Welcome to a series of talks about objective consciousness, an objective universe, and an objective way to awaken.

It is primarily based on the works of George I. Gurdjieff and Russell A. Smith, and aims to simplify and explain what Gurdjieff actually meant within the various subject areas of the Fourth Way. All material discussed is drawn from Russell Smith’s book, Gurdjieff: Cosmic Secrets – The Teaching Guide.

Previously, we referred to an exercise that caused people to awaken. A four-part exercise that contained a Great Secret and a Great Truth, which allowed everyone who knew it, after learning some foundational material, to perform an objective exercise and awaken. 

The exercise is known as the objective exercise, and is included free at the end of Gurdjieff: Cosmic Secrets – The Teaching Guide, which can be purchased on our website thedogteachings.com. It is also available through an online course, with diagrams, transcripts, a preparatory exercise, and full audio dialogues on every lesson, allowing everyone to experience the exercise, anywhere, at any time.

In our last talk, to give you a taste of that exercise, we revealed what is called, “The Preliminary Explanation.”

Today, we will go one step further; and, although we cannot actually give you the objective exercise without you first learning the foundational material that supports it, which can be found on our website, we would like to share with you what is called, “The Premise” – in order that you have a better sense and significance of the objective exercise; and, of what it can accomplish.

In this podcast, we will refer to specific exercises, and to a structure that maps out man’s inner world – using a standard deck of 54 playing cards; and, in turn, are both parts of the foundational material to which we refer. As such, they can be found in Mr. Smith’s current book, Gurdjieff: Cosmic Secrets – The Teaching Guide.  Without their knowledge, that is, without first learning the foundational material, the great secret and the great truth will be just words without meaning, which, if spoken prematurely, could hinder your chances of awakening; that said….

Here is how, “The Premise” is presented: 

Are you ready to awaken? 

Are you ready for the objective exercise? 

When the higher center gave Russell the objective exercise, it told him to begin like Gurdjieff began… by describing human beings as a three-story factory, and told him to use Ouspensky’s diagram of the four centers.

Ouspensky’s diagram of the four centers has three rectangles, stacked one atop another, which contain four circles; and, as Ouspensky put it, “Portray a man, standing, looking to the left.” The lower story has two circles, which represents man’s Instinctive, and Moving centers. The middle story has one circle, representing the Emotional Center; and, the upper story has one circle, representing the Intellectual Center. 

In Ouspensky’s diagram the Intellectual Center is in the upper story. However, as revealed in Russell’s cards diagram, the Intellectual Center is not actually in the upper story; it is in the middle story. But, since the Higher Mental Center is in the upper story, and since its mechanical part is the Intellectual Center – I guess, we could say, in a roundabout way, that the upper story does somewhat represent the Intellectual Center. 

Even though Ouspensky’s model may be, in some ways, incorrect, for us to better comprehend what we are now going to discuss, we will use Ouspensky’s diagram of the four centers, as we proceed with this part of the objective exercise. In Ouspensky’s diagram of the four centers the Instinctive and Moving centers are in the bottom story, the emotional Center is in the middle story, and the Intellectual Center is in the upper story. 

Understanding that as our basic concept, the following question was put forth by Russell’s higher center, “What if we treated our three-story factory like it was a three-stage rocket ship?”

Remember three-stage rocket ships?

Back in the day, when we sent astronauts to the moon, we used, what are called, three-stage rocket ships, which simply meant rocket ships that have three stages. That is, they had a lower stage that contained most of the fuel, a middle stage that contained less fuel, and an upper stage that contained even less fuel. And, on the top of the three stages, was this tiny little capsule, which contained astronauts all going, “Aaaaah!”

Here is how a three-stage rocket ship works: You begin by firing the first stage – most of the fuel, the force, is in the first stage. You keep firing the first stage until all of its fuel is consumed. Then, when all of its fuel is gone, you drop the first stage and ignite the second stage. By dropping the excess weight of the first stage, the rocket ship continues to accelerate as the second stage is fired, since it no longer carries the weight of the first stage. The second stage continues to fire, until it too consumes all of its fuel. Then, when all of its fuel is gone, you drop the second stage and fire the third stage. After the third stage consumes all of its fuel, the tiny little capsule is released, escaping the gravity of Earth; and, either, enters into orbit, or is sent to the Moon.

