| In this lecture, we will discover that Kundabuffer is a clue to the placement of the Soul in the "Food Octave", which will be expanded here as the "Human Octave", which will show the Limbic System. Moving up the octave from 'la' which was associated with the Endocrine System in Lecture 1 is the association of 'ti' with the Limbic System which is also intertwined with the Sexual System expressed by Gurdjieff as Kundabuffer.
"Kundabuffer" may appear to be just another made up word for "Kundalini", like "Kesdjanian body" for "Astral body" (Ch 16 "The Relative Understanding of Time"), but in this case, according to Beelzebub, it is the name of a physical organ that was placed in our ancestors for three years by the Archangels. Although we no longer have this organ, its memory remained, leaving a pre-disposition to it. "Kundabuffer" is introduced at the very beginning of "Beelzebub's Tales to His Grandson "Ch 9 "The Cause of the Genesis of the Moon" and Ch10 "Why 'Men' are not Men". It it was needed to "send the sacred vibrations of ‘Asokin’ to its detached fragments" (namely the Moon) that were broken off by a large comet, for their maintenance; to keep their orbits stable. Much later in "Beelzebub's Tales to His Grandson" Ch 21 "The First Visit of Beelzebub to India", Gurdjieff tells us how word "Kundabuffer" was changed to "Kundalini". However, considering that it is introduced at the beginning and mentioned over and over throughout the book and is the highlight at the end of the last chapter "Beelzebub's Tales to His Grandson" Ch 47 "The Inevitable Result of Impartial Mentation", it clearly has greater importance than a mere substitution for kundalini or tantric practices. The practices of kundalini are ridiculed in:
| "Beelzebub's Tales to His Grandson" Ch 21 "The First Visit of Beelzebub to India" |
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"Saint Buddha among other things explained to the beings of Pearl-land how and to what part of the body of
their ancestors the said famous organ Kundabuffer had been attached. He told them that the Archangel Looisos had by a special means made this organ grow in their ancestors at the extremity of that brain which in them, just as in you, Nature has placed along their back in what is called the ’spinal column.’ Saint Buddha, as I also made clear, then also said that though the properties of this organ had been entirely destroyed in their ancestors, yet the material formation (residue) of this organ had remained at the lower extremities of this brain; and this material formation, being transmitted from generation to generation, had also reached them. ‘This material formation’ (residue), he said, ‘now has no significance whatever in you, and it can be completely destroyed in the course of time, if your being-existence proceeds as is becoming to three-centered beings.’
"It was just when they began wiseacring and inventing various forms of that famous ‘suffering’ of theirs that they also played their usual ‘tricks’ with this word. "Namely, first of all, as the root of the second half of this word chanced to coincide with a word in the language of that time which meant ‘Reflection’, and as they had also invented a means for destroying this material formation rapidly and not merely in the course of time as Saint Buddha had told them, they also wiseacred about this word according to the following rumination of their bobtailed Reason:
"Of course, when this organ is in action, it ought to have in its name also the root of the word to ‘reflect’; now, since we are destroying even its material basis, the name must end with a word whose root means ‘former,’ and because ‘former’ in their current language was then pronounced ‘lina’, they changed the second half of this word, and instead of ‘reflection,’ they stuck in the mentioned ‘lina,’ so that instead of the word ‘Kundabuffer’, they obtained the word ‘Kundalina’.
"Thus it was that a half of the word Kundabuffer survived and, being transmitted from generation to generation,
finally reached your contemporary favorites also, accompanied, of course, by a thousand and one different
explanations. ("Thousand and One Arabian Nights", a collection of Persian folk tales compiled in Arabic during the Islamic Golden Age) "Even the contemporary ‘learned beings’ also have a name made up of very abstruse Latin roots for that part
of the spinal marrow (sacrum, coccyx). "
"The whole of what is called ‘Indian-philosophy’ now existing there is based also on this famous Kundalina, and about the word itself there exist thousands of various occult, secret, and revealed ‘sciences’ which explain nothing.
And it became a secret because several centuries ago, this ‘explanation’ suddenly for no reason whatever entered
the favorite mole of the famous ‘Scheherazade,’ which that incomparable Arabian fantasist chanced to have on the right side of her adorable navel. "And there this ‘learned-explanation’ remains perfectly
preserved down to the present day."
|
Beelzebub is claiming that originally the 'buffer' suffix of this word was close to Hindu word 'reflection', such as being a 'mere refection of the actual organ'. However, it does seem that the 'buffer' suffix is meant to make fun of those all the people who think they are perfecting themselves with their sexual positions and retention of ejaculations (the 'buffer' part) in the 'sacred' practice' of Kundalini. Part of this practice is to concentrate on the sexual energy passing up from the bottom of the spine, the first chakra which is connected to the the second chakra and then upwards to the crown of the head which is the seventh and final chakra. The final chakra is assumed to be the place of enlightenment. In this case the suffix 'reflection' also works.
Let look at the rest of the important references to Kundabuffer, in the order in which they are presented, to help in further deciphering this word's hidden meaning.
| "Beelzebub's Tales to His Grandson" Ch 9 The Cause of the Genesis of the Moon |
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"It was subsequently learned that in accordance with this said’
General-Cosmic-Harmony-of-Reciprocal-Maintenance-of-All-
Cosmic-Concentrations’ there had also to
function in this system a comet of what is called Vast orbit’
still existing and named the comet ‘Kondoor.’
