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 this podcast I will narrate a dialog between Russell and one of his students, concerning the Cards Diagram, the properties of Steward, the properties of Master, and the diagram of Oscillations, as well as compare the harmonic oscillations to the static notes.

The aforementioned diagrams can be found on our website thedogteachings.com in the description of this podcast. However some can best be seen under Resources/Animations. Firstly, in the animation called Dualities, which explains how oscillations are created. And secondly, in the animation called The Card Diagram Notes into Oscillations. 

In addition, if you would like to have a 14-foot horizontal diagram of the Oscillations, simply download the diagram called Oscillations 4 Scales, print it out on 16 sheets of paper, and then tape them together.

Let’s begin.

Russell:  Today we will start with a review of the Cards Diagram.

Student:  Why should I study the Cards Diagram? Is it that important?

Russell:  Yes, it is. It shows the organization of your lower centers, their parts, and their parts-of-parts, as well as what your higher centers are made of, which makes your lower centers identifiable, and your higher centers approachable.

Student:  That sounds good, but how do I apply this knowledge?

Russell:  Well, if you wish to be strong, you should go to a gym, in order to develop your muscles. If you wish to be a wine taster, you should sip a lot of wine, in order to develop a more refined sense of taste. So, likewise, if you wish to awaken, you should study the Cards Diagram, in order to identify, develop, and prepare your centers for awakening. 

Student:  So, what is the first thing I need to know about the Cards Diagram?

Russell:  The first thing you need to know is that the Cards Diagram shows your entire machine. You will notice right off the bat, that it is divided into red cards and black cards. 

The red cards are your Essence, what you are born with, and the black cards are your Personality, what you acquire. 

Your Instinctive Center (Diamonds) and your Emotional Center (Hearts) are red, and therefore are essence centers. Whereas your Moving Center (Clubs) and your Intellectual Center (Spades) are black, and therefore are personality centers.

Your Higher Emotional Center is more than ⅔ red, so it is an essence center. And your Higher Mental Center is more than ⅔ black, so it is a personality center.

Student:  Oh, I see it now. You are talking about the tiny cards, right?

Russell:  No, all cards: the Aces, the face cards, and the number cards.  

Student:  Okay, I didn’t see that at first. It is good that we are going over this.

Russell:  Cool.

Student:  There is a great big Ace of Spades and a great big Extra Joker in the top story. Are they involved in the ⅔ part?

Russell:  No, and Yes. The Ace of Spades is not, as it has been brought up from the middle story, in order to identify where the upper story begins. But the Extra Joker is.

Student:  Okay. So, we have better than ⅔ red on the left side of the top row because we have to add the Extra Joker. 

Russell:  Yes, we do. 

Okay. What card represents your Higher Emotional Center?

Student:  The Ace of Spades?

Russell:  No. The Ace of Spades represents your Intellectual Center.

Student:  Well, I guess I do not have an answer for you then.

Russell:  No problem. I will help you find one. Let’s begin with the bottom story.

Which card represents your Instinctive Center?

Student:  The Diamonds?

Russell:  Yes, but which card?

Student:  Okay, you want one card? Well, let’s see, I guess it’s the Ace of Diamonds.

Russell:  Correct. Size wise, the Ace of Diamonds is the biggest of the Diamonds, isn’t it?

Student:  Yep.

Russell:  Okay, which card represents your Moving Center?

Student:  The Ace of Clubs.

Russell:  You are a genius! 

Which card represents your Emotional Center?

Student:  The Ace of Hearts.

Russell:  Very good. 

Which card represents your Intellectual Center?

Student:  The Ace of Spades.

Oh, I see. The Ace of Spades can't represent my Higher Emotional Center, as it has already been identified as representing my Intellectual Center.

Russell:  Terrific observation.

Student:  The reason I screwed up is because the large Ace of Clubs and the large Ace of Spades are printed in two places.

Russell:  Yes, they are, but only because the diagram is stacked, placing the three inner octaves on separate rows, instead of spreading them out in one long row.

Student:  Oh, I see. If it was spread out, there would only be one big Ace of Clubs, and one Big Ace of Spades.

Russell:  Yee-Haw.

Student:  Okay, I got it now.

Russell:  Great. Diamonds are again, what?

Student:  My Instinctive Center.

Russell:  No, I mean which card?

Student:  Oh, the Ace of Diamonds.

Russell:  Moving?

Student:  The Ace of Clubs.

Russell:  Emotion?

Student:  The Ace of Hearts.

Russell:  Intellect?

Student:  The Ace of Spades.

Russell:  Higher Emotion?

Student:  The Extra Joker.

