The numbers 1, 2, 3,4 and their symbolism
I want to start this assay for a special reason with
a very unusual vision of the notion of symbolism, it is this challenging
thought:
I myself am my own example of such a symbol.
If this thought does have any sense than this could
be of very good help, for this will mean that we can verify this very idea
in examining it at first hand in ourselves. And on the other hand it is
also possible that you will say: it is just a thought, nothing more. Than
this will also become clear.
However I hope and I want to take the risk that it
appears to you as a reader, after your own verification, something more
than just a thought, that it will give you a glimpse of a world which is
maybe completely unknown to you now yet. And maybe it can trigger your
wish to start to study this fact more deeply. This can open for you the
possibility to come into contact with it so that you can know it better,
with at least giving the prospect of getting a more interesting and clear
vision of it. And maybe you can even expand yourself in this way, so that
your world will become richer with an until now unseen living other world.
So to say that your life gets significance in two worlds at the same time.
A living double world! I hope you will feel now that it can be of worth
to read further so that you give this opportunity a chance.
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If we take off with the word symbol, we see that
this word comes from 'falling together', this is the meaning of 'sym ballein',
in the Greek language. If we follow this hint of the Greeks than it seems
to mean in this context here that it challenges us to search into ourselves,
in other words to put the question to ourselves:
Can I find somewhere in myself, thus directly verifiable,
examples of this very 'falling together'?
But first we will have to answer the questions about
the directions, which we can try to put here on paper: what in us can 'fall
together', what is it not and what do these possibilities mean to me?
The practice is something very different but that
you can decide for your own.
If we consider about the implication of that 'falling
together' we can say that at least we have to look into ourselves for more
than one and at least two separate and different things, otherwise it has
simply no sense of speaking about 'falling together'. If we look to ourselves
and we observe our behaviour, than we see that if we take ourselves as
a unity, but with a certain tuning inside, your mood, we can find this
inner faculty back as a certain colour or atmosphere in our handling, use
of language or thoughts. This is not difficult to see. Our thoughts and
behaviour is the external- or marketplace where the things of that hidden
inner world is crystallizing in our life with a velocity of voyaging in
those fields of happening to happening in time and even from moment to
moment. We have just to observe ourselves simply during our acting, thinking
and speaking. This very notion of seeing myself in those fields is the
screen where the wayang-play of this more 'real world' of mine is taking
place. it is entirely my own screen, it is my private coloured vision of
the outer world in which all my fellow-men, as the other players, have
their living place also, but they too are all there with that peculiar
quality: they fit exactly in this same atmosphere of mine hidden side (not
theirs!), for example my anger, my fear or my love and joy. So I think
we can say, we are living in at least two worlds, our 'real world' which
we normally do not see clearly and which is hidden and our personal outer
world which is more or less the projection of this innerness. It is clear
that both worlds do have the same atmosphere and the lower world (ones
personal outer, ones screen) is according the upper world (ones personal
inner), or I.
I hope you will agree with me that the number 2 is
important and can stand for a meaningful thought and verifiable fact. We
see that the number 2 can stand for a unity of 2 different levels: I and
my screen world.
An entirely other approach of this number 2 is not
the notion of 'falling together' but the notion of 'opposition'. It is
obvious here too that at least 2 parts has to be opposed to each other.
This is easy to see for instance with good and bad or light and dark or
life and dead. If we search deeper into that and we start again but now
from our own outer world we see that in the interaction with each other,
I mean here the meeting of mine outer world with my notion of good and
my outer world with my notion of bad, that each of these faculties has
a different atmosphere. Even do stand these atmospheres in an opposing
position towards each other. One can see them simply as the two sides of
one coin. So here does not take place a 'falling together', on the contrary
here is a fight taking place, a fight between yes and no, of what is on
top, between this conviction and that conviction.
