The Law Of Sevens.

Recently I read an article on cosmic laws https://gurdjieff.in/cosmic-laws and it blew my mind I discovered a new concept The Laws Of Seven.

According to this law, The Laws Of The Seven govern the days of the week, the phases of the moon, the harmonies of sound, light, heat, electricity, magnetism, and atomic structure. It governs the life of individuals and nations, and it dominates the activities of the commercial world.

What is the Law of Seven?

A description of the law of seven is given in Ouspensky’s book In Search of the Miraculous. He quotes Gurdjieff explaining that the law was known to ancient science, and was expressed in a formula that was handed down from teacher to pupil, from one school to another:

“In very remote times one of these schools found that it was possible to apply this formula to music. In this way was obtained the seven-tone musical scale which was known in the most distant antiquity, then forgotten, and then discovered or ‘found’ again. The seven-tone scale is the formula of a cosmic law which was worked out by ancient schools and applied to music”

Ouspensky goes on to define the law in similar terms to the Pythagorean octave but with slightly different ratios between the notes. The structure of the octave is the same, with seven notes and two semi-tone intervals (mi=fa and si=do):

do — re — mi = fa — sol — la — si = do

Ouspensky explains that these semi-tone intervals are where a ‘retardation of vibration’ takes place, causing a deviation from the original direction, so that instead of going in a straight line, any process veers off:

Why we can’t do things

Gurdjieff said that the law of seven “shows why straight lines never occur in our activities; why, having begun to do one thing, we constantly do something entirely different, often the opposite of the first, although we do not notice this and continue to think that we are doing the same thing that we began to do.

“All this and many other things can be explained only with the help of the law of octaves together with an understanding of the role and significance of the ‘hiccups’ which cause the line of development of force continually to change, to go in a broken line, to become its ‘own opposite’, and so on.

“Such a course of things, that is, a change of direction, we can observe in everything. After a certain period of energetic activity or strong emotion or a right understanding, a reaction comes: work becomes tedious and tiring; moments of fatigue and indifference enter into feeling; instead of right thinking, a search for compromises begins and results in suppression or evasion of difficult problems.

“But the line continues to develop — though now not in the same direction as at the beginning. Work becomes mechanical; feeling becomes weaker and descends to the level of the common events of the day; thought becomes dogmatic, literal”.

Why civilizations and religions fail.

“The same thing happens in all spheres of human activity. In literature, science, art, philosophy, religion; in individual and, above all, in social and political life.

We can observe how the line of the development of forces deviates from its original direction and goes, after a certain time, in a diametrically opposite direction, still preserving its former name.

A study of history from this point of view shows the most astonishing facts which mechanical humanity is far from desiring to notice.”

“Perhaps the most interesting examples of such change of direction in the line of development of forces can be found in the history of religion, particularly in the history of Christianity if it is studied dispassionately.

Think how many turns the line of development of forces must have taken to come from the Gospel preaching of love to the Inquisition, or to go from the ascetics of the early centuries studying esoteric Christianity to the scholastics who calculated how many angels could be placed on the point of a needle.”

How can we work with the Law of Seven?

Ouspensky goes on to explain that it is possible for processes to develop in a constant direction if the two intervals in the octave are filled with an additional shock of the right force and character. This can happen by accident, but can also be arranged intentionally:

“[A man] can learn to recognize the moments of the ‘intervals’ in all lines of his activity and learn to create the ‘additional shocks,’ in other words, learn to apply to his activities the method which cosmic forces make use of in creating ‘additional shocks’ at the moments necessary.”

“The possibility of artificial, that is, specially created, ‘additional shocks’ gives a practical meaning to the study of the law of octaves and makes this study obligatory and necessary if a man desires to step out of the role of passive spectator of that which is happening to him and around him.”

The law of seven and its study is at the center of Gurdjieff’s method. Through it, we can develop an understanding of the cosmos and ourselves, and learn to begin the Work of self-development.