Russell:  Yes. So your Higher Emotional Center has 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 red cards: the Ace, Jack, Queen, and King of Diamonds, the Jack, Queen, King, and Ace of Hearts, and the Extra Joker. It also has four black cards: the Jack, Queen, King, and Ace of Clubs.

Making your Higher Emotional Center, the Extra Joker, 9/13 red and 4/13 black, which is a bit more than ⅔ red.

Student:  I got it.

Russell:  Well done.

Okay, which card represents your Higher Mental Center?

Student:  The Joker. And I suppose it is considered a black card, is that correct?

Russell:  Yes, it is. 

In addition, the Higher Mental Center is more complex, because in your Higher Mental Center, the Ace of Spades (your Intellectual Center) and the Extra Joker (your Higher Emotional Center) appear twice; once in the middle row, and once in the bottom row. And the Joker (your Higher Mental Center) appears three times, once in each row.

Student:  Wow! That is amazing. It is like those centers get packaged tighter and tighter into the higher parts of my Higher Mental Center.

Russell:  Yes, they do. Your Higher Mental Center, like all your centers, has three parts: a mechanical part, an emotional part, and an intellectual part. However, the intellectual part is not made up of new cards. Instead, it is made up of the mechanical part and the emotional part that have united and become the intellectual part. Or, as I like to say, God is His own third part.

So, the Higher Mental Center technically has only two parts: the mechanical part (your Intellectual Center) and the emotional part (your Higher Emotional Center) or as I like to call them: the, “I” and the, “AM” of God.

In addition, the intellectual part of the intellectual part is again, those same two parts packaged together even tighter.

And, since we distinguished the Joker as being a black card, the Higher Mental Center has 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 black cards: the Jack, Queen, King, and Ace of spades, the Ace of clubs, the Ace of spades again, the Jokers in all three rows, and an ending Joker, which is depicted by the “?” marks. It also has 1, 2, 3, 4 red cards: the Ace of Diamonds, the Ace of Hearts, as well as two Extra Jokers.

Making your Higher Mental Center, the Joker, 10/14 black and 4/14 red, which is a bit more than ⅔ black.

Student:  Okay, let me see if I can review some of that. The Extra Joker represents my Higher Emotional Center, the emotional part of my Higher Mental Center, and the emotional part of the intellectual part of my Higher Mental Center. Is that correct?

Russell:  Yes. Well done.

Student:  Okay, I have another question.

Russell:  Go for it. 

Student:  If the Extra Joker represents my Higher Emotional Center, then what does the Ace of Hearts represent, which is on top of it?

Russell:  That’s an easy one. The Ace of Hearts is the intellectual part of your Higher Emotional Center.

Student:  So, if I were to place the three stories into one long diagram, I would have 3 rows, with my centers (the large size cards) in the top row, my parts (the medium size cards) in the middle row, and my parts-of-parts (the small size cards) in the bottom row. 

That’s what this is, isn’t it, only you have transposed it into three stories. I guess because it all fits on one page.

Russell:  Yes. Plus, since we are a three-story factory, consisting of three octaves that are created by a series of inner halving’s within the octave: a top octave from DO to SO, a middle octave from SO to MI, and a bottom octave from MI to RE, it seemed very appropriate for me to put each of those octaves on separate rows. Besides, you are correct; it is much easier to see them displayed in this manner, than it would be if I had placed them in one long row. 

Student:  Okay. It makes perfect sense to me now.

Russell:  With the Cards Diagram, you can not only see your four lower centers, their parts, and their parts-of-parts; but for the first time, you can clearly see what your higher centers are made of, and as such, they are approachable.

So, that is why studying the Cards Diagram is so important, because it not only shows you what you are, but also, what you can become.

I must say that before discovering the Cards Diagram, I had no idea of what was needed in order for me to awaken; but, after discovering it, I did. I clearly saw how my Steward could be attained, and as such, he was brought within my grasp.

I would like to make one more comment about the Cards Diagram before moving on. The Cards Diagram does not show the bottom DO that is off the page on the bottom left which began the diagram. It only shows the top DO, on the top right that ends it, via the “?” marks. Those DO’s represent two notes from the octave of Organic Life, wherein we exist. 

What two notes? Well, the octave of Organic Life is itself an octave, and as such, the Cards Diagram depicts its development as well. In the bottom story are instinctive plants and moving animals. In the middle story are emotional animals, and intellectual animals. In the upper story are social animals, and reasoning animals (us), as well as, a higher existence beyond us. 

Therefore, we exist between the notes LA and TI in the octave of Organic Life, wherein both impartiality and reason emerge.

Now, the question becomes two-fold: #1, does that mean that social animals have a Steward? And #2, if they do, then why don’t we? 

The main property of the Higher Emotional Center where social animals exist, is conscience; and the presence behind conscience is Steward. So yes, social animals do have a Steward.

