The Language of the Higher Centers
The Forgotten Organs of Consciousness
In the framework of the Work-teachings, man is described as a being with seven centers (or brains). Five of these are lower centers: Thinking, moving, instinctive, emotional, and sexual. They govern the functions of ordinary life. They are undeveloped, disorganized, and easily hijacked by habit and identification.
But above these, the Work speaks of two higher centers: the Higher Emotional and the Higher Intellectual. Unlike the lower centers, these are fully formed and perfect. They already exist within us, but in our ordinary state, we cannot access them. Our task is not to build them, but to clear the channels so that their influence may reach us.
The question naturally arises: How do these higher centers communicate? What is their language?
Why the Higher Centers Cannot Speak in Concepts
The lower Thinking Center speaks in concepts, definitions, and arguments. The lower Emotional Center speaks in likes, dislikes, moods, and passions. These are the "languages" we normally use. But the higher centers do not communicate this way.
The Higher Emotional and Higher Intellectual centers communicate in direct impressions that reach the whole of our being; body, heart, and mind simultaneously. They are not linear or sequential but multi-dimensional. Where ordinary thought unfolds word by word, the higher centers deliver entire structures of meaning all at once, like a hologram.
To make such impressions available, the ancients developed symbolic languages: forms that could bypass the narrow channel of linear thought and speak directly to the higher parts of us.
The Language of the Higher Emotional Center
The Higher Emotional Center is the organ of direct feeling; not sentimentality, but a clear, objective perception of value, beauty, and meaning. Its language is symbol, myth, image, music, and sacred story.
A symbol condenses many layers of meaning into a single form: a circle that is simultaneously the sun, eternity, unity, and the soul.
A myth or parable bypasses argument. A story like the Prodigal Son stirs something in the heart that no philosophical essay could.
Music and art are vibrations that directly touch feeling, awakening in us impressions of harmony, longing, or reverence.
These are not subjective fantasies. When rightly constructed, they are objective symbols; law-conformable forms that transmit exact influences.
This is why the Work places such importance on the Movements and music, and the great mythic writings that are part of this tradition. These are not simply entertainment, but avenues of communication with the Higher Emotional Center.
The Language of the Higher Intellectual Center
The Higher Intellectual Center is the organ of direct knowledge; not speculation, but immediate perception of law. Its language is geometry, proportion, mathematics, and archetypal principles.
Numbers are not merely quantities but qualitative essences: the One as unity, the Two as polarity, the Three as reconciliation.
Geometry encodes relationships that exist both in space and being: the triangle as the Law of Three, the octave as the Law of Seven.
Physics and Cosmology, rightly understood, are revelations of world-maintenance; the lawful structure of vibration, energy, and form.
Where the Higher Emotional Center is stirred by parable, the Higher Intellectual Center is awakened by a geometric figure, a harmonic ratio, or a law of process.
This is why the Work speaks of the Enneagram, not as a personality typology, but as a diagram of universal process. it is a language of the Higher Intellectual Center, compressing into one form the interweaving of the Laws of Three and Seven.
Story and Symbol Together
In the ancient initiatic schools, these two languages were always used together. One addressed the heart through story, image, and music; the other addressed the mind through geometry, mathematics, and natural law.
In Egypt, myths of Isis and Osiris carried the story-form of the heart, while pyramids and temple proportions carried the mathematical-symbolic form for the mind.
In Greece, Homer's epics stirred the emotions, while Pythagoras' numbers and Plato's geometry trained the intellect.
In Christianity, Christ spoke in parables (language of the Higher Emotional Center), while the architecture of cathedrals and the harmony of Gregorian chants conveyed mathematical nd vibrational law (language of the Higher Intellectual Center).
The two higher centers are meant to work together. One without the other is incomplete. When both are touched simultaneously, a bridge is formed, and man begins to taste the state of self-individuality, a stable and unified "I."
This is why the Work sometimes uses strange language, invented words, and absurd stories. These are not defects but deliberate devices. At times, it is useful to frustrate the lower thinking center, to prevent it from "consuming" the story so easily. These stories are meant to bypass the lower mind and awaken the Higher Emotional Center, while the structural patterns (repetitions, numerical sequences, hidden correspondences) speak to the Higher Intellectual Center.
The student who persists with patience, sincerity, and presence begins to digest the Work in a new way; not as information, but as food for Being.
The Dangers of Misreading
There are two common ways symbolic language is lost:
Literalism. Myths are taken as historical fact, and symbols as mere decoration. The result is dogma.
Fantasy. Symbols are treated as subjective projections, and stories as entertainment. The result is trivialization.
Both miss the point. Symbolic language must be approached with reverent attention and symbolic thinking with the ability to see multiple levels of meaning without collapsing them into one.
Practical Work with the Language of the Higher Centers
How can we begin to engage this language ourselves:
Contemplation of Symbols Take a simple geometric figure ( a circle, triangle, the enneagram). Sit with it. Draw it slowly. Sense your body, quiet your thoughts, and allow the form to act upon you. Ask: What does this reveal about law, about Being, about myself?
Listening to Objective Music Spend time with music designed in accordance with law. Examples can be found on this site, in the videos on the planets and their forces, and in Gregorian chants and Pythagorian monochord scales. Listen not as background, but as a direct impression. Notice how it affects your state.
Read Stories Symbolically Read a myth, parable, or fairytale. Instead of asking, "What does this mean?" ask, "What does this stir in me? What images, feelings, or laws does it awaken?"
Writing in Symbolic Language Experiment with writing in symbolic or mythic form. Describe an inner struggle as if it were a story of gods and demons. This trains the capacity for symbolic language.
The Bridge to Real Individuality
The Fifth Striving (in the series preceding this post), to assist the most rapid perfecting of other beings, depends on this symbolic language. How can we assist others if we cannot speak to their higher centers? Direct instruction to the lower mind is not enough; true help must awaken the deeper organs of consciousness.
This is why the ancients used myth, ritual, geometry, and music as teaching tools. They are not crutches; they are languages of the higher centers.
Symbols and stories are not accessories to the Work's teachings; they are its lifeblood. They are the languages of the Higher Centers, the means by which knowledge of Being and knowledge of law are communicated across centuries.
To work with them consciously is to rediscover the mode of thought that built the pyramids, composed symphonies, and preserved wisdom through the dark ages. It is to move beyond literalism and fantasy into symbolic thinking, where a story becomes a mirror, and a symbol becomes a doorway.
In this way, the Higher Centers begin to speak. And when they do, something entirely new opens in man: a consciousness that is not borrowed, not mechanical, but real.
Pierce!
September 4th, 2025