Welcome to a series of talks about objective consciousness, an objective Universe, and an objective way to awaken, expanding upon the works of George I. Gurdjieff and Russell A. Smith.
In today’s podcast we will share with you questions that were asked of Russell by two students, about turning bad moments into good moments, why the Objective Prayer exercise is called the Objective Prayer exercise, observing real changes in another person's being, having an automatic emotional response that wishes to remember itself, reading Chapter Five in The Fourth Way, the value of repetition, Russell’s first trip to England, a dissertation on shock octaves, as well as, explore what is unity and what is non-unity.

Let’s begin:

Russell: Good evening.

Student: Hi, Russ. How are you today?
Russell: I am terrific; how about yourself?

Student: I just walked in a second ago.
Russell: Hey, excellent timing.

Student: Yeah, good timing, indeed.
Russell: Well, how was your day?

Student: It was kind of a bad day.
Russell: Oh.

Student: Yeah.
Russell: Well, that’s alright. Bad days, make for good days if you allow them too.

Student: Yeah, right, they really do. There was one negative emotion that was very strong.
Russell: OOH, what was it?

Student: Nothing specific. Just that sometimes I have these emotional moments where an emotion comes in and grabs me. However, now when that occurs, I grab it back, as I see it as an opportunity to work on myself. It is really a euphoric feeling when you learn that an emotion can be turned totally around.
Russell: Oh, that is wonderful.

Student: Yeah, I went from sad to euphoric in about five minutes.
Russell: There you go. That’s a big key, sir.

Student: Yes, it was a beautiful event.
Russell: It is great to hear that when your horse starts running, you are able to change the direction of its run.
Bravo!

Student: I did do that, but I did not do much on my Objective Prayer.
Russell: That’s okay.

Student: I have a question: why do you call it an Objective Prayer?
Russell: Because it contains specific meaningful moments of your life that were objective to you.

Student: Oh I see. Well, it has certainly helped me a great deal.
Russell: I am glad that it has.

Student: Every time I talk to you about it, I learn a little bit more.
Like how it is not about the moments where I cheated death, but rather about the ones which elevated me.
Russell: Indeed.

Student: The moments where I felt really good, in a way that connected me to the Earth, or whatever.
Russell: Yes, you could call them the sacred moments of your life which contained things that nourished your magnetic center.

Student: Yeah.
Russell: Like the moment you told me about, when you contemplated escaping from East Germany into West Germany; and then did. Followed by the moment you had of feeling free. It is those kinds of moments. Moments like the beauty of a sunset, the specialness of a sermon, the words of a song, the statement, ‘is what you want merely madness,’ those kinds of things. Moments that stimulated something in you that made you wish to work on yourself.

Student: Well, fortunately, for me, today's moments are quite different, as I can take almost any one of them and turn it into a work moment.
Russell: That’s terrific.

Student: I’ll tell you; my previous life was my enemy, it was always trying to take me over.
Russell: That is true for most people. Primarily because life has been pushing things down to the mechanical for over a billion years, and as such, it is difficult for anyone to push things back up to the conscious. Perhaps that is why Gurdjieff said our journey was against nature.

Student: Understood.
I do will-exercises now, and I do them with Olympic effort in order to go against that.
Russell: Wonderful.

Student: Well, that’s my report from Phoenix.
Russell: Terrific.
Did you hear the good news about Nancy?

Student: No, what happened?
Russell: Well, she finally did The Objective Exercise and woke up! Her Steward now is with her all day every day, and as such, she is not only becoming impartial, but her focus is beginning to move from outside things to inside things.

Student: Russ, as her teacher, were you able to objectively witness that?
Russell: Oh, yes. She now speaks with clarity and conciseness and no longer rambles. She has a force which everyone can see on her face, observe in her posture, and hear in her voice.

Student: What did you say it was?
Russell: A force; a force that everyone can see on her face, observe in her posture, and hear in her voice.

Student: Oh, wow.
Russell: There is no doubt that she is under the influence of something much higher than herself.

Student: Yeah. I witnessed that in a fellow student after Sunday night’s class, he asked if those of us who had been to Texas and studied with you, could stay, and take him through the first chapter of your book. So we did.
It was amazing, you could see that he was down to earth. He was clear, concise, and humble, which made going through Chapter One very easy to do.
Russell: That is fantastic.

Student: Yes, that’s what it was, fantastic.
Then I thought, “Well, I am going to get home late again.” But, after watching the lights come on in his eyes, being late did not matter at all.
Russell: Wonderful.

Student: Sometimes, it is the same with my job, like tonight, I had to stay late with a patient and almost missed your call.
I think I will instruct my secretary to not schedule anything after 8:00 on Tuesday, as I know you are going to call at 9.
Yeah, that is what I am going to do from now on.
Russell: If that is what you wish.

Student: Is that selfish of me?
Russell: No, not really, because, like you said, that is the night of our weekly call. Besides, if you leave at 8, you will be able to get home before I call, and either read something or do exercises; and if any questions do come up, you will be able to write them down and ask me about them when I do. However, if you need to stay late and attend to a patient, that will be okay too.