Wow! What a ride.

So, the higher center told Russell to instruct the students to imagine themselves as a three-stage rocket ship. That is, to treat their three-story factory as if it was a three-stage rocket ship, with the Instinctive Center being the force of the first stage, the Emotional Center being the force of the second stage, and the Intellectual Center being the force of the third stage, saying, “If you sequentially fire and consume the fuel in all three stages, then, you too, will escape the pull of your lower story, achieve orbit, and awaken.”

Are you ready?

I will now explain the second part of the objective exercise in great detail. 

It is called, “The Premise.”

The higher said to use the words “I wish to remember myself” when you do the exercise. That is, to say the appropriate word, silently to yourself, as you consume the fuel in each stage. “I,” will represent the first stage, and will signify the lower story, the body. When you say the word “I,” you are to engage all of your senses. That is, to have full blown attention on sensing. Sensing everything: The light on your eyelids, the barely audible sounds, the smell of the room, your weight in the chair, the clothes on your body, the hair touching your forehead, and your feet touching the ground, etcetera. “I” sensing. “I” sensing. “I” the body, sensing. Sensing, as if there was a tiger in the room, which you cannot see, but desperately need to sense. That is, to smell, hear, taste, and even have the hairs on the back of your neck sensing where it is.

Previously, when we went through Gurdjieff: Cosmic Secrets and you did the Pick a Center exercise, if you picked the Instinctive Center, you, at that time, exercised your senses. You tried to smell every smell, hear every sound, see every movement, and hold your attention on every sensation. Full blown attention, very attentive, very strong. Remember? You, fortunately, only had to do it when you left the studyhouse and went to the guest house, or came from the guest house back to the studyhouse. So you were able to bring very strong attention to your sensing when you did.

Perhaps, you now understand how that exercise was preparing you for today. By doing the exercise, you were learning how to bring great attention to sensations. Albeit, it was only for a short time. However, I now want you to do it for a long time. That is, until you have exhausted the attention of your Instinctive Center.

Got it?

We are talking about more than just mechanical attention, about more than just mechanical sensing. That is, you can mechanically sense all day long. You can see things moving, you can smell things cooking, you can hear a hum in the distance, and you can sense that your shoes are too tight. You can sit here all day and mechanically sense, because your senses never stop working. Your ears are always hearing; but, they are not always listening. Your eyes are always seeing; but, they are not always watching. Your nose is always picking up scent; but, it is not always focused on what it is smelling. Your taste buds are always receptive; but, you rarely pay attention to what they actually receive. And, your sense of touch never sleeps; but, you only notice the scratchy, prickly, pokey stuff. So, your senses are always working; but, without attention, they only work mechanically. To hold attention on what you are sensing, requires that you activate the higher parts of your centers; but, to do that, you need fuel.

Gurdjieff postulated that every center has two small accumulators; from which we draw energy. If an accumulator becomes depleted, we yawn, attempting to switch accumulators; and, if both accumulators become depleted, the center steals energy from another center’s accumulators.

In our studies, we have found that holding attention rapidly depletes the accumulators. That is, it rapidly burns fuel. For example, if you were on guard duty and heard a noise, you would bring your Instinctive Center to full attention. You would watch, you would listen, you would smell, and you would taste the air, at least for a moment, to see if you could determine what the noise was. But, to do so, requires attention; and, as we just said, attention burns fuel. So you quickly abandon the heightened state of sensing and immediately fall back to just mechanical sensing. That is, until the next noise is heard… or movement observed. I repeat, you cannot hold attention very long. That is, if you bring great attention to your sensing, you will consume the fuel of your Instinctive Center’s accumulators very rapidly 

Do you understand?

So, the higher told Russell to have the students say, “I”, and sense like their lives depended on it.” Just like the guy who stood silently at the mouth of his cave; the guy who had to stand there, smelling for danger, listening for danger, tasting for danger, and watching for danger, before he dared venture out of his cave. The guy who had to put maximum attention on every one of his sensations.

