voluntary attention

In order to understand the idea

of "voluntary attention" and the

hidden influence of higher forces,

we must become aware of the 

existence of what is called the

"stream of unconsciousness" an

involuntary series of automatically

arising moods and mentations evoked

by association, producing a continuous

dream state which we neither enter nor

leave, and in which we have continuous

existence with at least part of our 

unconscious attention.

It is into this stream of unconsciousness

that our conscious attention involuntarily

falls when our body is at rest, sometimes

more so than at other times. We refer to

this as our "dream world".

This unending series of events 

grouped together under the name

"dreams" occurs continuously both

day and night through our so-called

"sleeping" and "waking" cycles, and

that it has a definite and profound effect

on us which can be mental, emotional, 

organic, or all three.  The Higher Bodies

Astral and Causal can be deeply affected

by this continuous stream of imaginary

activities.

Under ordinary conditions the sequence

of events ... our subjective activities within

them, our participation in them, our sensory

perceptions of them including tactile, emotional,

and psychological and their effects on us ranging

from inconsequential to profound ... are totally

involuntary, that is to say, over the form and

content of our dreams we have no voluntary

influence, and over the personal and

impersonal phenomena of dreams

we have no voluntary authority.

Under ordinary circumstances we can

neither initiate action in the dream nor

alter the action and sequence of events,

once begun. The momentum of dreams

can be said to have greater Will than any

mental or emotional Will we can bring to

bear on them, although from time to time

our ordinary Will from the involuntary 

motor center can furnish the automatic

organic Will necessary to awaken from

a nightmare or during an organic

emergency.

In order to separate our attention 

from the dream, the crux of the secret

depends upon the knowledge that our

dreams are continuous even in the so-

called "waking state", that they have

continuous and sometimes profound

mental, emotional, physical effects

upon us, and that under ordinary

circumstances we cannot exercise

either voluntary Will or voluntary 

attention over our dreams. It can

be easily seen that dreams are the

hidden source of our mental, 

emotional, and physical states,

even to the extent that they 

sometimes can cause 

organic illness, 

imaginary memories,

and sentimentality.

To exercise voluntary Will over

dreams is the beginning of formation

of the Astral Body, it is a definite sign

of its formation.  To the Higher Body

belongs "voluntary attention" and the

ability to isolate, view, as well as

participate in the events of the

dream world.

To produce this same form of 

attention with the ordinary attention

of the body, we would have to develop 

this ability completely artificially by 

way of "diffused" vision and 

attention by way of which all 

objects are equally present to 

our attention. Eventually, with 

continuous practice, this artificial 

form of a higher level of attention 

would produce effects contributing 

to the formation of the Higher Body.

And something was written about this

in Beelzebub's Tales to His 

Grandson in Chapter 18:

"My first meeting with the three-
centered being who later became my
'essence-friend,' and thanks to whom
I saw these experiments with the
'Omnipresent Okidanokh,' . . . "

Beelzebub's observations of
the experiments performed by
Gornahoor Harharkh helped him
to arrive at very important
"increases" of his understanding
of the omnipresent and everywhere-
penetrating Okidanokh by the
experimental, that is, "artificial"
blending and dissociating of all the
three fundamental parts of Okidanokh
from every kind of surplanetary and
intraplanetary process, including
the process of self-perfecting of
the individual three-brained being
man, and to study the specific
properties of each part separately
in its manifestations of a man, of,
namely, YOU, THE READER, 
which is a process of 
self-study:

What is "artificial" stated above
and also by Gurdjieff in Views and
is why Gurdjieff wrote in the
subjective "chosen language," a
sort of "artificial language" of
Beelzebub's in his tales to his
grandson:

"In most of us this common language
I speak about is irretrievably lost.
The only thing left us is to establish
a connection in a roundabout,
'fraudulent' way. And these
indirect, 'FRAUDULENT,' ARTIFICIAL
connections must be very subjective,
since they must depend on a man's
character and the form his inner
makeup has taken.

"So now we must establish this
subjectivity, and find a program
of work, in order to make connections
with the other parts. Establishing this
subjectivity is also complicated; it
cannot be arrived at once, not
until a man is thoroughly analyzed
and pulled to pieces, not until one
has probed 'as far as his 
grandmother.'

"Therefore on the one hand we shall
go on establishing this subjectivity
for each man separately, and on the
other we shall begin general work
possible for everyone--practical
exercises. There are certain
subjective methods and there
are general methods. So we
shall try to find subjective
methods and at the same time
try to apply general methods."
--Gurdjieff
--p221-227, views

Gurdjieff
formulated it according to the style of
writing of his that we see in Beelzebub's