On G. I. Gurdjieff's Beelzebub's Tales to His Grandson

 

Section II

Firstly, these sacred being-impulses no longer arise or function “independently,” as they do in other three-brained beings in the Universe, but instead they always depend upon some consequence of the organ Kundabuffer–“as for instance, ... “vanity,” “self-love,” “pride,” “self-conceit,” and so forth. ... “swagger,” “imagination,” “bragging,” “arrogance,” and so on.”  (p. 356)
 

“... occasionally, one of those favourites of yours perfects himself firstly to the degree of sensing with all his spiritualized parts that every being or, as is said, ‘every breathing creature’ is equally near and dear to our COMMON FATHER ....” (p. 878) 

The third sacred being impulse of Hope or “essence-hope” has also atrophied into a “newly-formed-abnormal hope.”  Your favorites “always hope in something.”  The hope of the strange three-brained beings has become ‘a hope for tomorrow,’ is fed by self-love and imagination and leads only to “possibilities ... being paralysed in them.”  Beelzebub explains:

“… this maleficent strange “hope” newly formed in them … has taken the place of the being-impulse of Sacred Hope …

 “In consequence of this newly-formed-abnormal hope of theirs, they always hope in something; and thereby all those possibilities are constantly being paralyzed in them, which arise in them either intentionally from without or accidentally by themselves, which possibilities could perhaps still destroy in their presences their hereditary predispositions to the crystallizations of the consequences of the properties of the organ Kundabuffer.  (pp. 358-9)

 “Thanks to this abnormal hope of theirs a very singular and most strange disease, with a property of evolving, arose and exists among them there even until now—a disease called there ‘tomorrow.’

 “This strange disease ‘tomorrow’ brought with it terrifying consequences … by putting off from ‘tomorrow’ till ‘tomorrow,’ those unfortunate beings there … are also deprived of the possibility of ever attaining anything real.

 “This strange and for your favorites maleficent disease ‘tomorrow’ has already become a hindrance for the beings of contemporary times, not only because they have been totally deprived of all possibilities of removing from their presences the crystallized consequences of the properties of the organ Kundabuffer, but it had also become a hindrance to most of them in honestly discharging at least those being-obligations of theirs ….

 “Owing  to the said maleficent disease ‘tomorrow’ most of those unfortunate beings there who accidentally or owing to a conscious influence from without, become aware through their Reason in them of their complete nullity and begin to sense it with all their separate spiritualized parts, and who also chance to learn which and in what way, being-efforts must be made in order to become such as it is proper for three-brained beings to be, also, by putting off from ‘tomorrow’ till ‘tomorrow,’ almost all arrive at the point that on one sorrowful day for themselves, there arise in them and begin to be manifest those forerunners of old age called ‘feebleness’ and ‘infirmity’ ….

 “… in many of them, toward the end of their planetary existence, most of the consequences of the properties of that same organ which had become crystallized in their common presences begin to atrophy of their own accord and some of them even entirely disappear, in consequence of which these beings begin to see and sense reality a little better.

 “In such cases a strong desire appears in the common presences of such favorites as yours, to work upon themselves, to work as they say, for the ‘salvation-of-their-soul.’

 “But needless to say, nothing can result from such desires of theirs just because it is already too late for them, the time given them for this purpose by Great Nature having already passed; and although they see and feel the necessity of actualizing the required being-efforts, yet for the fulfillment of such desires of theirs, they have now only ineffectual yearnings and the ‘lawful-infirmities-of-old-age.’  (pp. 363-4)

 The strange men-beings hope for change, a better life and even for the ‘salvation-of-their-soul.’  Unfortunately, the strange disease of tomorrow leads them to always postpone their efforts, and tomorrow merges into another tomorrow, and it never arrives.  Towards the end of their lives, when their crystallized egoism has waned and the beings begin to experience more deeply ‘their inner nullity,’ they are stricken with the ‘feebleness’ and ‘infirmities’ of old age and it is too late. 

 At various points within the Tales, Beelzebub provides brief depictions of the atrophied forms of the sacred being-impulses and their true forms.  Generally, he depicts your favorites, the slugs, as “always believing, always loving, and always hoping in everything newly perceived.” (p. 567)

 Higher emotions or the sacred being-impulses are experienced only when a man-being becomes spiritualized in his parts and attains a certain “totality-of-self-awareness.”

In 1899, Dr. Richard Bucke had similar glimpses of higher or expanded consciousness, which lead to his investigation of mystical states and the writing of the classic Cosmic Consciousness (1972).   Bucke recalls his experiences while speaking in the third person:

 All at once, without warning of any kind, he found himself wrapped around as it were by a flame coloured cloud. For an instant he thought of fire ...  the next he knew that the light was within himself. Directly afterwards came upon him a sense of exultation, of immense joyousness accompanied or immediately followed by an intellectual illumination quite impossible to describe. Into his brain streamed one momentary lighting-flash of the Brahmic Splendor which has ever since lightened his life; upon his heart fell one drop of Brahmic Bliss, leaving thenceforward for always an after taste of heaven. Among other things he did not come to believe, he saw and knew that the Cosmos is not dead matter but a living Presence, that the soul of man is immortal, that the universe is so built and ordered that without any preadventure all things work together for the good of each and all, that the foundation principle of the world is what we call love ...  He claims that he learned more within the few seconds during which the illumination lasted than in previous months or even years of study, and that he learned much that no study could ever have taught. (pp. 8-9)

 Bucke experienced an illumination of the mind and an awakening of the heart, gaining deep and varied insights into the nature of things.   He realized that the Cosmos is a living Presence, that Love is an element of the universe and that the soul principle is immortal.  Bucke was filled with feelings of wonder and awe—beautific emotions or sacred being-impulses.

Moments of self-consciousness enable one to penetrate the hidden dimensions of being and self.  Experiences involve the transformation of the sense of time, illumination of the patterns of one’s life, realization of one’s interconnectedness with nature and the larger cosmos, and experiences of objective emotions–including the sacred being-impulses of faith, hope and love.  The experience of self-consciousness involves a quantum shift in the experience of I–awakening to one nature as a particle of the living and sacred whole. 

 Higher emotions do not come about through the refinement or intensification of typical personal emotions.  Real emotions require the dissolution of the false consciousness system based upon self-love and self-feeling, attachments and identifications, “swagger” and “cunning.”  Such personal emotions are based on the complex of nerve nodes within the sympathetic system, particularly in the “pit of the stomach” and not within the original center of emotions, related by Beelzebub to a independent brain in the area of “the breast.”  All esoteric mystical paths teach the importance of transcending personal elements in the emotional life and the awakening of the Heart.  Unfortunately for your favorites, the sacred being-impulses have atrophied among humankind on planet Earth, contributing further to the degradation of the human psyche.