"In Search of the Miraculous"
Chapters 7-12
- Page 116
You can only know consciousness in yourself.
- Page 117
In order to really observe oneself, one must first of all remember oneself. In self-remembering, one's attention is directed toward the object observed and toward oneself.
- Page 122
The first fundamental law of the universe is the "Law of Three". Every phenomenon is the result of simultaneous action of the three forces -- the positive, the negative, and the neutralizing.
- Page 122
The next fundamental law of the universe is the "Law of Seven" or the "Law of Octaves". In order to understand the meaning of this law it is necessary to regard the universe as consisting of vibrations.
- Page 123
In ancient knowledge, the understanding of vibrations is based on the idea of the discontinuity of vibrations. All vibrations in nature do not develop uniformly, but instead develop with periodic accelerations and retardations. The force of the original impulse in vibrations does not act uniformly, but becomes alternately stronger and weaker. The periods of uniform action of the momentum are not equal, and the moments of retardation of the vibrations are not symmetrical. One period is shorter; the other is longer.
- Page 124
In order to determine these moments of retardation, the lines of development of vibrations are divided into periods corresponding to the doubling or the halving of the number of vibrations in a given space of time. It has been found that in this interval of vibrations, between a given number of vibrations and a number twice as large, there are two places where a retardation in the increase of vibrations takes place. One is near the beginning, and the other occurs almost at the end.
- Page 124
These laws were incorporated into a formula. In this formula, the period in which vibrations are doubled was divided into eight unequal steps corresponding to the rate of increase in the vibrations. The eighth step repeats the first step with double the number of vibrations. This period of doubling the vibrations is called an octave, i.e., composed of eight. The separate "steps" of an octave show acceleration and retardation at different moments of the development of the period.
- Page 125
The seven-tone scale is the formula of a cosmic law which was applied to music. In the ascending octave, we will designate the low end "do" and the point at which the vibrations have doubled also as "do". The period between one "do" and the next is divided into seven unequal parts because the frequency of vibrations does not increase uniformly.
- Page 125
The ratio of the pitch of the notes is as follows:
- do: 1
- re: 9/8
- mi: 10/8, or 5/4
- fa: 4/3
- sol: 12/8, or 3/2
- la: 5/3
- si: 15/8
- do: 16/8, or 2
- Page 125
The difference in acceleration is as follows:
- do -> re: (9/8 : 1) = 9/8
- re -> mi: (10/8 : 9/8) = 10/9
- mi -> fa: (4/3 : 10/8) = 16/15 [increase retarded]
- fa -> so: (3/2 : 4/3) = 9/8
- so -> la: (5/3 : 3/2) = 10/9
- la -> si: (15/8 : 5/3) = 9/8
- si -> do: (16/8 : 15/8) = 16/15 [increase again retarded]
- Page 126
The differences in the pitch of the notes are called intervals. There are three kinds of intervals in an octave: 9/8, 10/9, and 16/15. The smallest interval 16/15 occurs in the places of retardation in the octave. In music, one semitone is found between the following pairs: do-re, re-mi, fa-sol, sol-la, and la-si. A semitone does not exist in the mi-fa and si-do intervals.
- Page 127
The law of octaves explains why there are no straight lines in nature. At the moment of the retardation of vibration a deviation from the original direction takes place. Let us assume that a movement begins at "do". It will continue in a straight line through "mi". But a deviation occurs between "mi" and "fa" which causes a change from the original direction. From "fa" through "si", the movement continues in the new direction. Between "si" and "do" the second interval occurs which causes a new change in direction. The next octave gives an even more marked deviation so that the line of octaves may eventually complete a circle.
- Page 129
The "intervals" cause the line of the development of force to constantly change. Think how many turns the line of development of forces must have taken to come from the Gospel preaching of love to the Inquisition.
- Page 129
The law of octaves explains many phenomena in our lives:
- The principle of the deviation of forces
- The fact that everything in the world is moving and changing
- In development rises and falls are constantly taking place
- Page 130
Nothing can develop by staying on one level. Ascent or descent is the inevitable cosmic condition of any action.
- Page 131
The consistant development of an octave is based on what looks like an accident. If octaves are going parallel to a given octave and intersect its "interval", they can "fill up" the "interval". This "additional shock" must correspond in force and character to the interval it is filling. In the ascending octave, the second interval si-do is much larger than the first interval mi-fa. In the descending octave, the greatest "interval" occurs at the very beginning of the octave. A descending octave develops much more easily than an ascending octave.
- Page 132
The lines of development of forces which are straightened out by accident give man the illusion of straight lines. If by accident man's activity gives a result, he assumes that he can attain his aim.
- Page 134
Man can learn to recognize the moments of the "intervals" in all lines of his activity and can learn to create the necessary "additional shocks". Descending cosmic octaves are creative, and ascending cosmic octaves are evolutionary.
- Page 134
Octaves are divided into fundamental and subordinate. The fundamental octave is like the trunk of a tree. The seven fundamental notes and the two "intervals", the bearers of new directions, give altogether nine links in a chain, three groups of three links each. The human body has nine basic measurements expressed by the numbers of a definite measure.