"And just this very comet, although it was then already concentrated,
was actualizing its ‘full path’ for only the first time.
"As certain competent Sacred Individuals also later confidentially
explained to us, the line of the path of the said comet had
to cross the line on which the path of that planet Earth also lay;
but as a result of the erroneous calculations of a certain Sacred
Individual concerned with the matters of World-creation and
World-maintenance, the time of the passing of each of these
concentrations through the point of intersection of the lines of their
paths coincided, and owing to this error the planet Earth and the
comet ‘Kondoor’ collided, and collided so violently that from this
shock, as I have already told you, two large fragments (Moon and 'Anulios') were broken off from the planet Earth and flew into space.
"Therefore the Most High Commission decided to take certain
measures to avoid this eventuality.
"And they resolved that the best measure in the given case
would be that the fundamental piece, namely, the planet Earth,
should constantly send to its detached fragments (Moon and 'Anulios'), for their maintenance, the sacred vibrations ‘Asokin.’
"This sacred substance can be formed on planets only when
both fundamental cosmic laws operating in them, the sacred
‘Heptaparaparshinokh’ and the sacred ‘Triamazikamno,’ function,
as is called, ‘Ilnosoparno,’ that is to say, when the said sacred
cosmic laws in the given cosmic concentration are deflected independently
and also manifest on its surface independently—
of course independently only within certain limits.
| | "Beelzebub's Tales to His Grandson" Ch 10, "Why "Men" are not Men" |
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"You must know that by the time of this second descent of the
Most High Commission, there had already gradually been engendered
in them—as is proper to three-brained beings—what
is called ‘mechanical instinct.’
"The sacred members of this Most High Commission then reasoned
that if the said mechanical instinct in these biped three-brained
beings of that planet should develop towards the attainment
of Objective Reason—as usually occurs everywhere
among three-brained beings—then it might quite possibly happen
that they would prematurely comprehend the real cause of
their arising and existence and make a great deal of trouble; it
might happen that having understood the reason for their arising,
namely, that by their existence they should maintain the detached
fragments of their planet (Moon and 'Anulios'), and being convinced of this their
slavery to circumstances utterly foreign to them, they would be
unwilling to continue their existence and would on principle destroy
themselves.
"So, my boy, in view of this the Most High Commission then
decided among other things provisionally to implant into the
common presences of the three-brained beings there a special
organ with a property such that, - first, they should perceive reality
topsy-turvy and,
- secondly, that every repeated impression
from outside should crystallize in them data which would engender
factors for evoking in them sensations of ‘pleasure’ and
‘enjoyment.’
"And then, in fact, with the help of the Chief-Common-Universal-
Arch-Chemist-Physicist Angel Looisos, who was also among
the members of this Most High Commission, they caused to grow
in the three-brained beings there, in a special way, at the base of
their spinal column, at the root of their tail—which they also, at that time,
still had, and which part of their common presences furthermore still had its
normal exterior expressing the, so to say, ‘fullness-of-its-inner-significance’—
a ‘something’ which assisted the arising of the said
properties in them. "And this ‘something’ they then first called the ‘organ
Kundabuffer.’
"Having made this organ grow in the presences of the three brained
beings and having seen that it would work,the Most
High Commission consisting of Sacred Individuals headed by the
Archangel Sakaki, reassured and with good consciences, returned
to the Center, while there, on the planet Earth which has taken
your fancy, the action of this astonishing and exceedingly ingenious
invention began from the first day to develop, and developed,
as the wise Mullah Nassr Eddin would say—’like a Jericho trumpet-
in-crescendo.’
"Now, in order that you may have at least an approximate understanding
of the results of the properties of the organ devised
and actualized by the incomparable Angel Looisos—blessed be
his name to all eternity—it is indispensable that you should know
about the various manifestations of the three-brained beings of
that planet, not only during the period when this organ
Kundabuffer existed in their presences, but also during the later
periods when, although this astonishing organ and its properties
had been destroyed in them, nevertheless, owing to many
causes, the consequences of its properties had begun to be crystallized
in their presences.
"But this I will explain to you later.
"Meanwhile you must note that there was still a third descent
of that Most High Commission to that planet, three years later
according to objective time-calculations, but this time it was under
the direction of the Most-Great-Arch-Seraph Sevohtartra, the
Most Great Archangel Sakaki
having, in the meantime, become worthy to become the divine Individual he
now is, namely, one of the four Quarter-Maintainers of the whole Universe.
"And during just this third descent there, when it was made
clear by the thorough investigations of the sacred members of
this third Most High Commission that for the maintenance of the
existence of those said detached fragments there was no longer
any need to continue to actualize the deliberately taken anticipatory
measures, then among the other measures there was also
destroyed, with the help of the same Arch-Chemist-Physicist
Angel Looisos, in the presences of the three-brained beings there,
the said organ Kundabuffer with all its astonishing properties."
|
| "Beelzebub's Tales to His Grandson" Ch 43 "Beelzebub`s Opinion of War" or "Beelzebub`s Survey of the Process of the Periodic Reciprocal Destruction of Men" |
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"I learned that these
sacred substances Abrustdonis and Helkdonis are just
those substances by which the higher being-bodies of
three-brained beings, namely, the body Kesdjan and the
body of the Soul, are in general formed and perfected; and
when I learned that the separation of the sacred Askokin,
from the said sacred substances proceeds in general when
the beings on whatever planet it might be, transubstantiate
the sacred substances Abrustdonis and Helkdonis in
themselves for the forming and perfecting of their higher
bodies, by means of conscious labors and intentional sufferings."
