Breathing and intelligence
Breathing, as a physical action, is supposed to feed intelligence, that is, the intelligence of wisdom, not the intelligence of ordinary mind, of facts, and so on. Not only does air provide the connection to sensation; if this particular octave develops, air also feeds the energy which, in the names of God, is called Wisdom, or Knowing.
The pathway to this action is clear, but it cannot be forced, because unless the development of the connection to sensation is sufficient, the pathway cannot be seen, felt, or realized, except on a theoretical basis. Hence the initial emphasis on the development of sensation.
What is called the second multiplication in the Gurdjieff enneagram lays out the specific connection and pathway to this action in the body. That multiplication is symbolized by the following number: 428571. The esoteric meaning of the number on this level of work is as follows:
4 represents power. In this case, it is the action of the diaphragm and the awareness of air as it is breathed in within the Hara, or center of being. This location is known as the “high watchpost” or “guardian” in ancient Persian, and ascribed as a name of the feminine aspect of God, Shakti, in Hinduism. Thus the location is both an area for something to be received, and the gateway at which an action must be observed.
As the air enters the body in this location, it passes into the sex center, indicated by the number 2 in the Gurdjieff system, but it only undertakes this action if the level of vibration and connection has the necessary element of consciousness.
This element of consciousness is not a willed element from the ordinary mind; it arises from a level of vibration which can only develop through sufficient inner work, and which is self initiatory.
Passing from sex center, this energy from the air moves to the third eye, the location 8, where it engenders the connection to true mind, as opposed to ordinary mind.
These are esoteric matters which cannot be delineated with rational thinking, because the type of mind that is activated here is not what we ordinarily think of as mind. It is a different form of intelligence. Readers should be cautioned not to jump to any conclusions or organize this into an explicable form, because it will not be so. We speak here of an energetic movement, not a principle understood according to our usual ideas about things. All true intelligence is ultimately contained in such movements, and not in the words we use to describe them.
The essential importance of this pathway is that it feeds Being (5.) Under the influence of this particular kind of intelligence, Being comes into contact with an understanding of what real purification (7) consists of, and this in turn can affect the material reality of Being (1.) Because this is an inner, or esoteric action, only this action can actually affect the material circumstances under which inner work takes place. The pathway forms an attractive or magnetic force, and creates the conditions under which the mechanical, or unconscious, elements of inner development can be encountered and completed. At this point, the multiplication becomes a mirror of itself, and a conscious self (5) can then undertake purification, affect its material circumstances, invoke power, master desire, and attain wisdom. This is represented by the number 571428.
By the time this particular mirroring has taken place, a fundamental change has taken place in the initiate, because all of the inner work from this point on is initiated at the note sol or above.