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.

Continuing our talks, in this podcast we will share a request sent to Gary, by a student who wrote a great summary about Russell’s work, as well as a talk with another student about the Three-fold Attention Exercise, the Counting Exercise, the Viewing Without Verbalizing Exercise, the participation of Steward, and pushing and pausing.

Let’s begin:

Student:  Hello Gary. 

A student recently reminded me of a brief summary of Russell’s work, which was corrected by Russell and sent back to me. The summary was written as an addition to a "Rant" I wrote to our Men's group, after a meeting in which there was a lot of nitpicking going on about the simplicity of the Structure not applying to complex relationships, etc.

Because of that, with Russell’s help, what I wrote in response to their nitpicking was so concise that I thought it might work as a possible backbone for a "summary podcast," explaining briefly what this work is about, and why folks might take an interest in it.

The prayer, which follows the summary, was inspired by an email from Russell’s wife, Pamela, which in turn was inspired by a quote from Gurdjieff found on page 3 of Cosmic Secrets about the Law of Seven; and Russell's comment found on page 43 of The Blueprint of Consciousness, about it:

"This law, passing through everything newly arising and everything existing, always makes its completing processes with its seven Stopinders;” and Russell's comment in The Blueprint of Consciousness: “The question now becomes, if something only made it through five stopinders, what would we know about it?   

We would know that it was not complete, because ‘everything existing, always makes its completing processes with its seven stopinders.’” 

Pamela realized that what Russell indicated was a pure and simple instruction for daily practice: work on every stopinder, every day. 

So the prayer came to me a while back, I think because I'd been working a lot on Russell’s card diagram animation, and going over his discussion of the process of evolution, and the associated "States of I." After a month or so of working with the prayer, it has improved a bit and is still practiced by me. In fact, our Saturday study group liked it so much, they asked for copies. Gary, I don't know if you will find it worth passing on to others, but just in case you do, I'm passing it on to you.

I offer both, because people need to hear about the amazing work that Russell has done, and Russell is not the kind of guy who pursues self-aggrandizement, but rather is a man who freely and unpretentiously shares the truth with others, like he did with me when I went to study with him on two occasions. Not once did he seek accolades or require payment, which, knowing what his teaching is actually worth, I would have paid thousands for. That, in itself, speaks volumes about the man. Who in this world does what he does for free? 

I also want to thank you Gary, for transcribing Russell’s teachings, so that others can receive the unpolluted truth.

I sent his request to Russ.

Here is Russell’s response:

Russell:  Dear student, I read what you wrote in your email. Thank you for saying so many nice things about me. And thank you Gary for sharing his proposal with me. 

I think we should do what he suggests. But rather than weaving his words into a structured podcast that leads people by the hand to that which they should reach out and grasp, we should express them in exactly the same way he expressed them to you. 

If people want to listen to the various podcasts that he refers to, in order to learn more about the subjects that he has listed, then that onus is on them. After all, as it says in DOGTALE 55 – “Self-initiation means never having to blame someone else for your lack of progress,” and DOGTALE 39 – “Only a fool doesn’t take advantage of help that’s available.” 

That being said, it is now up to them. 

If they wish to know the truth, they can do so. We have placed everything that they need to know in order to awaken in my book, The Blueprint of Consciousness, on our website thedogteachings.com, and in eighty eight different podcasts so far. 

As such, the truth has been revealed, and is no longer hidden from the eyes and ears of those who wish to find it … but, as I said, it is now up to them to reach out and grasp it.

Student’s email continues.  

Student:  Russell proposes a fairly simple structure, based upon his analysis of the Laws of Three and Seven, which generates an enormous amount of remarkable and useful information.

Here are the major components of this relatively “simple structure,” which epitomize what Ouspensky referred to on page 188 of The Fourth Way:

“There is a certain book of aphorisms which says: To know means to know all. To know a part of something means not to know. It is not difficult to know all, because in order to know all one has to know very little. But in order to know this little one has to know pretty much. So we have to start with ‘pretty much’, with the idea of coming to this ‘very little’ which is necessary for the knowledge of all.”