- Page 135
Within vibrations, other vibrations proceed. Each note of any octave can be regarded as an octave on another plane.
- Page 138
Organic life takes in those influences coming from the planetary sphere which otherwise would not be able to reach the earth. All great events in the life of the human masses are caused by planetary influences.
- Page 141
There are four states of consciousness possible for man: (1) sleep, (2) clear consciousness, (3) self-remembering, and (4) objective state of consciousness (enlightenment).
- Page 145
Self-observation brings man to the realization of the necessity for self-change.
- Page 150
A man identifies with a small problem which confronts him, and he completely forgets the great aims with which he began his work. He fails to see the forest for the trees.
- Page 151
Identifying is the chief obstacle to self-remembering. On the most prevalent occasions a man is identified with what others think about him, how they treat him, what attitude they show towards him.
- Page 153
By considering externally a man does that which makes life easy for other people and for himself. Right external considering is very important in the work.
- Page 155
Buffers are created slowly and gradually so that man will not feel the "shocks". They are created artificially through "education" and through the influence of the surrounding life. "Buffers" make a man's life easier and help him not to feel his conscience. Consciousness is a state in which a man knows all at once. Conscience is a state in which a man feels all at once.
- Page 156
Conscience is a general and a permanent phenomenon. It is possible only in the absense of "buffers". Morality consists of buffers. There is no general morality. Morality is merely self-suggestion.
- Page 160
The consciousness of one's nothingness alone can conquer the fear of subordination to the will of another.
- Page 161
Fate is the result of planetary influences which correspond to a man's type. Fate only relates to a man's essence. A man consists of two parts: essence and personality. Essence in a man is what is his own. Personality in man is what has come from the outside, what he has learned or reflects. Essence is the truth in man.
- Page 164
It happens fairly often that essence dies in a man while his personality and his body are still alive.
- Page 165
Collective accident and collective fate are governed by general laws. General laws are by no means all obligatory for man.
- Page 165
Nothing shows up people so much as their attitude towards money. They are ready to waste as much as you like on their own personal fantasies but they have no valuation whatever of another person's labor.
- Page 167
All suns of the Milky Way influence our sun. The sun influences the planets. All planets influence our earth, and the earth influences the moon. These influences are transmitted by means of radiations passing through starry and interplanetary space. Let us study these radiations in an abridged form of the "ray of creation" -- Absolute --> Sun --> Earth --> Moon. This forms three octaves of radiation.
- Page 169
The "shock" in the octave Sun --> Earth is organic life on Earth.
- Page 178
Man never on any account wants to pay for anything; and above all he does not want to pay for what is most important to him. Everything must be paid for, and it must be paid for in proportion to what is received.
- Page 179
It is necessary to learn how to save the greater part of the energy we possess for useful work instead of wasting to unproductively. Energy is spent chiefly on unnecessary and unpleasant emotions, on the expectation of unpleasant things, on bad moods, on unnecessary haste, and so on.
- Page 180
"Learn to separate the fine from the course" -- this principle from the "Emerald Tablets of Hermes Trismegistus" refers to the work of the human factory.
- Page 181
The human organism receives three kinds of food: (1) ordinary food we eat, (2) the air we breathe, and (3) our impressions.
- Page 182
The process of transforming the substances which enter the organism into finer ones is governed by the law of octaves.
- Page 189
An old alchemical law states that "in order to make gold, it is first of all necessary to have a certain quantity of real gold".
- Page 199
Man lives in life under the law of accident and under two kinds of influences again governed by accident. The first kind are influences created in life itself -- race, nation, climate, family, and so on. The second kind are influences created outside this life -- religious systems, philosophical doctrines, works of art, and so on.
- Page 201
The moment when the man who is looking for the way meets a man who knows the way is called the first threshold or the first step. From this first threshold the stairway begins. The way begins when the stairway ends.
- Page 203
The pupil cannot go on without the teacher, and the teacher cannot go on without the pupil or pupils. No one can ascend onto a higher step until he places another man in his own place. What a man has received he must immediately give back; only then can he receive more. Otherwise from him will be taken even what he has already been given.
- Page 205
Knowledge begins with the teaching of the cosmoses -- "as above, so below". There are actually seven cosmoses:
- Protocosmos -- the first cosmos (the Absolute, "1")
- Ayocosmos or Megalocosmos -- the holy cosmos (all worlds, "3")
- Macrocosmos -- the large cosmos (Milky Way, "6")
- Deuterocosmos -- the second cosmos (the Sun, the solar system, "12")
- Mesocosmos -- the middle cosmos (all planets, "24")
- Tritocosmos -- the third cosmos (man, "48")
- Microcosmos -- the small cosmos (atom)
- Page 206
Each cosmos is a living being which lives, breathes, thinks, feels, is born, and dies. All cosmoses results from the action of the same forces and the same laws. Laws are the same everywhere. The interrelation of the cosmoses is permanent and always the same. One cosmos is related to another as zero is to infinity.
