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Jul 26, 2021
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Reciprocal maintenance is the most essential core of Gurdjieff’s teachings. I think of it as the exchange of effort in the service of meaning.
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The law of Reciprocal maintenance is a model of life that speaks to the role that humankind plays in the universe. It was developed by George Gurdjieff who also called it “Trogoautoegocrat” which means "The law of eating and being eaten" (Trogo = eat; auto = self; ego = I; crat = rule). According to my interpretation of this law the fundamental purpose for the existence of humans is to serve as essential reconciling agents between value and matter.
Reciprocal maintenance is an expression of The law of three whereby the Affirmative force and the Receptive force are reconciled. Implicit within this is the notion of the reciprocity which is an exchange of mutual convenience. In my own interpretation of this law this exchange is representative of The 3 potentials of life whereby Capability acts as a Reconciling force between Meaningful Potential and Fulfilled Realisation.
Participation in life implies a reciprocal contract that both calls for us to be of service, as well as providing us with the resources and opportunity and meaning and motivation and world to play a meaningful part in something bigger and more important than “just you”.
Purpose: to work against entropy
“this protects the Sun Absolute from the destructive results of time: i.e. change, decay and death” - ie. entropy
Sacrifice is the conscious working of the principal of Reciprocal maintenance
J G Bennett
functions so that the universe is nourished by an exchange of substances
- To eat and be eaten
Vehicle: human beings and {meaningful practice}
“The fundamental purpose for the existence of men and the other three-brained beings of the universe is to serve as apparatuses through which cosmic substances are transmuted for the purpose of reciprocal maintenance.”
I think there is something beautiful in this idea. That service and sacrifice; both to our wholes as well as our capacity; is what we gift and in turn receive grace and life and the many gifts we are born into.
Negentropy
Hypothesis: What distinguishes entropy from negentropy is that entropy belongs to processes that don’t involve a conscious agent’s engagement in the present moment with eternity - ie. mechanical-habitual processes. Negentropy (an increase of order) occurs where it does
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