ZERO POINT

"The SLUGS"

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

Section I

7. Similitudes of the Whole

“‘Good ... if we are “images of God” ... that means ... means ... “God” is like us and has an appearance also like us ... and that means, our “God” has the same moustache, beard, nose, as we have, and he dresses also as we do. ... almost with a comb sticking out of his left vest pocket ... Beelzebub explaining humankinds peculiar notions.

According to Beelzebub, the three-brained beings on planet Earth are potentially “similitudes of the Whole”–microcosmoses embodying the macrocosm. As such, they have the possibility of not only serving local cosmic purposes, feeding the earth and moon as part of organic life, but also of attaining various levels of Objective Reason and individuality–and even of “blending again with the infinite.” (p. 945) As a microcosm of the macrocosm, a human being can potentially coat higher being-bodies for the life of the soul, instinctually sense cosmic truths and phenomena, and maintain his or her existence within the subtle realms of being after death, achieving different levels of immortality. Unfortunately, humans came to perceive reality topsy-turvy, to be conditioned by pleasure and self-love, and to squander their sacred sexual substances. They no longer remember or realize their deeper cosmic purposes, duties and possibilities.

Gurdjieff describes two principles by which a human can live and die, giving them the unlikely, invented names of Foolasnitamnian and Itoklanos. In the eccentric and seemingly bizarre language of Beelzebub, the first principle Foolasnitamnian is described as proper to the existence of all three-brained beings arising on any other planet of the Universe. According to this principle, three-brained beings “ have all possibilities ... for the perfecting in them of both higher-being-bodies.” (p.775) In addition to serving Cosmic purposes, an individual can coat or crystalize higher being-bodies which allow for the continued evolution of the soul.
However, because of a series of cosmic catastrophes, these strange three brained beings formed in ways quite unbecoming for such beings:

“... they began to exist already excessively abnormally, that is to say, quite unbecomingly for three-brained beings, and when in consequence of this they had on the one hand ceased to emanate the vibrations required by Nature for the maintenance of the separated fragments of their planet, and, on the other hand, had begun, owing to the chief peculiarity of their strange psyche, to destroy beings of ... their planet ... then Nature Herself was compelled gradually to actualize the presences of these three-brained beings, according to the second principle, namely the principle “Itoklanoz,” that is, to actualize them in the same way in which She actualizes one-brained and two-brained beings ... . (p. 131)

“... there are transmuted through them the cosmic substances required not for purposes of a common-cosmic character, but only for that solar system or even only for that planet alone, in which and upon which these one-brained and two-brained beings arise. (p. 130)

Beelzebub’s Tales describes how human beings became so abnormal in their functioning. They no longer have normal sensations of cosmic phenomena; they are oblivious of the need to fulfill their sacred being-obligations and duties; their true consciousness passes into in the subconscious, and a false consciousness system becomes crystallized in their presences. The terror of the situation is, as Gurdjieff says, that such people “die like dog,” according to the Itoklanoz principle, and serve Nature’s purposes by becoming nothing more than fertilizer. Beelzebub explains that the majority of contemporary beings “remain with presences consisting of the planetary body alone, and thus are, for themselves, destroyed forever.”

According to Gurdjieff, being a real human is only a possibility–which is generally unrealized. Living in sleep and ignorance, people serve only the purposes of Mother Nature and become fertilizer–that is, food for the earth and moon. However, self knowledge and the struggle to awaken can enable a three-brained being to serve higher and sacred purposes, even to attain real “I” and become “immortal within the limits of the solar system.” All of these possibilities depend on the chemistry and alchemy of the soul. Although Common Mother Nature provides for the possibility for attaining the soul, this is not guaranteed. It depends upon the individual’s conscious efforts to awaken and to fulfill their being obligations and duties. Through awakening and knowing Self, three-brained beings can serve larger cosmic purposes. Gurdjieff provides a remarkable teaching for the awakening of humanity–but a dismal view of human psychopathology.
Beelzebub explains to his grandson Hassein that the phrase “We are the images of God,” is “one of the only ‘cosmic truths’” expressed by the three brained beings on planet earth, although they have no understanding of what it truly means. Then, in his humourous and insightful manner, Beelzebub elaborates upon how those “unfortunates,” humankind on earth, have taken this deep truth:

“... those ‘learned’ beings ... assembled in the city of Babylon ... began to invent various maleficent fictions concerning their ‘God,’ which were afterward by chance widely spread everywhere on that ill-fated planet. ... it was said ... that that famous ‘God’ of theirs had, as it were, the appearance of a very old man, just with a heavy beard.” (pp.776-7)

In order to understand how a three-brained being could embody the whole of the “Megalocosmos,” we will have to consider the creation processes elaborated by Beelzebub, the fundamental principles of world-creation and world-maintenance, and assorted esoteric teachings about the lost science and knowledge of the soul.

    Beelzebub refers to three-brained beings as potentially “a particle of all that exists.” (p. 163) On another occasion, Beelzebub talks of his efforts to fulfill his being obligations and duties in order to be worthy of “becoming a particle though an independent one, of everything existing in the Great Universe.” (p. 183) Elsewhere, he describes humans, “as beings having in their presences every possibility for becoming particles of a part of Divinity ... .” (p. 453)
    A soul is not given to a human being but must be acquired. Unfortunately, the cosmic catastrophes which occurred to the earth and the miscalculations regarding the organ Kundabuffer, led to the emergence of a strange breed on that planet. According to Beelzebub, they are willing to believe any old tale and have innumerable other unnatural and unbecoming traits and characteristics formed in their presences. Humans are lulled into sleep, convinced they are eagles and magicians, and that they will never be turned to fertilizer.   Humans miss the mark and do not establish their own inner triangle or sevenfold nature–thus failing to complete the inner cosmic octave in order to blend again with the Most Holy Sun Absolute.
    Human beings are potentially similitudes of the whole–particles of the Great Universe–with deep hidden roots within vaster dimensions of being and non-being. Behind essence is real I, behind real I, is God, or at least the Most Holy Sun Absolute. Beelzebub’s tales to his grandson, Hassein, provide strange and highly provocative insights into the nature of the peculiar three-brained beings breeding on the planet Earth.

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