With that presence, they have a sense of morality. For instance, when a pride of female lions goes on the hunt, they leave their cubs behind with one female; who, because of that sense of morality, does not eat them, even though they would make for a tasty snack.

We are supposed to be more advanced than the social animals. However, we unfortunately lost our Higher Emotional Center, our conscience, and our Steward a long time ago, as reported to us in stories about being thrown out of the Garden of Eden, the Tower of Babel, and Atlantis sinking, and as such, are less loyal than dogs.

Fortunately, miraculously, my awakening resulted in me accidentally getting my Higher Emotional Center, my conscience, and my Steward back, and then, after being equipped with those, I discovered an objective way of showing others how to intentionally reclaim theirs. After which, it became my life’s work to help as many people as possible to awaken their Higher Emotional Centers, their conscience, and get their Stewards back.

Which brings me to two more things that were discussed in previous podcasts: #1, after an Enneagram makes it to LA, it goes back to RE; And #2, after the TI-DO interval was shortened, it became possible for the top DO to reach back and pull the note TI to completion. 

Understanding these two principles, I thought, well, alright, the bottom DO can push things up to LA, and the top DO can pull things up from TI, but what happens in between LA and TI? That is, how do we get from LA to TI? 

In the justice system, a jury is chosen to complete the LA-TI interval, by using impartiality and reason. That is, they are instructed to impartially consider all the facts, and then render a verdict beyond reasonable doubt. To do so, they must first be impartial, because without impartiality, there can be no reason.

In the octave of Organic Life, man was chosen to complete the LA-TI interval. That is, he too is supposed to impartially consider all the facts and then use his reason to become higher than himself. But, here’s the rub. Remember how I said that the main property of the Higher Emotional Center was conscience? And that the Higher Emotional Center, the Extra Joker, was also the emotional part of the Higher Mental Center? Well, guess what, when the Higher Emotional Center takes that higher position of being the emotional part of the Higher Mental Center, its property of conscience morphs into the property of impartiality; one of the main properties of the Higher Mental Center, of Master. Which means, when we lost our Higher Emotional Center, we lost our conscience; and, with no Higher Emotional Center, it is impossible for it to become the emotional part of the Higher Mental Center, and as such, we will never be impartial. And, as said earlier, without impartiality there can be no reason. We are doomed. But, maybe not. With The Blueprint of Consciousness, and with the help of the Cards Diagram, one can easily learn how to acquire them both.

By the way, you would not have known, had you not studied the Cards Diagram, that the Higher Emotional Center has a higher place of existence, one that will make you impartial.

Student:  Wow, Russ, that was pretty awesome. And to think that my first question was: “Why should I study the Cards Diagram?” Boy, was that a stupid question! Based on what I have learned today, I now know exactly what I must focus on, and what I must do, if I wish to complete the journey. So, thank you, thank you, thank you.

Russell:  You are most welcome.

Okay. Let’s go one step further.

Although the Cards Diagram shows you everything you need to know in order to awaken. That is, how your machine functions at present, as well as how it can function in the future. There is a more accurate diagram of your centers, their parts, and their parts-of-parts. It is called the diagram of Oscillations. 

Oscillations are very important, because in an octave, nothing lives at the notes; things live in the spaces between the notes. 

Student:  So the notes are just beginning and ending points?

Russell:  Yes. However, the notes do depict the fixed tones in a musical octave. But for most other octaves, the notes are only there to designate a change of space. 

Student:  Are oscillations what is going on between the notes?

Russell:  No, between the notes, the journey is linear. One that goes from being a baby, to being a toddler, to being an adolescent, to being a teenager, to being an adult, to becoming a senior citizen. 

Whereas, oscillations represent harmonic places of existence, wherein things cycle, and as such, get repeated, like a tree that gets its leaves, loses its leaves, gets its leaves, and then loses its leaves, etc. 

As such, the structure of oscillations provides a much better model of evolution, as it shows the harmonic domain of things. Whereas the Cards Diagram only shows them at static points.

Fortunately, the number of notes produced in 3 scales of an octave precisely matches the number of oscillations produced in four.

To understand the above, consider the inner structure of an octave. 

An octave starts at a DO, and then ends at a DO. Correct?

Student:  Yes.

Russell:  Well, that’s 2. A DO and a DO. And then between those notes are 6 more notes: RE, MI, FA, SO, LA, and TI. That’s 2, then 6. After which, between the four fundamental points of that octave, the DO, SO, MI, and RE, there are three octaves, each with six notes, a RE, MI, FA, SO, LA, and TI. That’s 18. The progression so far is 2, 6, and 18. In the following scale, nine inner octaves are created between the 12 fundamental points from the previous scale, each, again, with six notes; and, nine times six is 54. So, the progression of notes is 2, 6, 18, and 54. Right?