A strange thing is here that this fight also can
take place in the outer world, I mean here our society, at one and the
same moment, but in the outside of me as one person this same happening
is not possible. For one is in one moment cheerful and in another moment
sad, one cannot be in the same moment fully sad and cheerful. In society
however there is, or can be, always somewhere a part which has this conviction
and somewhere else an opposing part which has the other conviction. Therefore
we can see here that this fight takes place in a person in the course of
time, or in other words, it is spread out in ones life. Here rules or-or,
this or that. Here is very little place for and-and.
Now, if we look back from this point we see that
the number 2 can stand for two entirely different situations. One meaning
expresses a duality, but in one way this duality has the possibility of
building a oneness together and the other way expresses the differences
and even for all times the separateness of it in the life of a person.
This fact shows us that number in itself cannot tell
us something about a preference to this or that side. Number is so to say
impartial and belongs in essence of itself to that part where the rule
and-and is adapted. That is why both ways are being expressed by the number
2. This means that number only can tell us something about the structure
without the possibility of expressing anything of level or quality.
This shows us that the symbolism of number is not
quite so simple as it looks like, to understand the symbolism of a number
one is in need of more information.
If we come further to the number of three, than we
can ask ourselves the question: what in the way of symbolism is the meaning
of this number 3? Where in ourselves can we find an example of this 3?
For giving this a verifiable and real answer too we can start again from
the 'falling together' of the 2 sides. We add to that a third faculty and
ask ourselves : does this addition give it a change? What I mean here is:
does give it a change if we add our awareness of the body as a third level
to the experiment of feeling our emotion and the observation of our behaviour
and speech? We can say: Yes, there is an inner movement possible, I can
be more or less emotional aware and be more or less aware of my body and
in both cases still be aware of my behaviour, speech or thoughts. And:
No. Because it is all in myself and because I am in a way one, all stays
the same. The only thing is that I get the possibility of an inside movement
in a way.
Here I want to point again to something peculiar,
to be aware takes no time! It is obvious that all sides are and stay present,
therefore this experience takes no time from whatever side! We can say
that with the notion of 'falling together', all the possibilities stay
at present for the full even in the same moment! And still yet ... it has
a kind of duration. one cannot say it is beyond time or timeless. So it
seems that there are two different timelines in the world. One which is
full of opposing factors in oneself and another one where one is being
more or less gathered or remembered again. One can think here about the
notion that one is on that latter timeline living into the direction of
being more united or more remembered, in regarding to the other timeline.
If we put now our focus point to the number 3 in
the perspective of 'opposing each other', we find the following. For reasons
of keeping the or-or rule in place we have to stay in the outer world of
mine. The third is here the appreciation of what is taking place, is it
satisfying or not, does it give me the quieting feeling that it does not
matter so much and that everything is all right? This third here is my
notion of searching a way for having a good time and nothing more. It is
in a way the solution of the opposition of these two faculties.
But this third here is the coming to an halt of my
possibilities of development! We can see this solving as a giving up. In
other words, it is the given possibility by making use of it to calm myself
down in this hard world. But this means that, once I have discovered this
way out, this third here does open for me the easy and attractive possibility
of giving myself completely over to that way of reaction! If I do accept
this fully this means that there will be only room and place in my life
for this kind of 'solving' of the oppositions. It will be a solving in
endless repetition!
Here I want to put forward my personal point of view.
My life will tend to be a very boring life, without sense. It will bring
me even in the extreme to a world where the ordinary silly life will be
my only experience, a life of nothing more than playing games, and giving
room to only ones striving for reaching the best place at the table.
So if we compare these two possibilities of experiencing
this 3 in ourselves, we see that in both directions a meeting takes place.
In the symbolic direction it is feeding my possibility to be more complete
(and-and). And this same is absent in the other direction. There is the
meeting in terms of opposition which has to be solved and also comes to
a kind of solution. And behold, we cannot say that this latter solution
is bad, it is just one possible answer to overcome the problem and to lengthen
our life. For instance we can also see this as a kind of waiting for a
better chance in the future. Even here there is hope.