Making the higher parts of a center function, rapidly depletes the fuel of that center. A Jack will not do this, because, as a mechanical part, it functions automatically; but, the higher parts, the Queen and the King, will. However, a person can only generate strong attention for so long. 

After taking hundreds of students through the exercise, we came to find out that, on average, for the Instinctive Center, it is four, five, or maybe six minutes.

I have had a few students generate attention for twenty or thirty minutes. I even had one who went for an hour, but that is rare.

If a person is bringing all of their attention to bear on their sensations, on their body, and on their “I”, it will not take them very long to deplete the attention of their Instinctive Center. Thus, in four, five, or six minutes, they will find themselves out of attention. After which, they will fall back into their Jack and only be randomly sensing. That is, acknowledging one sensation, then another, then a third, and so forth.

So, normally, a student will be able to hold their attention on sensations for four, five, or six minutes, after which, they are out. But, as I said, I have had a few students go twenty minutes; and, I thought, “Wow, that is long.” I have even had one go for an hour. Then, afterwards, came to find out that they woke up while sensing. Why? Because they were using their emotions and intellect as well, they wanted it so badly, and were trying so hard to hold the place, they actually woke up while doing the sensing. How did they hold attention for an hour? Well, when the Higher Center showed up, it had a ton of attention, much more attention than the lower centers have. Or as Gurdjieff would say, “They tapped into their large accumulator.”

Do you understand?

OK. After four, five or six minutes, you will be out of attention… unless, you are sensing mechanically.

When you are out of attention, I want you to raise your hand, to indicate to me that you are out of attention. I will not consider small hand movements, because your hands may move, while you are trying to hold attention. But, if you lift your arm and hold your hand up, I will be confident that you are saying, “Houston, I am out of fuel. I have nothing left. I can only sit here sensing mechanically, but I cannot do it any longer with great strength and great force; I am being invaded by too many random thoughts. At first, I pushed the random thoughts out, and re-asserted strong sensing, but my sensing is growing weaker and weaker… and the outside random thoughts keep coming in and corrupting it. I have no attention left; and, can no longer hold the place with great force.”

Got it?

At that moment, the moment you raise your hand, we will stop the first stage and quickly move to the second stage, the “wish.” The “wish” is your emotions. Now, you must hold the wish. Your feelings. Try to bring all of your emotions to bear. Try to hold all of your Objective Prayer moments; hold them all. Hold them all at the same time. Hold every emotion that you have experienced; all of your sacred moments. Exude the wish; exude emotions in yourself. Feel. You may start to cry, if you do, do not be embarrassed by your tears, but if you are, hold the embarrassment. You may even wail, or make some other sounds. Do whatever you must do, to hold your emotions for as long as you can.

And, just like sensations, emotions will have a finite amount of attention as well. If your strength of attention on sensations went for four, five or six minutes, then your emotions might go for three, four, or five minutes. It is usually less, because there is less fuel in the second stage.

But, hold the wish, the emotions, for as long as you can. Hold your attention on your feelings, and try to embrace your emotions. Try to deplete the fuel of your second story by holding the “wish”, until it too is about to fall from the higher parts back into the Jack, the mechanical part, which could sit there all day long and go, “Oh, I remember the summer that I went to the lake… ah, that was such a nice time; and, I remember the dance I went to in High School… what fun.” That is, you can scan your memories and remember individual moments of emotion, but cannot hold emotions like you did sensations, when you were trying to sense the tiger.

If you “wished” with all of yourself, you will reach a moment when you are no longer able to bring your emotions to bear. And, thus, will have depleted the attention of your second story… and, as such, will have no fuel left in the second stage of your rocket ship.

Got the picture?

So, after three, four, or five minutes, you will be out. But, before that, try as hard as you can to stop random thoughts, and keep re-emphasizing your wish. Try to maintain attention on all your emotions for as long as you can. But, when random thoughts keep entering and entering; and, you realize that you can no longer hold attention on your emotions, that is, when you realize that you are going to fall back into your Jack, and are just going to sit there, conjuring up past pleasant moments of your life, raise your hand. When you raise your hand the second time, you are telling me, “Houston, I am done. I have tried. I have held it for as long as I can; but, I cannot hold the “wish” any longer. I am spent.” Thus, when you raise your hand the second time, you are telling me that your wish is complete, and that your second stage is out of fuel. At which time, we will rapidly move to the third stage. 

