G.I.Gurdjieff

On an individual basis man serves as an apparatus for development pursuant to the Law of Octaves. Nature made us for a certain purpose—to evolve. We eat not just for ourselves but for an outside purpose, because food cannot evolve by itself without our help. We eat bread, and also take in air and impressions, each of which then develops according to the Law of Octaves. Bread enters as do, which contains the possibility and momentum to rise to re and mi without help. But it cannot become fa unless it is mixed with air, which brings energy needed to pass a difficult interval. After that, it needs no help until it reaches si, but it then can go no further by itself. Our aim is to help this octave to completion. Si is the highest point in ordinary animal life, and is the matter from which a new body can be formed.

Our evolution is the evolution of our consciousness. And “consciousness” cannot evolve unconsciously. It is the evolution of our will, and “will” cannot evolve unwillingly. It is the evolution of our power of doing, and “doing” cannot be the result of things that are simply “done.”

THERE ARE, SO TO SPEAK, two lines along which our development proceeds: the line of knowledge and the line of being.