(28.) Maurice Nicoll 1 - The Law of Three (I), (II) - pp.108-112
This is number (28.) of our sequential postings from Volume 1 of Maurice Nicoll’s Psychological Commentaries on the Teaching of Gurdjieff and Ouspensky.
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Links to each commentary will be put on the following Contents page, as we progress through the book:
Birdlip, January 25, 1942
Part I.—To what ultimate principles, to what fundamental laws, can the Universe and all its manifestations and processes be reduced? According to the teaching of this Work there are behind all things two ultimate laws called respectively the Law of Three and the Law of Seven. These two laws are fundamental.
From the standpoint of this teaching the Universe is created: we live in firstly a created and secondly an ordered Universe. If the Universe were chaos, there would be no order and no laws. Cosmos literally means order as distinct from chaos. If the world were chaos, the study of the laws of matter and so on would be impossible. Science could not exist.
The Law of Three is the Law of the Three Forces of Creation. This law states that three forces must enter into every manifestation. But creation is governed by another law—the Law of Seven or the Law of Order of Manifestation. Creative forces could not work unless they created in some order and this order of manifestation or order of creation is due to the Law of Seven. But at present we have to speak only of the Law of Three.
Every manifestation in the Universe is a result of the combination of three forces. These forces are called Active Force, Passive Force and Neutralizing Force.
Active Force is called 1st Force,
Passive Force is called 2nd Force,
Neutralizing Force is called 3rd Force.
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1st Force can be defined as initiating force, 2nd Force as force of resistance or reaction, and 3rd Force as balancing or relating principle or connecting force or point of application.
These three forces are found both in Nature and in Man. Throughout the Universe, on every plane, these three forces are at work. They are the creative forces. Nothing is produced without the conjunction of these three forces.
The conjunction of these three forces constitutes a triad. One triad creates another triad, both in the vertical scale and in the horizontal scale of Time. In Time, what we call the chain of events is a chain of triads.
Every manifestation, every creation, results from the meeting together of these three forces, Active, Passive and Neutralizing. Active Force, or 1st Force, cannot create anything by itself. Passive Force, or 2nd Force, cannot create anything by itself.
Neutralizing Force, or 3rd Force, cannot create anything by itself. Nor can any two of the three forces produce a manifestation. It is necessary that all the three forces meet together for any manifestation or creation to take place. This can be represented in this way.
The three forces are only creative at the point of their conjunction and here a manifestation, a creation, an event, takes place, but not otherwise. Out of all the infinite number of things that could happen, only a few actually take place—namely, when these three forces meet in conjunction. If they do not all meet, then nothing can take place. For example, if Active Force and Passive Force meet, nothing can happen, no event will take place. But if Neutralizing Force appears, then there will be three forces at work, and something will take place. A triad will be present—that is, a triad composed of the three forces—and wherever the three forces meet in conjunction as a triad a manifestation must result. Every triad, every conjunction of three forces, can give rise to another triad and under right conditions a chain of triads results. It is always from the Neutralizing Force—that is, the 3rd Force—that a new triad springs.
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In the next triad, the Neutralizing Force of the prior triad becomes Active or Passive Force. We will speak another time of this.
The Neutralizing Force or 3rd Force in a triad brings the Active Force and the Passive Force into relationship. It connects them together somewhat in the same way as the fulcrum brings the two sides of a balance into relation. Without the Neutralizing Force, the Active and Passive Forces would cancel each other out, because they are opposed to one another. They are opposites. A connecting or relating force is necessary. Neutralizing Force is intermediary between Active and Passive Forces. When the right neutralizing force is present, an active and a passive force no longer oppose one another uselessly, but are brought into a working relationship that creates a manifestation. For example, a machine can be sometimes regarded as Neutralizing Force. A rough example is a windmill. The Active or originating Force is the wind. The Passive or resisting Force is the building. The turning sails make a relation between the pressure of the wind and the resistance of the building and a manifestation takes place. If there are no sails, or if the building collapses, or if there is no wind, there is no manifestation. This is only a very rough illustration.
The idea of Three Forces is found in religion in the conception of the Trinity. In science the idea of different forces exists, as in positive and negative electrical charges of which matter is ultimately composed. But in science the idea of a third or relating force is not yet distinct.
The fact that three forces create means that three wills create. The First Order of Creation is therefore subject to three wills or three laws, and it follows that subsequent orders of creation proceeding from the first order are under more and more laws.
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The three Forces are said to proceed from Unity. This Unity is termed the Absolute which means that which is not conditioned or limited in any way and so under no laws save its own will. Since Three Forces are necessary for any manifestation, the Absolute is Unmanifest or Uncreate.
The Absolute is beyond all human thought.
Creation proceeds vertically downwards into increasing density of laws, and further and further away from the Absolute. As we shall see, in the Ray of Creation the Earth comes at a very low level in the vertical scale of the Universe.
Part II.—Change in the quality of the Neutralizing Force will not only alter the relation of forces in a triad but may reverse the Active and Passive Forces. When life is Neutralizing Force, personality is active in a man and essence is passive.
When the Work is Neutralizing Force the position is reversed—namely, essence, or the real part, becomes active, and personality, or the acquired part, passive.
In this case we have to consider again the significance of the vertical and horizontal lines of the Cross. We can conceive the Neutralizing Force of life acting along the horizontal line and the Neutralizing Force
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of the Work entering at every moment from the vertical direction and only felt when a man ceases to identify with the things of Time and remembers himself.
Let us now speak of the Three Forces in their psychological aspect.
The study of the Three Forces begins with the study of them in oneself. As was said, Three Forces exist in Nature and in Man. It is very difficult to see the Three Forces. They must be studied at first psychologically—that is, as they exist in oneself—by means of self-observation. Active Force or 1st Force can be taken as what one wants. Passive Force or 2nd Force can be taken as what resists or prevents what one wants. This is as far as one must go to begin with. It is impossible to see 3rd Force until one sees 1st Force and 2nd Force.
The 2nd Force or force of resistance exists in everything. That is, to what we want there is inevitably a force of resistance. If people realize this they will not blame so much as they do, nor will they feel that their difficulties are unique. I will speak briefly of one or two points in connection with the study of the Three Forces on the psychological side.
In making aim, 2nd Force must be calculated, otherwise the aim will be unpractical. If you make an aim, you must count the cost of keeping it. When you do so, you will probably make your aim more practical. Aim must not be too difficult. Everything that prevents you from keeping your aim is 2nd Force, provided you wish to keep your aim. Let us suppose you make an artificial temporary aim—that you will not sit down all day. Then you will notice 2nd Force in yourself in connection with this aim—namely, what resists you, what opposes your keeping this aim, all the different "I"s, the different arguments, etc. The nature of the 2nd Force will of course be determined by the nature of the 1st Force—in this case the aim you want to keep.
Do not attempt to try to see 3rd Force. It is quite useless at first. But try to see 1st Force and then 2nd Force. You cannot see 2nd Force unless you see 1st Force. It is 1st Force that makes 2nd Force appear. If you want nothing, there is no 2nd Force, in so far as your desire is concerned. People do not even know what 1st Force is in themselves —that is, they do not know what they really want. Ask yourself sometimes: "What do I want?" You must be sincere in noticing what you really want. If a man pretends he wants something, and really does not, his Active Force is what he really wants. He is lying to himself.
We have spoken briefly of the Law of Three Forces in their psychological aspect. Next time we will begin to speak of the Ray of Creation in the light of the Three Forces of Creation—that is, we will consider the Law of Three in its cosmological application.
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