Note: I will help you begin each stage by offering some initial dialogue, and emphasize what it means to sense “I” as the body, to feel the emotions of “wish,” or to intellectually “remember yourself” by mind alone. So, I will help you get each stage started, but then, at some point, I will shut up, telling you, that when you are out of attention, to raise your hand. Then, I will patiently sit there, waiting for you to reach that moment.

Additionally, when I tell you to sense, if you go for thirty seconds and then raise your hand, you do not have a prayer of awakening. You must have more than just thirty seconds worth of attention in your Instinctive Center. Or, on the other hand, if you go for two hours, you are probably not using the attention of your higher parts, only the automatic attention of your Jack. That is, just mechanically cycling through sensations, “I can smell this, I can hear that,” etc., but you are not holding attention, thus, not depleting your accumulators. 

You do know the difference between having mechanical attention and holding attention, don’t you?

It is like, if you were out in the woods, and heard a strange noise, you would freeze, stand motionless, and bring your Instinctive Center to a state of full attention. All your senses would be saying, “Red alert, red alert!” Your attention would be on your senses. You would be trying to see every movement, hear every sound, smell every smell, taste every scent; and, trying, with everything you have, to discover what the noise was. And, by doing so, you would quickly figure out that you are unable to do it for very long. Holding sensation depletes the attention of your higher parts.

Do you understand?

So, your attention needs to be longer than just thirty seconds, but it does not need to be thirty-five or forty minutes.

As I said, I will give you some dialogue and take you through the “I,” and then, I will shut up, telling you to raise your hand when you are out of attention. When you raise your hand, I will take you into the “wish;” and, then, again, will shut up. When you raise your hand the second time, I will take you into the third stage of your rocket ship, the “to remember by mind alone”, that you are you.

When we get to the third stage, I want you to hold the knowledge of yourself with just your mind. “I am me. I do not need a sense to tell me that I am me. I do not need an emotion to tell me that I am me, I know that I am me. I have known that I am me all my life. I am me. By my mind alone, I know that I am me. I know of my existence. I am holding one thought. I am keeping all other thoughts out. By mind alone I am keeping myself present in myself; by mind alone. To remember by mind alone that I am me. I do not need a sensation to do that. I do not need a feeling to do that.”

This part is strictly the intellectual constatation of yourself. Try to keep all other thoughts out, except the one. To remember by mind alone that you are you. If you do it right, and you hold it for as long as you can, you will deplete the attention of your third story; and, the fuel in the third stage of your rocket ship.

Got it?

This one will be even shorter than the others, and might go two, three, or maybe four minutes. Because most of the fuel is in the lower story, there is less in the middle story, and even less in the upper story.

However, every once in a while, someone has more attention in their middle story than they had in their lower story, but that is an anomaly; sensing is usually the biggest. After all, in our evolutionary development, the lower story came into existence millions of years before the other stories came into existence, and, thereby, has more attention.

Do you understand?

OK, after two, three, or four minutes, you will raise your hand a third time, indicating to me that you can no longer hold the intellectual awareness of yourself. You are out. You are spent.

Then, we will make one final push, “Myself,” and you will do all three simultaneously. Because, while you are doing the “wish,” and while you are doing the “to remember,” maybe some fuel has built up in one of the accumulators in the lower story; or, later, in the middle story. So, I want you to bring back the “I,” the sensing; the “wish,” the feeling; and try to continue to hold the “to remember by mind alone” for as long as you can. Thus, when you do “myself” you will be doing all three, just in case any fuel has built back up. I repeat, when you do “myself”, I want you to do all three; bring back the sensing, bring back the emotions, and continue to hold the thought of remembering yourself by mind alone. When you are done, if you did your job correctly, that is, if you made great efforts, and depleted each of your stories, then, the “myself” part will only go thirty, forty, or fifty seconds, because, by then, you should be virtually out of attention. 

