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7. Human Psychopathology & the Causes of War “... it was possible sometimes to observe very strange manifestations of theirs, that is, from time to time they did something which was never done by three-brained beings on other planets, namely, they would suddenly, without rhyme or reason, begin destroying one another’s existence. ... from this horrible process of theirs their numbers rapidly diminished ... .” (Beelzebub's Tales, 1950, p. 91) |
In a sense, Beelzebub and Gurdjieff are characters from a
higher dimension
and time, and provide shocking portrayals of human insanity–from a
broader
cosmic perspective. Gurdjieff’s mastery of language empowers
Beelzebub
to depict most succinctly and vividly the strangeness of the psyche of
those three-brained beings on planet Earth. At various times,
Beelzebub
discusses the “process of reciprocal destruction,” or war, and
attempts
to explain its causes, to a somewhat disbelieving Hassein, who simply
cannot
image such terrors:
“I understood at the end of my investigations ... that this abnormality there proceeds exclusively owing only to one remarkable aspect of the chief particularity of their strange psyche, namely that particularity which has become completely crystallized and is an inseparable part of their common presences and which serves as a factor for the periodic arising in them of what is called the ‘urgent need to destroy everything outside of themselves.’ ... (and) when they begin to carry out on some part of the surface of their planet the process of reciprocal destruction, then, at the same time, without any deliberate aim, and even without what is called ‘organic need,’ they also destroy everything which chances to come within the sphere of the perception of their organ of sight. During the periods of this ‘phenomenal psychopathic apogee,’ they destroy also all the objects in the given place ....” (pp. 312-3)Beelzebub depicts human madness so succinctly. His use of language is quite remarkable and his punctuation sometimes quite strange: for instance, Ashiata Shiemash refers to the “degree of that psychosis of theirs called the destruction-of-everything-existing- within-the-sphere -of-the-perception-of-visibility,” which usually accompanies their process of reciprocal destruction. (p. 519) On another occasion, while Beelzebub was observing the Earth from the planet Mars, he noticed something which led to his sixth visit. He recounts: “... I saw this time that, without moving from their place, they did with a certain thing something which resulted in a tiny puff of smoke, whereupon a being from the opposite side immediately fell down either totally destroyed or with one or other part of his planetary body mutilated or destroyed forever. ...Of course, Beelzebub is describing the invention of fire-arms, but he takes them out of a familiar context and shows the horror of it all–that someone over here does a little something, and a man over there falls down dead, or mutilated. Imagine Beelzebub's comments on the masses of nuclear and space weapons currently available, all capable of being controlled with joysticks and moniters. |
| Beelzebub wanted to understand how those beings’ “essence is gradually brought to such a phenomenal being-ableness to destroy, for no rhyme or reason, the existence of other beings similar to themselves.” (p. 526) He concludes that this “terrifying periodic being-need” to destroy each others’ existence had been acquired over centuries, due to the abnormal conditions of existence established there by past generations, as well as due to cowardice and fear: “... he begins from a natural feeling of self-preservation to strive with all his Being to destroy as many as possible of the existences of the beings of the enemy side in order to have the greater chance of saving his own existence.” (p. 527) On hearing of the horrors of war from his grandfather, Hassein is shocked that this “need for periodically occupying themselves with the destruction of each other’s existence” ran “like a crimson thread through all your tales.” (pp. 1055-6) Hassein wonders how the power possessing beings would not be able to recognize and eradicate such obviously gross evils? Beelzebub again elaborates upon the causes of war in a unique style by characterizing the psychological development of those “power possessing beings,” who might assume such a role. In explaining to his grandson, why humans are so unable to eliminate the horrible processes of warfare, Beelzebub draws this portrait of the power possessing beings–your favorites, the slugs, who are also “men in quotation marks:” “... I must tell you that thanks to the abnormally established conditions of being-existence there, the ‘waking psyche’ as it is expressed there, of each one of them gradually becomes from the very beginning of responsible existence such that he can ‘think sincerely’ and see things in the true light exclusively only if his stomach is so full of the first being-food that it is impossible for what are called ‘wandering nerves’ in it to move, or, as they themselves say, he is ‘stuffed quite full;’ and besides, all his needs already inherent in him which are unbecoming to three-brained beings and which had become the dominant factors for the whole of his presence, are fully satisfied, of course, only for that given moment. ... |
| Beelzebub’s tales are rich in such surrealistic humour and portray most vividly the horror of the situation and the strangeness of the human psyche as evident on that ill-fated planet Earth. Serious undesirable qualities have become crystallized in humans, who are no longer capable of sincere and active mentation but are controlled by the reflexes of the stomach, material interests, sexual itching, self calming and self-love. Gurdjieff, as Beelzebub, provides a dismal view of the psychopathology of humankind and the causes of war. |