CHAPTER 7: PSYCHOMECHANICS  AND TRANSFORMATION

The Seven Centers of Man

Although many different models have been touted over the centuries, explaining how mind functions, perhaps the clearest is that introduced to the West by Gurdjieff in the early 20th century. Gurdjieff taught that all the functions of man were controlled by seven centers or brains. Five of the centers are termed ‘lower’ and two ‘higher’. Each of these centers has a unique and particular form of consciousness. During his talks in Russia and at the Priere in France, Gurdjieff introduced the subject of centers using a diagram picturing man as a three-storied factory (figure 31).

In this diagram, the top story represents the head, the middle story the thorax and the lowest the abdomino-pelvic region. These three stories correspond respectively with the lower and higher intellectual centers, the lower and higher emotional centers and the lower moving, instinctive and sexual centers. It is important to realize that all seven centers are initially present and operating automatically at birth within each man and woman. Unfortunately, few people are aware of the existence of the two higher centers and remain only in contact with, at the most, one or two of the lower centers. The goal of mystical education is not to develop one’s higher centers, since these centers already exist in potentia, but instead, improve the operating curve of the lower centers, forging a working bridge between the lower and the higher.

Figure 31

The Seven Centers Or Brains Of Man

As we shall see later, the general nature of the interactions between each of these centers is one of
automaticity since the programming necessary for efficient operation of the ‘brain factory’ is already present within our neuroendocrine system. This is why I have chosen the term ‘psychomechanics’ to represent Gurdjieff’s model.

It is important to understand that the appearance of these centers or brains is evolutionary in nature, consistent with Darwin’s principle of ‘survival of the fittest’.1 Gurdjieff’s system of classification differs significantly from systems developed using the modern psychoanalytical model of Freud and his disciples.

Traditionally, psychology is concerned primarily with activity of the intellectual and emotional centers. Psychology divides consciousness into three levels: conscious (intellectual awareness–not the same use of the word as described in this treatise), subconscious (not currently conscious material but available) and unconscious (not available to the intellectual center). Psychology generally ignores the intelligent functions of the instinctive, moving and sexual centers. The psychomechanical model differs from traditional psychology in that it avoids distinctions between conscious, subconscious and unconscious; instead, postulating that each center demonstrates an unique awareness within its sphere of activity.

The Human Machine

The first center manifesting within the biosphere was the instinctive center, first rearing its ‘head’ in the simplest of unicellular prokaryotes (cells without a distinct nuclear region). This center is concerned with successful regulation of the internal environment of a living organism as it interacts with often times hostile surroundings. Instinctive functions are innate, automatic, non-verbal, non-emotive, continuous and designed to maintain the life of the individual and the species. These are the functions of respiration, circulation, digestion, tropism, neurosensory perception of the autonomic nervous system, hormonal regulation, sexual reproduction and so on. This center contains the universal ‘urge to live’.

The instinctive center displays its own unique form of consciousness and memory (biochemical). Its perceptions are expressed through the satisfaction of needs, through the choosing of behaviors conducive to continued life, through the expression of its genetic material.

Like several of the other lower centers, the instinctive center has positive and negative aspects. The successful utilization of this center for maintaining, guiding and directing the life form requires the presence of dyads such as pleasant versus unpleasant, safe versus harmful, approach versus avoidance, healthy versus unhealthy. Left to its own devices, the instinctive center usually chooses the proper path for the body to follow. Unfortunately, most of us sabotage the positive actions of this center using input from the emotional and intellectual centers (Gurdjieff termed this wrong work).

The second center appearing in animal life was the moving center. The moving center controls the mechanics of crawling, walking, speaking, writing, eating, painting and so on. The moving center is the source of motion and functions through the interface of the spinal nervous system with the musculoskeletal system. The moving center utilizes the five objective senses as orientating cues for performance of its activities through simple sensory-motor reflex arcs. Behaviors controlled by the moving center differ from those of the instinctive center being learned rather than innate ( recall how a human baby learns to reach, sit and walk). The moving center learns by imitation, imitation without reasoning. This center contains the universal ‘urge to do, to be active’.