And so, after doing “myself” for thirty, forty, or fifty seconds, you will have nothing left. You will just be a bunch of Jacks, some blobs of automatic stuff, that can no longer hold attention on any of the functions of your three-story factory.

Got the idea?

OK, when you raise your hand the fourth and final time, indicating to me that you are totally done, that you are totally out, that you have nothing left to give, that you have used up all of your attention, that you have exhausted the attention of your lower story, that you have exhausted the attention of your middle story, that you have exhausted the attention of your upper story, have exhausted all of your attention and have nothing left to give; at that moment, when you raise your hand the fourth and final time, I will reveal to you the great secret and the great truth.

The moment I do; the moment that you hear the great secret and the great truth, an undeniable realization will arise in you, and you will know, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that what you have just heard is indeed the most important thing you have ever heard in your entire life; and, as such, is the most important part of the exercise. And, with that knowledge, you will instantly be transformed, and will awaken.

It is like, let’s suppose, somebody hid a million-dollar voucher in your house. It is certified by the biggest most reliable accounting firm in the world. They have verified that it is there. A million-dollar voucher is somewhere in your house, but you only have twenty-four hours to redeem it.

How hard do you think you would look?

You would probably turn over every chair, open every cupboard, look under every sink, maybe even knock holes in the walls and tear down the sheetrock.

Right?

It would be an exhaustive search. You would not be looking leisurely. You would be, in a sense, engaged in a frantic search, looking for the voucher, because it is verified, it is certified, and it is absolutely there, right? And, let’s suppose you looked everywhere. I mean you looked everywhere, under the carpets, under the chairs, up under the drawers, in the vents. You looked everywhere, everywhere, everywhere!

You performed an exhaustive search, looking for the voucher; and, at the end of your search, after having looked everywhere – and having not found it – believing that there is nowhere left to search, you are then told the great secret and the great truth, that is, where you haven’t, as of yet, searched. And, hearing that truth, you instantly know where the voucher is; and, thereby, rapidly obtain it, and claim the million-dollar prize.

Oh my God, tell me the great secret and the great truth!

Patience, grasshopper. 

When a man is ready to receive the great secret and the great truth, it will be given unto him. But first, before I give it to you, I want you to understand a bit more about the functioning of your inner world.

Your inner world is liken to a classroom of students that has never had a teacher.

Can you imagine a classroom of students that has never had a teacher. What are the students like in a classroom that has never had a teacher?

There is chaos. Right? The children are probably broken into factions: There is a shop group; a group that is mechanically inclined, talking about automobiles, engines, and fast cars. There is a sports group; interested in all thing’s sports, talking about baseball, football, and their favorite athletes. There is a group of girls, practicing their cheers, talking about which boys are the cutest. There is a group of studious students, gathered together with their textbooks open, talking about angles, and dimensions. There are some class clowns… chasing each other around the room, throwing spitballs, laughing, and having fun. There are even some loners, sigh, sitting by themselves at different places in the classroom, as they are not a part of any group.

That is the state of your classroom.

Can you see it?

Each group animates the classroom for a while. Somebody in the shop group says, “Oh, look at that Chevrolet, that is so cool,” and everybody looks out the window and goes, “Oh yeah, that is cool.” And, for a moment, the class has a common focus; but, the common focus easily fragments… and everybody quickly goes back to the topics of their group.

In addition, each group has a chief feature. That is, there is one kid in each group who directs and controls the group.

In the sport group, if the chief feature kid says, “The Yankees are the best team in baseball,” all the other kids in the sports group go, “Yeah, we like the Yankees too.”

In the group of girls, if the chief feature girl says, “Bobby is such a dream; he is so cute,” all the other girls swoon and say, “Yeah, he is so dreamy.”

Each group follows the lead of the chief feature kid that is in charge of their group.

Fortunately, there are also some magnetic center kids scattered around the classroom. Some of them are in the shop group, some of them are in the group of girls, some of them are in the group of studious students, some of them are in the sports group, some of them are class clowns, and some of them are loners. 

These magnetic center kids all hope that someday there will be something more than just the idiotic talk that goes on every day. They long for a real teacher. A real authority. Someone who will bring order, and provide structure to the classroom, steering it towards much more important things, than who is the cutest boy, which is the fastest car, or who your favorite athlete is.