Firstly, here is my summary of Cosmic Secrets, with Russell’s corrections, which I then shared with our men’s group:

A Simple Summary:

Russell Smith’s work restores to us a world view in which once again there is meaning, purpose, and obligation. It fully integrates this with the most recent discoveries in astrophysics, evolutionary and cellular biology, chemistry, and atomic physics. It brings personal intention and the development of consciousness to the foreground. Finally, it is underpinned by solid mathematics and a set of powerful psychological exercises, which, unlike many you may have tried, actually produce results. 

This is the structure contained in Russell’s book:

#1.  All whole things can be described as an octave: that is, as something that reflects a natural division into 7 intervals, or pieces, which can be associated with particular “flavors”; and are proportional to the pattern of 3-3-2-4-4-5-3.

#2.  All processes start with a force. For mathematical clarity let's make the force the number 24, in an octave that goes from DO-24 to DO-48. That force will always contact two forces that will deny it, which are mathematically at 32 and 40, at the notes FA-32 and LA-40. And, the force, in order to complete its octave, must get help from two assisting forces, which are mathematically at 30 and 36, at the notes MI-30 and SO-36. If assisting forces do not enter at MI and SO, the process will either deviate or be stopped at FA or LA. 

#3.  Every octave has within itself a “duality:” two oscillations, or “two places of harmonic existence,” one twice the size of the other, which occur because all octaves create three “inner octaves” between the notes DO, SO, MI, and RE, as these notes exist at natural points of halving within the octave's structure. This creates an organization in which every whole has three inner octaves, or “stories.” As such, the MI and SO at the beginning of the second and third story become DO’s within that structure, “oscillating Do’s,” because they will be denied at the FA above, as they ascend, and denied at the FA below, as they descend; thus creating the two aforementioned places of trapped harmonic existence.

Furthermore, each of those three inner octaves will create its own duality, making a total of 6 places of harmonic existence, or "6 parts." Those three inner octaves, in turn, will each create three more inner octaves, or 6 more parts, and so on. Thus, the inner structure of the "places of harmonic existence" within an octave is: 2, 6, 18, and 54, corresponding to: the two Jokers; the two Jokers and four Aces; the two Jokers, four Aces, and twelve Face Cards; and finally, to the full deck of 52 cards plus the two Jokers. This allows us to have a workable symbolism for the Whole (2), its Parts (6), its Parts-of-Parts (18), and going further, to its Parts-of-Parts-of-Parts (54).

#4.  The “Duality” of two oscillations in every octave is held together by the “Mi-So Area of Coincidence”, which consists of the overlapping ranges of the “oscillating Do’s” in its inner octaves, located at the notes MI and SO in the originating octave. This ensures that there is both a natural conflict, and a natural ‘circulation’ between oscillations paired, or ‘bound together’ into a duality by the structure.

#5.  Because there is a force at the notes DO, LA, and FA in every octave, a Cosmic Weave of “outer octaves” is created as those forces become the progenitors of new octaves. There are 19 outer octaves in the Cosmic Weave, and the structure reproduces itself at 1/27th scale, in the TI-DO interval of the 16th octave, the “7s” octave. 

#6.  All things follow from this structure of Inner and Outer octaves. The most important are the following:

a. The internal psychological structure of human beings: a map for our possible development. The “Five States of I”.

b. A way to understand the nature of the enneagram and its assisting octaves, what they are, and where to initiate them.

c. The “flavors” of the intervals and the notes. The “feel” of an enneagram. The fact that there is an octave between all adjacent notes of an octave. The relationships between the “families of outer octaves.” The enneagram with 14 lines of supervision. 

d. The “Ray of Creation,” which describes the place and function of “three-brained beings” in the universe, and the overlapping octaves of physical and spiritual evolution.

e. A description of the “food diagram,” why it works, and the possibility of “crystallizing higher being bodies”.