"And so, my dear Hassein, when it appeared that the
instinctive need for conscious labor and intentional suffering
in order to be able to take in and transmute in
themselves the sacred substances Abrustdonis and Helkdonis
and thereby to liberate the sacred Askokin for the
maintenance of the Moon and Anulios had finally disappeared
from the psyche of your favorites, then Great Nature
Herself was constrained to adapt Herself to extract
this sacred substance by other means, one of which is precisely
that periodic terrifying process there of reciprocal
destruction."
The truly learned, though very
proud and self-loving Kurd Atarnakh ascends the cathedra
and speaks as follows:
‘"Now listen to what we must do to attain this aim.
The results of all my researches clearly prove that Nature
requires that at certain periods a certain number of deaths
should take place on the Earth; and at the same time I
have succeeded in making clear that for the needs of Nature
it is indifferent which deaths these are, whether
deaths of people themselves or deaths of the lives of other
forms of beings (two-brained beings).
‘"From this it follows that if the number of deaths required
by Nature is made up by the deaths of other forms
of lives of the Earth , then obviously the need for the number
of deaths of men themselves will thus be of itself correspondingly
reduced.
"‘And it will be quite possible to attain to this if all the
members of our society continue to work with the same
intensity, only not with the aim of realizing our former
program, but of reviving upon the Earth on a larger scale
than before the ancient custom among men of offering
sacrifices to their gods and saints by destroying the lives
of other forms.’
"“So it continued until that time when a certain famous
Assadulla Ibrahim Ogly, a Persian dervish who
obtained his arising and who was formed into a responsible
being on that same continent, turned all this in another
direction. This ingenious and energetic Persian dervish Assadulla
Ibrahim Ogly, here, there, and everywhere, very cleverly
persuaded these other dervishes of the ‘truth’ of his idea,
and these in their turn now everywhere persuaded the ordinary
beings of the continent Asia that the destruction of
the existence of beings of other forms is not only not
pleasing to God, but that the destroyers would even be
obliged to bear ‘in another world,’ in hell, a double punishment,
one for their own what are called ‘sins’ and one
for the ‘sins’ of the beings destroyed by them, and so on.
"And thanks to preachings of this kind about the ‘other
world’ by dervishes, considered great authorities on such
questions, the beings of Asia did indeed year by year diminish
their sacrificial offerings.
"In short, the result of all the activity of this ‘good’ Persian
dervish was precisely the latest great process of reciprocal
destruction, or, as your favorites call it, ‘The Great
World War.’"
"And so, my boy, although the hypothesis put forward
in the theory of that uncommon learned Kurd Atarnakh
very nearly, as I have already told you, approximated to
reality, yet nevertheless he failed to understand what was
most important, namely, that the vibrations required by
Nature, which have to be formed from the radiations issuing
from beings both during their existence as well as
from the process of their Rascooarno, have no significance
quantitatively, but only qualitatively. "
|
So, here we have the organ Kundabuffer, which according to Beelzebub is responsible for all the problems of mankind, being the result of miscalculations by the Archangels. The first mistake was the "result of the erroneous calculations of a certain Sacred
Individual concerned with the matters of World-creation and World-maintenance" who failed to predict that a huge comet would hit the Earth, causing two pieces of it to become the Moon and Anulios (obscure). Secondly, they place this organ Kundabuffer at the bottom of the spine of the humans to insure that they would continue to produce Askokin to keep the Moon in orbit. Since this organ appears to have the effect of pumping psychotropic drugs to their brain from the bottom of their spine, perhaps the Archangels could have just shown them how to find certain weeds and mushrooms instead! Since the humans in early times possessed merely "mechanical instinct", they did not have the means of perfecting themselves and thus it was merely their deaths that would feed the moon. The Archangels were afraid that humans would not want to be slaves to the moon and would kill themselves and thus cause the extinction of human beings. Three years later the Archangels decide that it is not necessary and dissolve it, probably because the vibrations of the humans were even further diminished. Still its predisposition remains and we are still in recovery. Praise to the Archangels! However, this absurd fable has a deeper meaning as we will soon find out.
It is important to note that the organ Kundabuffer is being placed at the base of the spine. This is the position of the first chakra, which strangely has no corresponding organ, except, of course, the humorous devil's tail. This is the important entry point of kundalini energy from the sex organs on its path to the crown of the head.
Let us look at the two actions of Kundabuffer: - first, they should perceive reality topsy-turvy and,
-
secondly, that every repeated impression from outside should crystallize in them data which would engender factors for evoking in them sensations of ‘pleasure’ and ‘enjoyment.’