And, every once in a while, some subject comes up, which might lead to something that will benefit the entirety of the class. For instance, if someone says something about mathematics, and someone else jokes that the girls know nothing about mathematics. Then, one of the magnetic center girls might say, “Well, we are much better at mathematics than the boys are.” And, that stimulates a moment when all of the magnetic center kids have a chance to influence the classroom. “Let’s do some math”, one of them says… “So, we can beat the girls.” “Huh! No way”, responds one of the magnetic center girls; and, the class engages in a battle of mathematics.

Fortunately, over time, the magnetic center kids begin to recognize each other; and, as such, they covertly try to keep the classroom unified. They stimulate moments that cause the class to all study History, to all study Math, to all study English, or to all do something that the class should be doing. But, unfortunately, at the first distraction, the class again fragments, and all the kids quickly lose interest and go back to their individual groups. After which, the classroom, once again, falls into chaos… driven by the chief feature kids that animate each group.

However, let’s suppose, we get the kids to understand something about the rules and laws of a school; and, about the rules and laws of having a real education. And, let’s suppose, we persuade them to compete against each other. That is, to establish which group is best; which group has the most knowledge; which group has the most understanding; and, which group is best qualified to lead the classroom.

The shop group would talk about engines, parts, and everything related to mechanics, until they had exhausted their knowledge. The sport’s group would elaborate on every sport, every team, every stat, and who the best athlete is, and why. They too would continue until they depleted themselves. The group of girls would sing songs, do cheers, and talk about romance, love, and fashion, until they too had exhausted their data. Every group would try to prove that their group was best. After which, the groups would insert even more stuff, which they just happened to remember. The process would go back and forth and back and forth, as each group tried to best the others. Back and forth… back and forth, until everyone was totally out of stuff.

After exhausting efforts put forth by each group, there would come a moment when everybody in the classroom was totally exhausted. The image I envision is all the children, lying on the floor, with their tongues hanging out, totally spent. Nobody has any force left to fraudulently stand up and take charge of the classroom, because, as I said, they are all totally exhausted.

At that moment, the children would be in a state of unity. They would have become unified by default. Because, for the first time, in the life of the classroom, they were all doing the same thing. That is, they are all lying on the floor, exhausted. As such, they are unified. And, just as cells gain something higher when they unify and become tissues, the children gain something higher when they too become unified. Thus, now that your children are in a state of unification, that is, of being a tissue, they too can be told the great secret and the great truth.

Oh my God, please, tell me the great secret and the great truth!

Ok, it sounds like you are ready.

When all of your children are on the floor, totally exhausted, with their tongues hanging out, which causes them to become unified by default; and, when you have exhaustively searched your house, looking for the million-dollar voucher, even ripping the backs off all of the pictures, and not found it, you too will be ready to receive the great secret and the great truth that tells you where it is.

I repeat, the moment your kids hit the floor and become a tissue; the moment you finish searching your house, looking for the voucher; the moment you deplete your three-story factory; you will be able to comprehend, understand, and apply the great secret and great truth with great force; and, you will awaken.

That completes the second part of the objective exercise, and the thorough explanation of the Premise. 

Unfortunately; and, according to law, as we said at the beginning of this podcast, that is all we can share with you at this time.

Why?

Well, we found, after waking up hundreds of people, that before they can comprehend, understand, and apply the great secret and the great truth, they first need to learn the foundational material that supports it. That is, when we told people the great secret and great truth, without first sharing with them the foundational material, we perpetrated a grave injustice on them. For, without first learning the foundational material, the great secret and the great truth were just words without meaning, which, when spoken prematurely, hindered their chances of awakening; and, we cannot allow ourselves to do that again.

So, that being said, and in order to possibly rectify the situation, the foundational material is available for purchase on our website thedogteachings.com.

If you would like to obtain that material; or, if you would like to simply learn more about the subjects and exercises we have been exploring, including the book and guide that underpins it all, which is also available for PDF download, 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 other diagrams, 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 material we are discussing.

That’s thedogteachings.com

Thank you for listening.

Goodbye until next time.