#7.  Russell discovered a remarkable number of naturally occurring phenomena, which all fit within the structure and demonstrate its value. Among them are:

a. Light and music;

b. Numerous examples of practical enneagrams and their assisting octaves;

c. The description of the process of physical evolution;

d. The structure of the atom;

e. The structure of tRNA, DNA, and the four nucleotide bases;

f. The periodic table of elements, which is an excellent example of a pattern which was clearly in place, in some “Dimension of Laws,” before the actual elements were formed in suns.

g. The structure of a Cosmic Weave of outer octaves, which describes how Organic Life and human beings fit, and find their purpose within the physical universe.    

h. Even ‘Dark Energy’ and ‘Dark Matter,’ of which we have so little understanding, and which occupy up to 95% of our universe, also have a natural place in this structure, and a corresponding significance for our inner world and its possible development.

#8.  Finally, Russell’s experience of his own internal development and his exploration of the structure itself, has enabled him to develop a series of exercises and a map of internal development, which can help everyone, who puts in the effort, to achieve this development. His experience, based on working with over 1,000 students, is that this system actually works.

That’s it.  

It is now up to each of you to decide whether or not studying this information seems sensible, and if it does, to assemble it into a “living structure”... with which you may be able to arrive at a better understanding of the world, yourself, and your experiences. For me, it has been, and continues to be, very useful. The more I apply it, the better it fits. Could I be fooling myself? I think not, because, so far, everything mathematically is spot on! And, I like the results.

I don’t want to argue for the applicability of this structure to your lives. That is a job for each of you to individually investigate; that is, if you are interested.  

But I do agree with what Russell told me when I went to study with him. When I was picked up from the airport and arrived at his property, he had the student, who picked me up, stop the car on the road - before turning down the driveway - and tell me to get out of the car and symbolically leave all of my belief structures, that is, all that I thought that I knew, on the road. Russell had them do that because he wanted me to be a clean sheet of paper on which he could write objective truths. He also told them to tell me not to worry, because at the end of the journey, they would stop the car again, so that I could recover anything that I still believed had value … and when they did ... I wished to recover nothing. 

May you do the same.

Secondly, here is the prayer:

Prayer of the Intervals:  

Do: I wish to be present: to be here, alive, whole, and remembering why I am praying.

Do-Re: I am sensing my body, the joy of having this body, and appreciating this beautiful world of sensation and life. 

Re-Mi: I move, and enjoy the experience of moving, of being able to get food, to explore this world, and to be able to find what I need. I wish to exercise and honor my body in order to maintain this gift. 

Mi-Fa: As I explore, I find out what matters to me, what has meaning: what makes me happy and fulfilled, and what frustrates or frightens me. I want to know and understand what has meaning in my life and why. 

Fa-So: I want to remember what has meaning for me, what is important.  So that I can repeat it if it nourishes me and others, and to avoid doing it if it does not. 

So-La: I wish always to remember that I am connected to everyone and everything, to live from that realization, and to be in service to it. 

La-Ti: As I see my life and the nature of our unconscious conditioning and reactive behavior more clearly, may I free myself from both blame and guilt. I want to understand the patterns and laws behind the way things work, and if I do, my actions will be intentional, free of bias, and successful, so that I can live in accordance with the Great Pattern.

Ti-Do: I wish to be present, now and with each waking breath, in all of my centers, to the meaning of my life, to the patterns and laws that govern it, and to my deep connections with others and this wonderful world.        

Do: May I be fully here and alive to myself and others, to the possibilities of this moment, and to my place within all that is.

May it be so.

My thought for sharing this with you was that Russell’s summary might serve as a "backbone" for a podcast, in which some of the "bullet points" might be somewhat expanded upon.  

For instance:  6c, “The ‘flavors’ of the intervals and the notes, the ‘feel’ of an enneagram, the existence of there being an octave between all adjacent notes of an octave, and the relationships between the ‘families of outer octaves.’”

One could do a very brief description of the flavor of each interval (using the 6 centers and the "States of I"), and then refer the listener to the appropriate podcast, Season 2, Episode 18, "The Taste of the Notes in an Octave," and Season 2, Episode 9, "The Law of 7 and the Enneagram of the Justice System," so that they can get the "feel" of an Enneagram.

Then, regarding the octave between all adjacent notes in an octave, you could refer to podcast Season 2, Episode 29, "There is an Octave in Every Interval."  Regarding the "families of outer octaves," you could refer to pages 94-99 and 313-372 in The Blueprint of Consciousness, and to podcast Season 4, Episode 2, regarding "start and stop octaves" in the periodic table, and to almost all of Chapter 7 in The Blueprint of Consciousness.