Implanting this organ turned out to be a major mistake on the Archangel's part. They failed to realize, as the Kurd Atarnakh later proposed, that Asokin can be produced also by the death of lower forms of beings like goats and sheep. Thus a better solution could have been to encourage humans to perform more sacrifices of animals to the gods. And it seems that history validates this tradition. (Humorously, Beelzebub says that it was the abolishment of sacrifices that caused the Great World War, and, if Gurdjieff were alive today, he would have Mullah Nassr Eddin give some pithy saying like "beware the invention of 'the pill' because females, not men, will be the cause the Third World War.") However, this solution of adding the organ Kundabuffer was also doomed to failure, as pointed out by Beelzebub, because it is the quality of Asokin and not the quantity which is important. 'The pursuit of pleasure' merely increases the population, but decreases the quality that would normally be the result of 'conscious labor and internal suffering'. The increased population requires the process of 'reciprocal destruction', namely the destruction of more human lives to make up the deficit.
| "Beelzebub's Tales to His Grandson" Ch 47 "The Inevitable Result of Impartial Mentation" |
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Finding Himself in these cosmic actualizations incomprehensible
for all three-brained beings, Beelzebub in a
loud voice unusual for Him very penetratingly intoned
the following words:
"THOU ALL and the ALLNESS of my WHOLENESS!
"The sole means now for the saving of the beings of the
planet Earth would be to implant again into their presences
a new organ, an organ like Kundabuffer, but this
time of such properties that every one of these unfortunates
during the process of existence should constantly
sense and be cognizant of the inevitability of his own
death as well as of the death of everyone upon whom his
eyes or attention rests.
"Only such a sensation and such a cognizance can now
destroy the egoism completely crystallized in them that
has swallowed up the whole of their Essence and also that
tendency to hate others which flows from it—the tendency,
namely, which engenders all those mutual relationships
existing there, which serve as the chief cause of all
their abnormalities unbecoming to three-brained beings
and maleficent for them themselves and for the whole of
the Universe.” | |
When Beelzebub reaches the attainment of a "Soul" having the Reason of Podkoolad, which is two steps above the Archangels, he wishes that a new organ like Kundabuffer could be placed in humans. He is perhaps hoping that some 'Most-High-Sacred-Cosmic-Individual' like Ashiata Shiemash in "Beelzebub's Tales to His Grandson" Ch 26 could show the people how to resolve the "The Terror-of-the-Situation" that his new organ will evoke in them. Then, by practicing 'being-Partkdolg duty', they could fulfill their true destiny that was planned by Our Common-Father-Creator-Endlessness and that is to gain a Soul.
I hesitate to contradict Beelzebub, but I believe that even this great Podkoolad is being naive when he suggested implanting an organ that will remind them constantly of their death by itself would fix this planet. I believe that he has missed the root cause for the requirement of Asokin to feed the Moon. To be constantly reminded of one's death will certainly fulfill the purpose of feeding the Moon as "Fear" creates large quantities of Asokin. One only needs to be at a funeral (or put one's hand into the nook where the Golgotha stone of the Crucifixion is supposed to be) to feel the blast of dark energy which comes, not from the spirit of the deceased body, which might still be lingering; but rather from the fright of looking into death internalized inside oneself. It is not the actual death that creates the required energy, but "Fear". In any case this organ: Kundabuffer.2 cannot be more powerful than the feared word of "Cancer". What is it that people do when they hear this word about themselves or someone they know, they "Fear" and then then "Deny". (Denial is in the suffix "buffer" in Kundabuffer.) In fact in
elite illuminati cult circles, it is a known fact that fear increases the vivifying effect of the blood of an innocent victim, thus the Dracula legend. Fear causes the three "F"'s: Freeze. Flight. or Fight". Since those who choose to Freeze or Flee will not cause disruption, the Fight reflex people will look to place the blame on something or someone and cause another period of "reciprocal destruction" and the others will be persuaded to follow. Fear is also the method that "power possessing individuals" use to keep their subjects in line and thus the western world is merely "serfs with credit cards". This brings us back to the situation encountered in Beelzebub's first decent. | "Beelzebub's Tales to His Grandson" Ch 15 "The First Decent of Beelzebub Upon the Planet Earth" |
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"It is necessary to premise just here that at the period of my first descent in person onto this planet, the organ
Kundabuffer was no longer in the three-brained beings who interest you.
"And it was only in some of the three-brained beings
there that various consequences of the properties of that
for them maleficent organ had already begun to be crystallized.
"In the period to which this tale of mine refers, one of
the consequences of the properties of this organ which
had already become thoroughly crystallized in a number
of beings there was that consequence of the property
which, while the organ Kundabuffer itself was still
functioning in them, had enabled them very easily and
without any ‘remorse-of-conscience’ not to carry out
voluntarily any duties taken upon themselves or given
them by a superior. But every duty they fulfilled was fulfilled
only from the fear and apprehension of ‘threats’ and 'menaces' from outside. |
To understand the root cause of fear, one must look at the Stopinder 'la' which was uncovered in Food Octave (recently covered in Lecture 1). Upon reaching the point 'sol', there is a crisis inside the 'cerebrum' that manifests itself as 'fear of the unknown'. Since the next point 'la' is 'Hormoneary', there is a perceived contradiction between thought and emotion. This is, of course, the point where 'being-Partkdolg duty' is necessary for the establishment of the two higher bodies Kesdjan and Soul and the creation a higher vibrational state that can assist in the passing from the second discontinuity of 'ti' to the higher 'do' of completed being in the reason of Anklad.
