In order to accomplish its actions, the moving center is endowed with a wonderful memory, much of it stored within the cerebellum. Our ability to form smooth, purposeful motions requires cooperation of the sensory-motor portions of the cerebral cortex, the thalamus, the basal ganglia and the cerebellum.
Like the instinctive center, the moving center has its own form of consciousness. Once a new behavior is learned, the moving center no longer needs input from the intellectual center for its performance. The moving center seems to operate outside ‘our normal consciousness’, but this only an error of perception. The difference between the consciousness of the moving center and that of the intellectual center is that the moving center exists only in the present–it is not concerned with the past or the future, it does not make plans, actions are either latent or active.
That the moving center is consciously participating in its actions is easily seen when driving a car. It is quite easy to engage the intellectual center in a conversation without causing an accident since it is the moving center which avoids collision with the other cars upon the road, adjusts the position of the right foot on the gas pedal in response to the presence of speed limit signs and so on. The moving center, similar to the instinctive center, also can be divided into two parts: active versus inactive, motion versus rest, tenseness versus relaxation.
The moving center tends to be passive in its actions, it seldom acts upon its own initiative, preferring to be commanded by the other centers. The moving center tends to be lazy when left on its own, as shown by the sedimentary lifestyle of Western man when given the opportunity for leisure.
Even though the moving center is passive and favors its negative state of inactivity, rarely is it relaxed and at peace. Most often it is being driven excessively and inappropriately by other centers. Teaching the motor center how to relax is an active process. Part of relaxation training is convincing the other centers that it is useful for them to allow the moving center to rest. Teaching the moving center to assume a tranquil, natural and stable posture (without the slightest of muscle tension) conducive to concentration, contemplation and meditation is an early exercise of all esoteric schools.
Although each of these centers are independent ‘brains’, their actions are closely inter-related making it convenient to treat them as a single center. The simplest forms of life displaying such a combined center are the invertebrates. Gurdjieff labels these creatures as ‘one-brained’ beings.
The third lower center is the emotional. This center first occurs and matures evolutionarily in the lower vertebrates, or ‘two-brained’ beings. The emotional center is formed by the sympathetic nervous system, the neurohormonal system and the limbic system. This is the center containing the ‘urge to be, to become’.
Of our existing centers, the emotional center is the most underdeveloped. No where in our educational system is adequate attention paid to encouraging the development of this most important center. None of us are taught how to master our emotions so to use them effectively as a motivating force in our lives. Most of the time our feelings are unreliable and unstable. Eternal events outside of our control continually encourage the arisings of automatic likes and dislikes, encourage a myriad of unnecessarily negative emotions such as jealousy, anger, disgust, pity and fear. Our overall mood changes can be likened to the rising and falling tides caused by the gravitational pull of the moon. Our changeable and spontaneous emotions are no more under our control than surface waves formed by the stormy winds. For all our efforts, the emotional center might as well be part of the instinctive center.
Every time the emotional center experiences an event, it likes or dislikes, it approves or disapproves, it calls it desirable or undesirable. Although we claim our emotions as our own and do our utmost to justify them, in reality, our emotions are only automatic reactions, changing from one polar opposite to another at a moments notice. Because we observe that we have feelings, we feel that we are; failing to recognize that automatic responses mean nothing. Most of our day is wasted with these useless emotions.
The true purpose of the feelings is to allow us to perceive things as they actually are, to be objective and not lost in conceptualization. Our feelings, when we rid ourselves of self-centered negativity, allow us to attune with the Divine Compassion flowing out from the Heart of God. Our feelings provide the motivating power for inner growth and transformation needed for the intellectual center to function.
The emotional center also displays positive and negative polarity, though its operation is more complex than the other centers. This complexity arises because our emotions continuously and rapidly fluctuate between the positive and negative poles. In seconds, positive emotions of joy, affection, empathy change into negative emotions of sadness, rejection and anger. Sometimes we seem to have both positive and negative emotions at the same moment of time. This mechanicalness demonstrates that ordinary man has no true, eternal feelings. Instead of simply responding, the developing man or woman must learn to avoid expression of these ‘negative emotions’ by learning to observe his or her behavior in response to environmental cues.