Regarding the relevance of the Periodic Table itself, I might insert something like the following (from the animation of the outer octaves that I'm working on now): 

"The periodic table is important as an example of an experimentally proven pattern that existed before the elements did, and formed the basis for their creation in stars. If that complex pattern can be derived from the law of octaves, it gives weight to the similarly derived pattern for the evolution of life, and to the pattern of Russell's "Card Diagram" of possible human psychological development, as well."

If you would like me to continue with this "annotating" of the summary, I will be happy to do that.

As to the prayer:  I'm not sure how you would like to introduce that.  Perhaps with the Gurdjieff quote and Russell's comment: that the "intervals in the octave of possible human evolution" provide an example of how to organize our daily work on the possibility of becoming complete human beings.

Just thoughts from a student whose life has changed because of Russell’s work, who wants others to know of the amazing things that he has proven to be true.

Lots of love, from a very thankful student.

Russell:  Again, I thank you for saying so many nice things about me. And yes, brave student, I would love to hear more of your annotations, and I surmise, so would everyone else.

Now, let’s continue by answering questions from another student.

Student:  Oh, hello!! I didn’t realize today was Thursday, our phone call day.

Russell:  See how time disappears when you awaken?

Student:  I do! 

Russell:  I received your card today. Thank you for your kind words, and for the financial contribution to our school, which is never expected, but always appreciated.

Student:  Oh, you are so welcome. But it is nothing; the gift of your teaching is priceless.

Russell:  Well, that is kind of you to say.

Student:  I just did the Three-fold Attention Exercise.

Russell:  Great. How did it go?

Student:  I noticed that when the centers were engaged, it was like a beacon. The count was strong, the sensing was strong, and when emotions came, they too were strong; and, there were no thoughts.  

Russell:  Very good.

Student:  The exercise is becoming stronger. Today, there were two long periods without thoughts, and it was quite pleasant. 

Russell:  That is fantastic. 

Student:  This is wonderful work. 

Russell:  Agreed.

Student:  Today a friend of mine asked me about the Work.

Russell:  What did you tell her?

Student:  That it was a true work. That it was the first arrangement of information I found that wasn’t fragmented. And how I had tried other things, other systems, but this was the first work I ever encountered that satisfied more than one aspect of my life.

Russell:  I like it. 

Student:  So did she. She is drawn to the alluring aspects of new-age thinking.

Russell:  That is law-conformable, a lot of people are drawn by the mystery, unfortunately, you can’t get much from the mystery, except for the myth.

Student:  I still see my resistance with the counting exercise by Orage.

Russell:  Put a time limit on it, that way it will not be so daunting. Say, okay, for 5 minutes, I am going to do the counting exercise. I am going to count up by 8 and down by 3 … 8, 97, 16, 94, 24, 91, etc., and for the next 5 minutes you make an intense effort to keep track of what the numbers are.

Student:  That seems reasonable.

Russell:  The key is to make efforts, but if you put a time limit on the efforts, they are a little easier to make, because you know that you only have to do it for this long. Then, the parts of you that usually resist, go, okay, we can do it for that long, we can put up with that. The next thing you know, they will get involved, and perhaps, the next time you say, “We are going to do the counting exercise for 5 minutes,” they will say, “Why don’t we do it for 10?”

Student:  Terrific idea! 

About the exercise Viewing without Verbalizing, I think I am doing it wrong. Tell me the crux of it again please. 

Russell:  Sure.

You start by looking around at things and see if you can look at them without labelling them. See if you can look at them without saying what they are - for instance, that is a phone, a red wall, a TV, a light, a tree, or whatever. See if you can look at them without giving them a label. Because the moment you give them a label, you do not see the thing itself, you only see the label you put on it.

In order to do that, you may have to go fast at first. You may have to get your eyes moving quickly, so that there is not enough time for you to label what you see. But, as you get better at it, you will be able to slow it down.

Student:  That is what I was missing. Look quickly, so you can’t label. I was staring at things, and the labels came.