However, if a person acts emotionally rather than according to reason or uses reason and ignores emotion, then, if this is perceived by the person's essence, then there is an important conflict which activates conscience. Because sometimes emotion should lead and other times thought should lead, inevitably, there should be caused 'remorse of conscience'. If this struggle is performed intentionally (intentional suffering), then the Kesdjanian body and the Soul are built. However, if this conflict of emotions and reason is perceived merely by the unconscious, then physiological damage results. If humans only have alcohol, drugs, religion, or psychoanalysis to help them, as discussed in "Beelzebub's Tales to His Grandson" Ch 38 "Religion" and Ch 33 "Beelzebub as Professional Hypnotist", then they will be doomed to suffer with no possibility of salvation. It is the conscious recognition of the conflict of reason and emotion and the impartial observation of oneself, that creates a conscience. This principle has been known throughout time in the commandment of reciprocity: "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."
| "Beelzebub's Tales to His Grandson" Ch 21
"The First Visit of Beelzebub to India" |
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"It turned out, indeed, that Saint Buddha Himself had,
in the course of His explanations to some of His closest
initiates initiated by Himself, very definitely expressed
Himself concerning the means of the possible destruction
in their nature of the mentioned consequences of the
properties of the organ Kundabuffer transmitted to them
by heredity.
"He then, among other things, told them very definitely
the following:
‘"One of the best means of rendering ineffective the predisposition
present in your nature of the crystallization of
the consequences of the properties of the organ Kundabuffer
is "intentional-suffering”; and the greatest intentional-suffering
can be obtained in your presences if you compel
yourselves to be able to endure the "displeasing-manifestations-
of-others-towards-yourselves.”’ |
|
Gurdjieff clearly alludes to the concept that Kundabuffer and sex are related by locating this organ in the tailbone close to the Sex Center. The Archangels are not alone in their blunder. The "Lord God" in Genesis planted the Tree of Knowledge ('to know' as 'to have sex') and, by forbidding it, enticed Adam and Eve to taste of its fruit. The Sumerian god Enki was persuaded to add sexual organs to his DNA-created "black apes" due to the great demand for slaves to mine for gold. Being "fruitful and multiplying" like "a Jericho trumpet-in-crescendo" was the inevitable outcome in both situations and the Flood did not succeed in wiping out this over-population. Clearly the addiction to sex quickly became the purpose of existence of the human race, like animals. Having the sexual act result in birthing babies, they have no incentive to work on their own growth in their short lifetimes, but get to dump all their unfulfilled dreams onto their progeny. Backing up a bit, there certainly is an analogy with the sperm and ovum creating new physical life. What a miracle that truly is! It makes sense that this point in the Food Octave at 'ti' would also be that point when a new life: a Soul is created. At point 'la', the Kesdjanian Body was more of the quality of a ghost form, having a limited life span, but at 'ti', the Soul, being the result of all energy Stopinders below, becomes a true entity unto itself. The Kesdjanian body, as with sound, is only possible to exist in the atmosphere. The Soul, as with photons of light, is also material, but can travel even in the vacuum of space. (Note that this is not the traditional scientific view which believes that light has no mass, but in reality light is not a wave, but having a mass appears as a wave because of its spin.)
Going back to the Kundabuffer mistake of the Archangels, Soul cannot be achieved from suppression of sperm as in the practice of kundalini because sperm always dies within, whereas the ovum can even be retained for nine months when fertilized and then formed into a living being. Sorry men, you lose figuratively and physically! Anyway, the Soul is neither male or female, but like an angel being like a hermaphrodite. Therefore at the plateau that is reached briefly after the point of sexual climax, Soul is Sex, but Sex is not Soul. Kundalini is no better than drugs in the sustaining the intense high of the Soul, but perhaps safer. | "Beelzebub's Tales to His Grandson" Ch 29
The Fruits of Former Civilizations and the Blossoms of the Contemporary |
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"As for the third of the enumerated chemical substances
they invented, namely, ‘cocaine’, that chemical substance
is not only also of great assistance to Nature in more
rapidly decomposing the planetary formations—in this
instance, their own planetary bodies—but this chemical
means has an effect on the psyche of the contemporary
beings of the planet Earth surprisingly similar to that
which the famous organ Kundabuffer had on the psyche
of their ancestors.
"When their ancestors had that invention in themselves
of the Great Angel Looisos, then, thanks to this organ,
they were always exactly in the same state as the contemporary
beings are when they introduce into themselves
this German invention called cocaine.
"I must warn you, my boy, that even if the action of
that German invention is similar to the action of the famous
organ Kundabuffer, it happened without any conscious
intention on the part of the contemporary beings
of the community Germany; they became colleagues of
the Great Angel Looisos only by chance.
"At the present time almost all the beings who become
genuine representatives of contemporary civilization very
meticulously and with the greatest delight and tenderness
introduce into themselves this ‘blessing’ of contemporary
civilization, of course, always to the glory, as our dear
Mullah Nassr Eddin says, of the ‘cloven-hoofed.’ |
This Kundabuffer 'gone wild' result may be the superficial result, but it is important to look at the first description of its two actions that can easily be overlooked: "to perceive reality topsy-turvy". Its deeper significance, is to say that the organ is acting in the exact opposite place, thus instead of acting at the first chakra and second chakra of the sex organs it should be acting at the last chakra of the at the crown of the head. This turns out to be of great importance in its relation to the Food Octave (recently covered in Lecture 1) and its true position and relationship of the Limbic System in the brain..