Student: Yeah, I think that is the best way of handling it. I’ll try to get out of there by 8:00, but if I have to stay late and be with a patient, like you said, that will be okay too.
On another topic: I have been waking up in the morning with this automatic, emotional response that I wish to remember myself.
Russell: That is terrific.

Student: Yes, it is. When that is the very first thought I have in the morning, the day is usually a very good day.
Russell: I bet it is. That sounds like a great way to start your day.

Student: It is. Currently, it pops into my mind every morning - probably because every night I am reading what you told me to read, which is pretty good stuff.
Russell: Indeed it is.

Student: What do you think, Russ, should I add anything else?
Russell: Well, if you would like a challenge, read Chapter Five in The Fourth Way as well.

Student: Chapter Five in The Fourth Way?
Russell: Yes. That chapter was an eye opener for me; a lot of lights came on. It took me several readings though; probably about 9, but for some reason, during that 9th reading, I lit up like the Sun. It is about self-remembering.

Student: It is about self-remembering?
Russell: Yes, sir. I discovered more in that one chapter, about our states of consciousness, our functions, and how we are put together than I found in the other chapters. That is, until I read them multiple times. It really helped me clarify what self-remembering was all about, which, of course, led to my awakening.
So, I like to pass that chapter onto everyone who wishes to accelerate their work.

Student: Okay, I will start reading that as well.
Russell: Fantastic.
You know, repetition is the mother of being, which is probably why Chapter Five in The Fourth Way took me 9 readings. When you go over something again and again and again, it starts to enter your being, instead of being something that you pour from the empty into the void.
With enough repetition, something higher in you will begin to listen to it and understand it, and when that happens, you will begin to do everything better. That is, if you are a student, you will become a better student, if you are a mechanic, you will become a better mechanic. It doesn’t matter what you do, because when you start doing it from a higher place, you will always do it better.
Case in point, the student who just woke up, after doing her ‘I-Am’ exercise many many many times, said that her whole body started to rush, and as such, whenever she now does the exercise, she always tingles from head to toe.
She went on to say, “This is incredible, I want to stay like this forever; no wonder you are always so calm, Russ. Wow, whew, faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, I won’t even need a car today, I’ll just fly to work!”
She couldn’t believe how much she had changed. To which I said, “Well, that is the result of working from a higher place; a place that possesses peace, clarity, concision, direction, knowledge, confidence, and understanding.”

Student: Wow, Russ. That sounds awesome.
I would love to hear more about her experiences; but unfortunately, I need to get some sleep, as I have a very big day tomorrow. Thank you so much for chatting with me.
Russell: You are most welcome my friend. Sleep well, and have a wonderful week.

Student: You too. Good night.

ANOTHER STUDENT: How was your trip to England?
Russell: Oh, it was terrific, just terrific.
I am not one to toot my own horn, but they really approved of me big time. I got great applause and the comments afterwards were very telling. Like the one from James Moore, who said, “I am just taken back, I don’t know if I am supposed to call you an Einstein or get down on my knees and kiss your boots?”
Later, he pulled me aside and said, “Man, what have you done, you’ve gone right to being a Man #6!”
Which was pretty much the response I got from everyone.

Student: Tell me, was Chris Thompson there?
Russell: Yes, Chris Thompson was there.

Student: And, did you persuade him?
Russell: No, I didn’t have to. Chris had already bought two of my books, and then he bought a third and asked me to sign it, ‘To Chris, with love’ so that he could show his cohorts that he had rubbed shoulders with the genius.

Student: Ha, that is great.
Russell: He also brought a whole bunch of charts with him, which he and his colleagues at the University of London had worked on, about how the Periodic Table of Elements was revealed in my Universal Cosmic Weave diagram, as well as wanted to proudly tell me that they had verified my math!

Student: Really?
Russell: Yes, he was very impressed

Student: Oh, that is just marvelous. Perhaps, that might get spread around London to the, what I call, ‘non-Gurdjieffian scientists.’
Russell: So, needless to say, my trip was very beneficial.
I was at the podium for about an hour. And, at the end of my presentation, one fellow stood up and said, “I can’t believe that you spoke for an hour in such great detail, and with such great clarity, and did so with no notes.” In response, I quickly said, “I have notes, DO-RE-MI-FA-SO-LA-TI and DO.” To which everyone laughed and applauded.
By the way, I got your letter and questions. Do you have time for me to answer them now, or would you like for me to call you back later today.

Student: No, I have time now.
Russell: Great, get out your copy of Gurdjieff: Cosmic Secrets.

Student: I have it.
Russell: Okay, take a deep breath.
Are you ready?

Student: Yes. I am.
Russell: Terrific.
Your first question was from page 74. It was about shock octaves.
If you look at the descending ‘affirming’ octave that is on page 74, the one that goes from 288 to 144, and place it on a Diatonic Enneagram that is on page 88, its LA would be 1/3 of the way down at 240, and its FA would be 2/3 of the way down at 192, which would place those notes at the points of the triangle. You would then have an Enneagram that consists of three forces: The original force that descends from DO 288 to DO 144, a force that enters at 240, and a force that enters at 192; those forces would also be descending octaves.
Now, turn to page 95. You will see the same three forces, except there those forces are represented by higher numbers, so that the ensuing structure will contain mostly whole numbers; one starts at 1296, one starts at 1080, and one starts at 864, again, at the three points of the triangle in the Diatonic Enneagram.
Next, I explain on page 96, that if the force at 1296 has forces at its thirds, then the other two forces at 1080 and 864 must also have forces at their thirds.
Okay, now turn to page 103 and catch a glimpse of The Universal Cosmic Weave diagram, which shows the structure created when all those forces are calculated as diatonic octaves.