- Page 207
The manifestation of the laws of one cosmos in another cosmos constitutes what we call a miracle. There can be no other kind of miracle. A miracle is not a breaking of laws, nor is it a phenomenon outside laws.
- Page 209
We have a perfectly clear example of the relation of zero to infinity. In geometry this is the relationship between a body of dimension "n" to a body of dimension "n+1" -- a point to a line, a line to a plane, a plane to a solid, and so on.
- Page 210
The plane is only a projection of a body, the line is a projection of a plane, and the point is a projection of a line. When we say a thing "exists", we mean by this existence in time. Time, as we feel it, is the fourth dimension. Eternity is the fifth dimension. The sixth dimension is the line of the actualization of all possibilities. As every cosmos has a real physical existence, every cosmos therefore is three-dimensional for itself or in itself.
- Page 213
Time is different in different cosmoses. Time is breath. Twenty-four hours constitute the "breath of organic life".
- Page 214
It was later decided to take man as the Microcosmos, and to take Tritocosmos as organic life on earth.
- Page 217
"To awake", "to die", and "to be born". These are three successive stages. If a man dies without have awakened he cannot be born. Being "born" relates to the beginning of a new growth of essence. In order to do this, man must "die" -- he must free himself from the attachments to everything in his life. Then one must "die" all at once and forever.
- Page 220
Kundalini is not anything desirable or useful for man's development. It is the power of imagination, the power of fantasy, which takes the place of a real function. Kundalini is a force put into men in order to keep them in their present state.
- Page 222
Therefore a man who wants to awake must look for othe people who also want to awake and work together with them. The work must be organized and it must have a leader. All the members of a group must keep secret everything they hear or learn in the group. The next demand which is made of the members of the group is that they must tell the teacher of the group the whole truth. Then they must remember why they came into the group. Finally, the members in the group must actually work.
- Page 226
"Doing" is magic and "doing" can be only of one kind. There cannot be two kinds of "doing". Therefore in true work, the producing of infatuation in people is not allowed. "Black" magic is based on infatuation and on playing upon human weaknesses.
- Page 228
In properly organized groups no faith is required; what is required is simply a little trust. In the beginning, only very simple tasks are given. More difficult tasks, called "barriers", can cause a man to stop between two barriers and be unable to move forward or backward. This is the worst thing that can happen to a man. Having stopped before some barrier, people turn against the work, against the teacher, and against other members in the group.
- Page 229
Every effort a man makes increases the demands made upon him. Nothing a man did yesterday excuses him today.
- Page 230
Lack of considering in relation to the teacher and the other in the group is the first barrier. The second barrier is very often the conquest of fear. Positive efforts and even sacrifices in the work do not justify or excuse mistakes which may follow. Things that could be forgiven in a man who has made no effort will not be forgiven in another who has alreay made great sacrifices. A man's efforts and sacrifices are written down on one side of a book, and his mistakes and misdeeds on the other side. What is written down on the positive side can never atone for what is written down on the negative side. What is recorded on the negative side can only be wiped out by the truth.
- Page 231
A group is a big thing. In a group all are responsible for one another. A mistake on the part of one is considered as a mistake on the part of all. Members of a group are responsible not only for the mistakes of others, but also for their failures. A group must work as one machine.
- Page 233
In the human machine there are two small accumulators near each center filled with the particular substance necessary for the work of the given center. In addition, a large accumulator feeds the small ones. The large accumulator contains an enormous amount of energy. Connected with the large accumulator a man is literally able to perform miracles. Small accumulators suffice for the ordinary everyday work of life. But for the inner growth, we must learn how to draw energy straight form the large accumulator. This is possible only with the help of the emotional center.
- Page 236
Yawning is the pumping of energy into the small accumulators. Laughter is the pumping out and the discarding of superfluous energy collected in the accumulators. Laughter is an antidote for energy which we are unable to use and which might become a poison.
- Page 239
A man has a role for every kind of circumstance in which he ordinarily finds himself in life -- one or two for his family, one or two for the office, and yet another one for friends in a restaurant. Outside his repertoire, a man feels very uncomfortable. To begin to work and to continue to work is very difficult because life runs too smoothly.
- Page 243
There is only one thing incompatible with work and that is "professional occultism", in other words, professional charlatanism. A man must be disappointed in ordinary ways and he must be able to accept the idea that there may be something -- somewhere. These ideas could either unite people or separate them.
- Page 246
There are twelve fundamental types of people. According to legend, the twelve apostles represented the twelve types.
- Page 250
Ouspensky says to Gurdjieff "what does it matter how we shall call things. You never answers the questions I ask".
- Page 251
Planetary influences can change. They are not permanent. There is a definite time, a definite term, for everything. Possibilities for everything exist only for a definite time.
- Page 255
Everything people do is connected with sex. Cosmic forces have created this state of affairs and cosmic forces control this state of affairs. "New birth" depends as much upon sex energy as do physical birth and the propagation of species.
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Chapter 7
Chapter 7