In assigning the five senses to the Food Octave, there are some startling parallels between the two apparently missing Senses which should be located at 'la' and 'ti" and some major misunderstandings in the concept of the "Work" in the Gurdjieff System. In particular, most people will agree that there are five senses and maybe if adding the "unscientific" sixth sense. Suppose we assign the five senses in order of spiritual power from lower to higher on the Food Octave: touch, taste, smell (these three are of the body), hearing (that is why we are bombarded by musak when we shop to distract our brains, but its spiritual goal should be to create in us artistic expression and communication), and seeing (thus the commercial ads that we see everywhere, but its spiritual goal should be to learn and grow in understanding of the world and studying the sages who have proceeded us). Many religions and philosophies have added to these five, a sixth sense indicated by the third eye, but amazingly modern science has now come up with a sixth sense and seventh sense. (This gives seven which aligns with the Law of Seven so important in the Gurdjieff system).
These two new senses that are now considered as important as the five that you have been using all along are the Vestibular System and the Proprioception System. See the diagram;
The Vestibular System adjusts balance and attention. This system accounts for the perception of our body in relation to gravity, movement and balance. It provides information related to
movement and head position. It is important for development of balance,
coordination, eye control, attention, being secure with movement and
some aspects of language development. It measures acceleration, g-force,
body movements, and head position. (e.g. knowing that you are moving
when you are in an elevator, knowing whether you are lying down or
sitting up, and being able to walk along a balance beam.)
The Proprioception System manifests the ability of spacial prediction, intuition, and awareness of self.
It is the sensing of the relative position of neighboring parts
of the body and strength of effort being employed in movement. It was
developed by the nervous system as a means to keep track of and control
the different parts of the body. (e.g. A normal person is able to move a
finger, knowing where and what the finger is doing. With little effort,
the normal person could just put his/her a finger to his/her nose easily. Without it, the brain
cannot feel what the finger is doing, and the process must be carried out
in more conscious and calculated steps, using vision to
compensate for the lost feedback on the movement of the finger. Thus, it is used in sobriety tests by the police.)
These two senses have an uncanny resemblance to the "Work". For those who have parroted the necessity attention, impartiality and awareness of self in the "Work", this will come as a shock. Your body has been in the "Work" all along! Just the act of taking off your glasses and getting out of bed after reading some "New Age" book or this essay by an a Gurdjieffian idiot like me has used both these two senses. In the humor of Gurdjieff, I will call it this the "VP" method of becoming a "Man/Woman" in capitals! (wink). You might bring up an objection to what is implied here, by saying that we do these actions automatically, whereas now in the "Work", we are observing them. But does this make sense? (Sorry another pun.) Our brains have taken all our life, especially when a baby, to learn how to do these tasks automatically by observing ourselves. Does it really make sense to try to re-learn these tasks? Personally, I hate observing myself brushing my teeth, as I imagine Ouspensky did. I am much happier remembering some song and let my brain handle it!
To be present to oneself in everyday life is the true "Work", but being aware of the mental day-dreaming of the mind or the trivial feelings that arise in the hormonal system has the problem of making oneself superior to others just because you are semi-awake. This encourages callousness or self-centered impartiality that is the direct opposite of the Christian concept of "agápe love". Even worse is to observe these two newly discovered senses, believing that they possess some magic formula to spiritual growth when they are merely functioning automatically on their own. You might as well observe some smell or taste or tactile sensation as in "Beelzebub's Tales to His Grandson" Ch 30
"Art". Perhaps the observation of one of the other minor senses: "sexual stimulation", that might be more fun. ("Sex magic!") (Sorry, Gurdjieff's humor is controlling me now or is it Aleister Crowley!)
Now, putting all those potential arguments behind us, one must be curious to see if these two newly identified senses when compared to the Food Octave, could give insight into the Kesdjanian Body and the Soul. See the comparison in the next figure:
Looking at position 'la', which was the breakthrough found in Lecture 1, showing that the missing Stopinder is the Endocrine system and thus was already associated with emotions, similar the Christian concept of "agápe love". This corresponded to sixth chakra which is associated with the third eye and the pineal gland (this is shaped as a pine cone in the brain).