Student:  Yes. That is right.

Russell:  Okay. Now, let’s discuss the structure of oscillations. In every octave there are two oscillations. That is, two places of harmonic existence, the MI and the SO. Why the MI and the SO? Well, the MI and the SO are the two fundamental points which become the middle DO’s in the three inner octaves of the next scale. Which means they can both ascend and descend, and as such, become places of harmonic existence; locked together as a duality. Like: protons and neutrons, plants and animals, angiosperms and gymnosperms, men and women, etc.

And then, in those three inner octaves, there are more inner octaves, and more dualities; every one being a MI and a SO from the previous scale.

After calculating four scales of inner octaves, we have a MI and a SO in, what I call, scale-0, which become ascending and descending DO’s in the three inner octaves of scale-1, which in turn, also have MI’s and SO’s, thus, creating six oscillations in scale-2, etc. That progression creates 2 oscillations in scale-1, 6 oscillations in scale-2, 18 oscillations in scale-3, and 54 oscillations in scale-4. The progression of notes and the progression of oscillations is identical. 

Furthermore, when shown as oscillations, we see that oscillations never fall on top of each other like the Ace of Hearts and the Extra Joker did. Instead, they are always before or after each other, or represent a smaller oscillation within a larger oscillation from the previous scale. That is, as a part of a center, or a part of a part. 

So, as I said, the diagram of Oscillations is much more accurate.

Student:  Ohhh!  But you wouldn’t have found the oscillations had you not discovered the notes, correct?

Russell:  That is correct. 

Fortunately, both structures followed the 2, 6, 18, and 54 progression. So, in a sense, they are both correct, but the oscillations are even more correct, as they never show that the Ace of Hearts and the Extra Joker are on top of each other. 

Student:  I get it, I really do.

Russell:  Terrific.

I guess all we have to do now is to discover why things oscillate? 

The answer to that began when we separated the three forces, the three DO’s, which afterwards aligned with the notes DO, LA, and FA of the octave. 

To understand why that is so important, I will begin by asking you this: if a DO tries to ascend, where will it go first?

Student:  Well, it will go to RE.

Russell:  Correct. Then where?

Student:  It will go to MI.

Russell:  Also correct. Then where?

Student:  To Fa.

Russell:  Terrific. Then where?

Student:  To SO.

Russell:  Nope, that is incorrect. It will get stopped at FA.

Student:  Oh, it will get stopped at FA? Why?

Russell:  Well, because of opposing forces.

Student:  Aren't opposing forces the same as denying forces? I ask, because I remember you saying that there weren’t any denying forces.

Russell:  You are correct, I did say that. 

However, the DO that lives at the FA, which I know is there because I placed it there when I separated the three forces, descends. It will stop the DO, which lives at the DO, from ascending. It may look like a denying force, but in reality, it is just an affirming force going in the opposite direction.

Student:  Oh, okay, I get it; the original affirming force can’t get past the other affirming force.

Russell:  Yep. That is exactly what happens. The first DO enters and starts going up. Then, it runs into another DO that is going down, and as such, it gets stopped. 

And if the original DO tries to descend, it will run into the DO that enters at the FA below it; and will again get stopped. Thus creating an oscillation between FA and FA.

Student:  It doesn’t get stopped by the DO at LA?

Russell:  Well, it could; but, if you do the math, you will see that the DO at LA is moot. The dynamic is between the DO that enters at the DO, and the DO that enters at the FA. Whereas the DO that enters at the LA is not part of that dynamic, and as such, it does not readily participate. Again, the dynamic is between the DO that enters at the DO, and the DO that enters at the FA. Like a dispute between a father and his son, where the son says, “Daddy, buy me a bike.” And Daddy replies, “No, you cannot have a bike.” To which the son pleads, “Daddy, please buy me a bike.” And Daddy affirms, “No, as I said, you cannot have a bike.” Which keeps going back and forth until Mom enters the room and says, “Harry, buy the kid a bike,” or, “Bobby, listen to your father, you cannot have a bike.” That is, Mom may reconcile the situation, but in reality, she is not a part of that dynamic. 

Student:  Thank you Russ, that was most enlightening.

Russell:  You are most welcome. See you next week.

That completes 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 perhaps ... even include them in a future podcast.  

Or if you would like to purchase Russell Smith’s book, The Blueprint of Consciousness, a 520-page hardback, which is also available for PDF download, or learn more about the subjects and exercises that we have been exploring, you can do so by going to thedogteachings.com.

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There, you will be able to listen to other talks, obtain diagrams, animations, supporting videos, and much, much more.

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

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Goodbye until next time.