“The revolutionary psychology of the new era affirms that the physical organic machine that is mistakenly ascribed as human is actually that of intellectual animal creatures who subsist in a three-centered or three-brained manner.”
–Samael Aun Weor, Fundamentals of Gnostic Education
The Law of Three
The Law of Three is one of the fundamental laws of the universe, reflected in the religious trifectas of the world’s religions. The Law of Three creates, both in positive and negative ways. This law is reflected in the psycho-physiological structures known as the three centers of human consciousness: Intellect, Body and Emotions. G.I. Gurdjieff called the harmonious state of balance of these three brains the All-Brains-Balanced-Being-Perception, and he strove to teach this to his students through exercises of ‘Conscious Labor.’
The Three Brains
The three brains are three different systems of functioning that govern our entire world of perception, sensation, and action. In our state of unconsciousness the three brains rarely work harmoniously.
Intellectual Brain
The Intellectual brain located in the cranium, is in charge of elaborating and communicating, thought, association of ideas, and rationalizing. This is the slowest moving center, as all the impulses must pass through the processes of comparison, memory, concepts, etc.
The Emotional Brain
The emotional brain is located in the solar plexus and the heart. Negative emotions such as worry, fear, resentment, envy etc. clog up the solar plexus area. The heart can also be strongly affected by negative emotions, but it is also capable of experiencing positive and elevated emotions. The emotional brain is faster than the intellectual brain.
The Body Brain (Motor-Instinctive-Sexual)
The body brain includes the instinctive, moving, and sexual functions. Everything from deliberate movement, to “muscle memory”, to unconscious digestive and respiratory function, and all the activities of sex and reproduction are governed by this brain. The body brain is the fastest of all the brains, sex, instinct and movement can function without any input from the intellect or emotions.
Harmony of the Three Brains
Our psycho-physiology does not function in harmony. The intellect has different goals, desires, plans, ways of interacting with the world, than the emotions, and the body.
Each has their own intelligence, their own function, their own point of view. When we work to harmonize these brains we access the wisdom of consciousness.
“The basis of a fundamental education lies in the intelligent cultivation of the three brains. In the ancient mysteries of Babylon, Greece, India, Persia, Egypt, etc., students received direct, integral information for their three brains by means of precepts, dances, music, etc., intelligently combined.
The theaters of ancient times were part of education. Drama, comedy, and tragedy in combination with special mimicry, music, and oral teaching, served to place information within the three brains of each individual.”
-Samael Aun Weor, Fundamentals of Gnostic Education