This pineal gland is well-known as being a powerful spiritual force as are all the hormonal glands. It is even on the Pope's staff and in the courtyard of the Vatican where there is a huge pine cone statue! The satirical piece from the Onion best represents the probable position of the Catholic Church on the pineal gland: "In 1998, Pope John Paul II, in the sternest papal edict against the endocrine system in over 150 years, added the adrenal, pineal and pituitary to the Catholic Church's list of condemned glands, decrying them as sinful hormone producers which encourage and incite the human body to commit all manner of unholy acts." It does not take a leap of faith to see that this sixth sense is the root point of the Body Kesdjan.  At this time, it should be noted that Ouspensky shows in his diagram in "In Search of the Miraculous" the octaves of the Body Kesdjan (Astral Body) and the Soul as proceeding beyond the higher 'do' to continue their octaves. According to him, the Body Kesdjan begins its octave at 'do' on the entry of air between 'mi' and 'fa' in the Food Octave and the 'do' of the octave of Soul begins between 'sol' and 'la' which would be between 'mi' and 'fa' of the Body Kesdjan. Gurdjieff does begin the higher octave of the Body Kesdjan with notes 'do' at the entry of air and then 're', but does not elaborate further. Perhaps this concept of two continuing octaves was abandoned by him. In any case, since we know nothing about these continuing octaves, it is clearer to consider that the Food Octave, and thus my Sense Octave, contains within itself the complete circle of Being-existence which includes the Body Kesdjan and the Soul that reaches The Holy-sun Absolute (Heaven) at the higher 'do'. In Lecture 2 on the Enneagram, I showed that the cross palms of prospectus for the Gurdjieff Institute (1919) and joining point of the two upper lines of the enneagram is the location of Purgatory (the imperfect representation of God).
Now, if one follows the logic that the root of the Kesdjanian body is at 'la' then it would make sense to place the root of the Soul on the next Stopinder 'ti'. This is the place of the Sexual Center and this is where the previous section of this discussion about the organ Kundabuffer comes in. Such a concept of placing the Soul at the position of the Sex Center, may be difficult to accept at first because most religions do not believe that Heaven is the place of unfettered sexual activity. This is traditionally relegated to Hell where there must also be lots STD's intermixed for punishment. Given that the point of sexual climax is the highest feeling of ecstasy, it makes sense to say that Soul is Sex at 'ti' in the same way that the Kesdjanian Body is agápe love at 'la'. To make it clear: Sex is not Soul because kundalini is not the way to enlightenment.
Comparing again to the hormonal system at 'la', the Kesdjanian Body can be sensed within when is present. It is often pictured like the sacred heart of Jesus as it warms the chest and is at peace with the world. The parallel to the Soul at 'ti' is light as pictured in the halo. The real question is whether there a comparable system to the Endocrine System at 'la' that might be of higher quality than the Sexual System at 'ti'. The clue to this system is Kundabuffer because there is such a center called the Limbic System which, like Kundabuffer, has a part of it in the brain that is susceptible to addiction. This whole Limbic Center consists of "a set of brain structures located on both sides of the thalamus, immediately beneath the cerebrum. The limbic lobe is an arc-shaped region of cortex on the medial surface of each cerebral hemisphere.
 Some the Limbic System areas are: - The cortical areas: orbitofrontal cortex, (a region in the frontal lobe involved in the process of decision-making), entorhinal cortex (related with memory and associative components), hippocampus (which plays a central role in the consolidation of new memories).
- The subcortical areas: septal nuclei (considered a pleasure zone), amygdala (performing a primary role in the processing of memory, decision-making and emotional responses), nucleus accumbens (involved in reward, pleasure, and addiction).
- diencephalic structures: hypothalamus (in the shape of an almond; controls body temperature, hunger, important aspects of parenting and attachment behaviors, thirst, fatigue, sleep, and circadian rhythms).
To date, science does not have a clear idea of the areas that should be included in the Limbic System, but it is clear that it influences the endocrine system and the sexual system. It is the place of mystical and religious trance states and sexual fantasies. Since the Limbic System is the cause of 'out of body' and near-death experiences, hallucinations, seeing the future, belief in the after-life, and dangerous sexual perversion, it is important for the left and right hemispheres of the brain to be in control.
Thus, we can see that equating Kundabuffer merely with the Sexual Center is too narrow. Its definition is better defined as the union of the Sexual Center with the Limbic Center. The image of the 'hackneyed cab' can aid with the ability to control of these super-charged forces. The Carriage can be thought of as the Sexual System as passive force and the Horse as the Limbic System as active force and the Driver as your Mind, armed with what Gurdjieff calls "understanding" as the neutral force. A better term is the Greek word 'gnosis'. 'Gnosis' is 'experience knowledge' as opposed to theoretical knowledge or epistemology. (Gnosis was given a bad name because it was called heresy by the Christian Church and these followers became known as Gnostics, but is now more accepted due to the Nag Hammadi discovery in 1945.)
| "Meetings with Remarkable Men" (and Women) Ch 10, "Professor Skridlov" |
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Here is contained the best discussion about the Soul that was promised in this Second Series to be a chapter titled: "The Divine Body of Man, and Its Needs and Possible Manifestations According To Law" in his Third Series: "Life is Real Only Then, When 'I Am'". Gurdjieff stopped writing this Third Series in 1934 and thus, contrary to the book by the same name, which purports to be his book and published after his death by his first-line student Jeanne de Salzmann, he never did write such a chapter. | |
Father Giovanni in answer to Professor Skridlov question: |
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'Understanding is the essence obtained from information
intentionally learned and from all kinds of experiences personally
experienced.
'For example, if my own beloved brother were to come to me here at
this moment and urgently entreat me to give him merely a tenth part of
my understanding, and if I myself wished with my whole being to do
so, yet I could not, in spite of my most ardent desire, give him even the
thousandth part of this understanding, as he has neither the knowledge
nor the experience which I have quite accidentally acquired and lived
through in my life.