Student: Yes, I see that. But my question was, why do they go down into the Universe?
Russell: Oh, no problem.
Let’s back up for a moment. Go to page 94.
If all three forces were at the same place, you would be looking at the diagram on the bottom of page 94, which shows what the structure would look like if all three forces were in the same place.
Do you see the DO at 2592? Imagine there are three DO’s at 2592 because all the forces are in the same place. That is, they all start at DO 2592 and descend to DO 1296, and as such, they all have a TI at 2406, a LA at 2221, and a SO at 2036, etc. Do you see that?

Student: Oh, yes! I do see that. The three forces move together, because they all start in the same place.
Russell: You got it.

Student: Oh, man, I really see it, I really do.
Russell: Then, on page 95, we separate them. Which means they no longer start in the same place, but at different places: The one that starts at DO 1296 will descend to DO 648, and as such, defines the boundaries of the Holy Sun Absolute. However, the one that starts at 1080 will descend to 540, but in order to do that, it will have to go beyond the bottom boundary of the Holy Sun Absolute at 648, and complete itself out in the Universe.

Student: Indeed, it will.
Russell: And the one that starts at 864 will do the same as it halves to 432.

Student: Oh my gosh, Russ, that is very clear to me now.
Russell: Wonderful.
Now turn to page 103, and watch the process continue with every ensuing octave.

Student: Oh, wow, I get it now. I really do.
One of my difficulties was that there were two contiguous octaves, but I now see that there has to be two adjoining octaves: 1296 to 648 is the octave of the Holy Sun Absolute and 648 to 324 is the octave of the Universe. That is, there are two contiguous octaves in which all the other octaves appear.
Russell: That is correct.

Student: Wow! I see it, Russ. I got it now! I really do.
Russell: Fantastic.
So, at first, we have an outward flow that goes downward from the left to the right. It cascades out of the Absolute, goes through the Holy Sun Absolute, and enters the Universe.
However, in order to go back up, we have to look at the diagram from the last guy’s point of view. That is, as one that goes from the right to left, because the last guy is the one that is trying to ascend.
His journey has been placed on page 96. There, the affirming octave goes upwards from 96 to 192.
Notice that, by replicating the structure which flowed down the Universe, the octaves created are able to receive the shocks that are necessary in order for them to go back up. That is, from their point of view, the forces at their notes FA and LA will cause them to stop ascending, and as such, in order for them to keep ascending, they will need to have forces enter at their notes MI and SO that will assist them.

Student: At MI and SO, you say?
Russell: Yes, that is correct.
The diagram on page 95 shows where the forces enter on the way down, which is automatic. Whereas, the diagram on page 96 shows where additional forces must enter, in order to go back up, which can either be mechanically or intentionally created.

Student: I got it, Russ. It is so simple. I do not know why I did not snap to it earlier; but, I now have it.
Russell: Terrific!
You also made an interesting observation regarding involution and evolution, wherein you saw that involution and evolution were going around the circumference of the Enneagram at the same time in two different directions.

Student: Yes. I did.
Russell: That was a great observation.
Let me explain. If we take the idea of God, the Absolute, as being the state of ‘everything held in one place,’ that means that God is capable of holding everything in unity. Does it not?

Student: Yes it does.
Russell: Therefore, the opposite of God would be the state of non-unity, or of dis-unity; let’s call that the state of greatest dispersion. Got it?

Student: Yes, I do.
Russell: Okay.
That means that at one end we have God, who is capable of holding everything in a state of unity, and at the other end, we have something that is capable of holding everything in the state of greatest dispersion. Do you see the concept?

Student: Yes, that is very clear.
Russell: Does it also make sense?

Student: Yes, it does. Very much so.
Russell: Great. Now, consider this: The state of unity also includes the state of greatest dispersion. That is, if you can hold everything in a state of unity, you must be able to hold everything in a state of non-unity.

Student: Oh my God, Russ, that is so true.
Russell: So, now take your circle, God, like the DO, is at two points: the beginning point and the ending point; one represents dispersion, and the other represents unity, and as such, you have both involution and evolution flowing around the Enneagram in two directions. That is, if you have unity, the ability to hold everything as one, you must also have non-unity, the ability to hold everything as not one. Thus, as I said, the principle of unity also includes the principle of non-unity.

Student: I see it, Russ. I truly see it.
Russell: That is fantastic.
Notice that it also explains why God is always depicted as the All and the Nothing; as both the beginning and the end.

Unfortunately, as we have run out of time, we likewise are at an end. That is, at the end of today’s podcast, and as such, we shall continue this conversation in next week’s podcast.

Thank you for listening.

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