Number 4: After the discussion of number 3, it is
possible to say that there is only one way left for the meaning of number
4. This is only in the line or direction of 'falling together'. For somewhere
in ourselves these four different aspects have to meet each other and have
to 'fall together'. We can think here that these 3 are our main parts of
ourselves: body part, emotional part and thinking part, which are forming
in a way a unity, my individuality, and which form my inner screen and
which world is 'falling together' in this case with my outer world, that
is my functioning in our society. One can see it here as follows: it is
somewhat the same as with the 2 worlds, which we already had spoken about,
only here one world, my world, is split up into 3 parts. And this unity,
but still 3 parts, is living in the outer world. I am becoming Alive in
this outer world also. One can see this as if one has got a double life!
And this all together is seen as a unity of 4. In my experiencing: It is
a kind of adapting myself to the necessities of our society. I mean this
in such a way that it is not fixed and rigid, but more in a way as a going
along with it.
But here plays one other new and indeed unseen faculty.
On this place there must be a special binding factor at work, otherwise
this situation of 'falling together', will very soon fall apart. This factor
is my personal aim and only that is able to bind these 4 to one. Thus here,
at this point, enters the need for ones own aim. Here again are two possibilities:
-
I choose my own aim from an higher level.....
-
I choose my aim from my outer world..........
This is so because I myself have no aim, I am just
born and innocent. Everybody starts in the world just to accept the developments
and everybody is tuning oneself into that.
But it is good to stress one thing:
there can be real danger in that choice of your aim!
One can say: Ones fate or destiny is the way coming
from your aim to do things, to establish something here on earth, to command
control. Here you find your aim in the outer world and you choose your
aim from a low-level (the rule or or, this aim or that aim). Your free
will comes from the aim to act in the image of a still higher level and
more inner. It is a kind of listening and act accordingly. In practice
it is simply to try to act to stay tuned with that still more inner centre
in oneself, that Real I (that and and, that no decision).*)
In essence it is very simple: one has to have an
active contact with an aim of oneself! This means that this so to say fourth
way is giving us no death but on the contrary it gives us an Extra Life!
This fourth way is really challenging us to care for the contact with our
personal aim. If one really wants to do something here one has to have
an aim. Therefore this 'doing according my aim' is the essence and hidden
activator of the fourth way. This personal aim can help us to overcome
for some time our falling into parts, but yet this will still be inevitable.
Because as soon as the circumstances of my life let me lose my contact
with my aim, at the same time I do lose this possibility. My aim helps
me, so to say, to open the way to find and refind again the realization
of this special timeline.
And for the simple reason that the fourth way touches
all my parts of my wholeness, therefore one can say about it that it can
be expressed as follows: fourth way is hidden in the art of doing, with
all its facets. In other words it starts to challenge us to combine these
two different qualities, our understanding and our doing, because: what
is the sense of understanding but doing nothing?, or the other way around:
doing without understanding?
It surely is possible to make progress on this fourth
way but only if you make progress in your striving to put your four main
parts together in your functioning harmoniously. These four are from another
point of view: your understanding, your doing, your personality and your
essence. This should be done in oneself, and by oneself. Nobody can do
this for you. Even so, if he would be a master. Before this difficulty
does stand everyone alone. It is a way of living in search for consciousness.
Seen from the 4thway and thus impartial there are
two ways to follow. The way towards your destiny or inevitable fate (involution)
or towards your free will, your choice (evolution). At best there is 50%
chance you will choose for evolution.
I believe that choosing the best aim comes from ones
inner-innerness (and and), so to say a two-level-jump inside. That is the
place where the mentality of ones inner master is dwelling, ready to help
you during your trying. And if this comes down to you, you will recognize
and remember it later.
All life is asking everybody, men and women:
Where do you stand, What is your tuning, your mood?
*)In Christianity one is told that Adam in his first
appearance is created in the image of God. This tuning here is in truth
the link between God and (wo)man.
======
Recommended reading:
Working on oneself is not so difficult as wishing to
work... Feb. 27 1924. Early talks of Gurdjieff, page 222. Triangle Editions
1973.
Copyright © 2002 by Lourens Hupkes
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