Russell:  That’s okay. This is why we are in a school, so we can get verification.

Student:  Yeah.

Russell:  At least, you were trying to do something intentional.

Student:  I was. By the way, how are the other students doing?

Russell:  Everybody’s work is going great. No matter where they were in themselves, there has been significant movement.

Student:  I want that! 

Russell:  Sounds like you have an objective wish. Gurdjieff tells us that wishing is one of the most powerful things in the world. He says everything is possible through right wishing. The difference is, “we” can now wish, instead of “it” wishing.

Student:  Yes. I feel and sense that more of me is participating in the wish because of that exercise. Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful.

Russell:  Terrific. 

Okay, do you have any questions for me today?

Student:  I do have one; it is the idea that, other than being a witness, it seems Steward only participates when there is something important to be done. Is that correct?

Russell:  Yes. Just like walking only occurs when you stand up and take a step.

Student:  Of course. Steward does not need to be present all the time, just when it is needed.

Russell:  Yes. That is how it works. When Steward first shows up, it will be noticed because it’s new. Then, after a while, it moves into the background. It is still in the carriage, but just sits there until a moment of importance comes along, and then, boom, it comes to the forefront. 

That is, the machine knows how to work without it. The machine can digest food, breathe, assimilate new cells, walk, talk, watch TV, and mechanically do all of the things it has learned how to do, without its participation, but when Steward is needed, bam, it is Johnny-on-the-spot.

Student:  Thank you for that. Yes, Steward was very intense at first, but then it sat back.

Russell:  All new things are like that, all new states are quite gripping at first, and then they become less gripping. Because remember, it is nature’s way to push things down to the bottom. So even higher things can be pushed down to where they become mechanical. Which, in reality, is pretty neat. 

Student:  Yes. That would be.

Russell:  And that is what happens after performing The Objective Exercise. There is something in there that is in there, and we don’t have to huff and puff to bring it; it is just in there. Remember, we are talking about a change of state, not a change of function. Functions and states are different. Functions can manifest without consciousness, and consciousness can manifest without functions. Just like the state of sleep vs the state of relative consciousness. At night, when you are sleeping, functions still go on, but they are not perceived. In the morning, when you awaken, they are. Then, when self-consciousness appears, they become perceived in a different way; by a witness, by Steward.

Student:  Yes, that is exactly what I am experiencing. I want to maintain that!!

Russell: You will. Nothing can keep you from it. You are making the right efforts, and in the right direction. Sometimes, you will go fast, and sometimes you will go slow. There will be times when you can push, and times when you cannot; just observe that. And when you can push, make it a super push; and when you cannot, make it a super pause.

When I do something, I do it with everything. And then, when I take a break, I take a break. That is, I pause big too; maybe I sit for an hour, drink a soda, have a beer, watch a science program, or just stare at the cards diagram that I have on the wall. And then something says, “Time to push.” 

Student:  I like that. All of my life, it was pushing, pushing, pushing, and not pausing. And when I tried to pause, something felt guilty because I was not pushing, so I never really got to pause.

Russell:  Unfortunately, that happens to a lot of folks.

Student:  And it is wonderful to hear that I am allowed to do them both, because both are necessary.

Russell:  Yes. The push receives force from the pause, and since you know how to push, all you need to do now is learn how to pause, which allows the body to rejuvenate for the next push. What’s the old adage, “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.”

Student:  Thank you Russ. That is great. Well, I have to get going, it is that time.

Russell:  All right, have a wonderful evening.

That ends today’s podcast.

Thank you for listening.

If you have any questions that you would like answered, please send them to [email protected], and we will endeavor to answer them and include them in future podcasts.  

And if you would like to know more about the subjects and exercises, we have been exploring, including the book and guide that underpins it all, which is available for PDF download, and now available in hardback, you can do so, by going to thedogteachings.com.

That’s T H E D O G teachings DOT COM.

There, you will be able to obtain Mr. Smith’s diagrams, models, videos, and listen to other talks, as well as learn all the mathematics that supports them, and much, much more.

But most importantly, you will have real time access to the materials we are discussing.

That’s thedogteachings.com

Goodbye until next time.