Gurdjieff told his students
that work could not begin to “live” until emotional center became active. 5As was pointed out in my original essay on the subject, the emotional center is an actual physical inner structure, corresponding to what yoga calls the chakras. Gurdjieff made this clear in the last chapter of "Beelzebub's Tales to his Grandson." The six “inner flowers” which I have written about in numerous other essays correspond to six of the seven "minds" of emotional center. Asmentioned earlier, the seventh mind emerges from the integration of the other six. Rather than calling them “chakras”—a term used by schools that, from what I can gather, no longer seem to fully understand their actual role in the body—Gurdjieff’s intimations firmly suggest these flowers or chakras are “notes” in the octave of emotional center-‐-‐although each one of them also represents a fully developed emotional “mind” in its own right. As such, the emotional center constitutes its own ray of creation.
Another way of saying this, for those who prefer a more emotive terminology, is that every center contains its own divine consciousness. That consciousness, however, is not fully realized by the awareness of the human mind unless the entire octave is complete, rather than leaking energy out in many directions as a consequence of inadequate relationship.
I feel reasonably certain that the physical structure of the body contains analogous systems for both the intellect and the moving center. There are yoga diagrams depicting channels that go up (or, if you will, down) the right and left side of the body, with a third “major” channel in the middle. Based on my own experience, I suspect the left and right channels are actually pathways directly connected to the physical structure of moving center (and sensation.) The central channel is, in these diagrams, more or less lumped together with the side channels, even though I suspect its structure is a separate entity belonging to emotional center.
For the time being, however, I want to concentrate on emotional center and why it is so important.
As Gurdjieff explained in Chapter 9 of "In Search of the Miraculous," the absorption of prana-‐-‐higher substances in the air -‐-‐ has a direct effect on the work of inner organs, as long as the effort to undertake this is taken consciously, that is, with attention. So it is quite possible to feed the emotional center with material that will assist it through ordinary breathing. This is one of the reasons that Gurdjieff
maintained that beings under right conditions experience bliss when taking in the second being-‐food. It is a food for the emotional centers.
One of the essential dangers of this practice stems from the fact that one can intentionally feed energy into any note in the octave under a given set of
circumstances. If there is no corresponding level of vibration in other parts of the octave, the energy will turn against itself, and may become decidedly negative. I only bring this technical matter up in order to discourage experimentally minded types from fooling around with breathing “exercises.” Gurdjieff had an excellent reason for recommending we avoid them.
Operating at a higher rate of speed than intellectual or moving center, the emotional center has the greatest degree of sensitivity in the body, making it a primary
communication channel for our inner work. The driver (intellect) can make good contact with the carriage (sensation) but there is no motive force unless the horse (emotion) is available to do work. Once again, we can draw analogies to the
quantum state. The observer creates the conditions that resolve both location (the carriage, or structure) and momentum (the driver, or emotion.)
One of the primary aims of acquiring higher hydrogens through inner work would be to improve the functionality of emotional center. That means bringing the various “notes” in emotional center-‐-‐ the inner flowers-‐-‐into a better relationship. The more whole the inner emotional state, the more it facilitates and adds impetus to the dialogue between intellectual and moving center. It provides the motive force for the energy that connects these other parts; without it, we find ourselves dead in the water.
The great difficulty that we encounter in an inner sense -‐-‐ the reason that all of us are, generally speaking, so passive and negative -‐-‐ is that we don't form the required higher "hydrogens," as Gurdjieff called them, that are needed to feed the emotional center. And the emotional structure is the "spiritual superhighway" that ultimately supports the work of the other two structures. If things go wrong there, everything goes wrong. As is well known, emotional deficits can even cause us to get sick and die. That underscores the need for the proper understanding and nurturing of the emotional center.
In addition, because of the speed of emotional center, if it is working in a healthy manner, its perceptions are able to intuitively grasp needs of the organism long before the mind or the body get there. In other words, the horse will instinctively take us in the right direction if it is properly fed and treated with respect.