Few examples of the Law of Seven:

7 Colors — Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Purple, Violet, (and White which unites them into one whole)

7 Planets — Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Saturn.

7 Personality Types — Solar, Lunar, Martial, Mercurial, Jovial, Venusian, Saturnine.

7 Days of Week — Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday.

7 Chakras — Muladhara, Svadhisthana, Manipura, Anahata, Vishuddha, Ajna, Sahasrara.

7 Stages of Alchemy — Calcination, Dissolution, Separation, Conjunction, Fermentation, Distillation, and Coagulation.

7 Days of Creation

7 Seals in the Book of Revelations.

7 Used 77 times in the Old Testament.

7 Sacraments in Christianity — Baptism, Penance, Marriage, Communion, Confirmation, Holy Orders, and Last Rites.

7 Gifts of the Holy Ghost are Wisdom, Understanding, Counsel, Fortitude, Knowledge, Piety, and the Fear of the Lord.

7 Virtues in Christianity — Faith, Hope, Charity, Fortitude, Justice, Prudence, Temperance.

7 Vices in Christianity -Pride, Envy, Anger, Sloth/dejection, Avarice, Gluttony, Lust.

7 Times Christ Spoke on the Cross -

1. “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”

2. “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”

3. To his mother: “Woman, this is your son.” Then to the disciple: “This is your mother.”

4. “Eli, Eli, lema sabackthani?” which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

5. “I thirst.”

6. “It is finished.”, “It is accomplished.”

7. “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.”

7 Sorrows of Mary -

The sorrow of the prophecy of Simeon.

The sorrow of the flight into Egypt.

The sorrow of the loss of the Child Jesus in the temple.

The sorrow of meeting Jesus on the Way of the Cross.

The sorrow of the Crucifixion.

The sorrow of the taking down of the Body of Jesus from the Cross.

The sorrow of the burial of Jesus.

7 Joys of Mary -

Mary joyfully conceived Jesus by the Holy Ghost.

Mary joyfully carried Jesus when she visited Elizabeth.

Mary joyfully brought Jesus into the world.

Mary joyfully exhibited Jesus to the adoration of the Magi.

Mary joyfully found Jesus in the Temple.

Mary joyfully beheld Jesus after his resurrection.

Mary was joyfully received by Jesus into heaven, and crowned Queen of Heaven and Earth.

7 Wonders of the World — Pyramids of Egypt, Hanging Gardens of Babylon, Statue of Zeus at Olympia, Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, Mausoleum of King Mausolus at Halicarnassus, Colossus of Rhodes, Pharos lighthouse at Alexandria.

7 Seven Seas — Arctic, Antarctic, North and South Pacific, North, and South Atlantic, and the Indian Ocean

7 Parts to the embryo — Amnion, Chorionic Villi, Spinal Cord, Heart, Brain, Umbilical Cord, and Yolk Sac.

7 Glands — Pituitary, Pineal, Thyroid, Thymus, Pancreas, Sex, Adrenals.

7 Divisions to the brain — Cerebrum, Cerebellum, Pons Varolii, Medulla Oblongata, Corpus Callosum, Spinal Cord, and Meninges.

7 Parts to the inner ear — Vestibule, Auditory Canal, Tympanic Membrane, Ossicles, Semi-circular Canal, Cochlea, Membranous Labyrinth.

7 Parts to the retina — Cornea, Aqueous Humor, Lens, Vitreous Humor, Retina, Sclera, Iris.

7 Cavaties to the heart — Right and Left Ventrical, Right and Left Atrium, Tricuspid Valve, Mitral Valve, Septum.

7 layers of the skin — Stratum Corneum, Stratum Lucidum, Stratum Granulosum, Prickle Cell Layer, Basal Cell Layer, Corium, and Hair Follicle.

7 Bodily functions — Respiration, Circulation, Assimilation, Excretion, Reproduction, Sensation, Reaction.

7 levels in the Periodic Table of the Elements.