whole is the result of the action of the

Law of Three and the Law of Seven united in the universal symbol of the enneagram.

2. THE LAW OF THREE, THE LAW OF SEVEN AND THE "ENNEAGRAM"

According to Gurdjieff, there is a very limited number of fundamental laws of "world-creation and

world-maintenance" which "regulate all processes, in the world and in man."23 The fundamental

laws of the universe in Gurdjieff's cosmology are "the Law of Three" (three forces, or three

principles) and "the Law of Seven" (or "law of octaves").

Prom the beginning, this idea of a limited number of general laws is very interesting. It establishesa new method which can be called "hypothetico-deductive." Foreseen by Kepler, it has been

rediscovered by contemporary science: we postulate a certain limited number of laws, often very

abstract and mathematical, and thus, far removed from directly observable reality; we deduce the

consequences of these laws and then we compare these consequences with experimental data. The

inverse method, by means of which we try to deduce the general laws from experimental data,

belongs to sciences which are not yet mathematized..

The hypothetico-deductive method is adapted to a systemic study of the world. There are certainly

specific laws, of "detail," characterizing each level of Reality; but general laws are common to alllevels, all "scales" of Reality. Man himself, then, is an image of Reality: " ...the study of man and

the study of the world support each other. In studying the universe and its laws, a man studies

himself, and in studying himself he studies the universe."24

a) The Law of Three

In Gurdjieff's cosmology, Reality has a threefold structure, determined "by the action of the "Lawof Three" or "Triamazikamno": "...a law which always flows into a consequence and becomes the

cause of subsequent consequences, and always functions by three independent and quite opposite

characteristic manifestations, latent within it, in properties neither seen nor sensed."25 This law

comprises three independent forces: an "affirming force" ("pushing force" or "force plus"), a

"denying force" ("resisting force" or "force minus"), and a "reconciling force" ("equilibrating force"

or "neutralizing force"). Gurdjieff emphasizes that in reality these three forces are equally active;


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their character of "affirmation," of "negation," or of "reconciliation" appears only at the moment of

their meeting.

Reality is engendered by contradiction, which is nothing more nor less than the dynamic of these

three forces, present simultaneously in every real phenomenon. "Only a conflict between two sides

is worth something," says Gurdjieff. "Only conflict, argument, may produce a result."26 Reality has

therefore a dialectic structure - or more precisely "trialectic," with one or other of the three forcespredominating. Gurdjieff, in Beelzebub's Tales to His Grandson, shows in a direct way this trialectic

thought through "The omnipresent active element" called "Okidanokh." This represents the union of

the three forces, which can never "be perceived "by beings or sensed by them" and which undergoesa separation into its three constituent forces at the moment of entering into a given cosmic

crystallization. The Okidanokh is the 'Holy1 element which "aids the actualizing of the functioning..

.of Objective and Divine Reason. "27 Gurdjieff emphasizes that although it is easy to observe the

contradiction in every phenomenon between affirmation and negation, it is nevertheless more

difficult to observe and understand the third force, the reconciling force: "The reason for this is to be

found in the functional limitations of man's ordinary psychological activity and in the fundamentalcategories of our perception of the phenomenal world, that is, in our sensation of space and time

resulting from these limitations."28 In other words, the reconciling force manifests itself in a spacedifferent from the time-space continuum which contains our "reality." It is a "liberating" and

"spiritualizing" factor. Could this third force be the source of discontinuity, of nonseparability, of

nonlocality? In any case, if contemporary science is a treasure-trove of "systems" and "antisystems"

(particles-antiparticles, quarks- antiquarks, matter-antimatter, etc.), it contains much less material

concerning the simultaneous existence of a "neutralizing system." However, the recent recognitionof the necessity, in certain theories of physics, of a larger space than the space-time continuum may

constitute a first indication of the manifestation of the third force. The fact that these theories try to

unify all known physical interactions is worth noting.

It is also important to emphasize that Lupasco's trialectic, developed from a generalization of the

properties of quantum systems, offers remarkable analogies with Gurdjieff's Law of Three.

The Lupasco triads actualization-potentialization-the "T-state" (from "included middle"29), and

homogenization-hetero-genization-"T-state" are possible aspects of the Law of Three. Like

Gurdjieff, who stated that "unity consists of three matters"30, Lupasco also speaks of "three

matters" but in a more limited sense: macrophysical, biological, and "quantic" (the latter in micro-

physical or psychic form). Another light on the Law of Three can also be found in the philosophy ofPeirce with his categories of "firstness," "secondness," and "thirdness." The threefold structure of

Reality is inscribed in man himself. In one sense, man is the realization of this threefold structure.

Gurdjieff held that that which distinguishes man from other entities in nature is the fact of his

having three "brains," three "centers": the thinking center (the seat of affirmation), the moving

center (the seat of negation), and the emotional center (the seat of reconciliation). The threecorresponding brains are localized in the head, the spine, and the solar plexus.31

Man's whole life is a continual battle of these three brains with each other. The predominance of

one or another leads to destruction and death (the "death by thirds" spoken of by Gurdjieff).32

Harmony signifies the balance' of the three, the attainment of an "all-brained-balanced"33 state. At

that moment, the work of spiritual alchemy can begin. Otherwise, men transmute in themselves only

the "negative principle" and so consist of "the planetary body alone and thus are, for themselves,

destroyed forever."34 So, for Gurdjieff, knowledge is the function of only one center, while being isthe function of all three centers.

This threefold structure is reflected in man in many ways. Thus, there are three bodies possible for

man: besides the ordinary ("planetary") body, there are the "Kesdjan body" and the ....


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