'No, Professor, it is a hundred times easier, as it is said in the
Gospels, "for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle" than for
anyone to give to another the understanding formed in him about
anything whatsoever.
'Understanding is acquired, as I have already said, from the totality of
information intentionally learned and from personal experiencings;
whereas knowledge is only the automatic remembrance of words in a
certain sequence.'
'Not only is it impossible, even with all one's desire, to give to
another one's own inner understanding, formed in the course of life from
the said factors, but also, as I recently established with certain other
brothers of our monastery, there exists a law that the quality of what is
perceived by anyone when another person tells him something, either for
his knowledge or his understanding, depends on the quality of the data
formed in the person speaking.'
Then he tells a story about Brother Ahl and Brother Sez:
'The sermons of these two brethren, who are to an almost equal
degree holy men and who speak the same truths, have nevertheless a
different effect on all our brethren and on me in particular.
'When Brother Sez speaks, it is indeed like the song of the birds in
Paradise; from what he says one is quite, so to say, turned inside out;
one becomes as though entranced. His speech "purls" like a stream and
one no longer wishes anything else in life but to listen to the voice of
Brother Sez.
'But Brother Ahl's speech has almost the opposite effect. He
speaks badly and indistinctly, evidently because of his age. No one
knows how old he is. Brother Sez is also very old—it is said three
hundred years old—but he is still a hale old man, whereas in Brother
Ahl the weakness of old age is clearly evident.
'The stronger the impression made at the moment by the words of
Brother Sez, the more this impression evaporates, until there ultimately
remains in the hearer nothing at all.
'But in the case of Brother Ahl, although at first what he says makes
almost no impression, later, the gist of it takes on a definite form, more
and more each day, and is instilled as a whole into the heart and remains
there for ever.
'When we became aware of this and began trying to discover why it
was so, we came to the unanimous conclusion that the sermons of
Brother Sez proceeded only from his mind, and therefore acted on our
minds, whereas those of Brother Ahl proceeded from his being and
acted on our being.'
'Yes, Professor, knowledge and understanding are quite different.
Only understanding can lead to being, whereas knowledge is but a
passing presence in it. New knowledge displaces the old and the result
is, as it were, a pouring from the empty into the void.
'One must strive to understand; this alone can lead to our Lord God.
'And in order to be able to understand the phenomena of nature,
according and not according to law, proceeding around us, one must
first of all consciously perceive and assimilate a mass of information
concerning objective truth and the real events which took place on earth
in the past; and secondly, one must bear in oneself all the results of all
kinds of voluntary and involuntary experiencings.'
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This last paragraph is the best summation of how to build a Soul, however, it needs some rewording to better describe what Father Giovanni had in mind. The concept of "perceiving and assimilating a mass of information on real events which took place on earth", in other words: its ' real history', is in fact an impossibility. The concept of 'real history' has been contemplated and debunked by many philosophers, writers, and artists:
"History is a pack of lies about events that never happened told by people who weren't’ there." (George Santayana)
"The history of our race, and each individual’s experience, are sown thick with evidence that a truth is not hard to kill and that a lie told well is immortal." (Samuel Clemens: Mark Twain)
"The only history is a mere question of one’s struggle inside oneself. But that is the joy of it." ( D. H. Lawrence)
"It had long come to my attention that people of accomplishment rarely sat back and let things happen to them. They went out and happened to things." (Leonardo da Vinci)
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I would re-word the last paragraph of Father Giovanni to redefine the word 'history':
- Firstly, to perceive, assimilate, and extract the objective truths contained in the 'knowledge' or 'understanding' that other 'remarkable' men and women have entrusted to us
- Secondly,
to contemplate on this 'knowledge' or 'understanding' in relation to one's own experiencings and the workings of the Universal Laws of Three and Seven to finally obtain 'gnosis' inside us.
Father Giovanni has alot to say about the difference between 'knowledge' and 'understanding (gnosis)', saying "it is a hundred times easier, as it is said in the Gospels, "for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle" than for anyone to give to another the understanding formed in him about anything whatsoever." "Understanding is acquired, as I have already said, from the totality of information intentionally learned and from personal experiencings; whereas knowledge is only the automatic remembrance of words in a certain sequence." Only understanding can lead to being, whereas knowledge is but a passing presence in it. New knowledge displaces the old and the result is, as it were, a pouring from the empty into the void."
(As an aside, I must explain how the metaphor in Mark 10:25 of "a camel going through the eye of the needle" is actually possible. It just requires a little knowledge of the Hebrew alphabet. The third letter of the alphabet is (G) Gimel has a pictogram of a camel and the nineteenth letter (Q) Qof has the pictogram of a sewing needle. In the Essene monastery, an initiate would enter at the level of 3 (Gimel) and graduate at level 19 (Qof), going through the "eye of a needle". But for a married man, ("Rich Man"), who was not permitted into a monastery to receive his education, it would be obviously impossible, but not absurd! The metaphor of "water to wine" has a similar explanation based on grades.)
Beelzebub also discusses the relationship between 'knowledge' that is empty and 'understanding (gnosis)' that fills the Soul in | "Beelzebub's Tales to His Grandson" Ch 46 Form and Sequence |
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" I find it necessary to repeat in another and more definite
form about the difference already mentioned by me
many times for different motives, between what are called
’knowledge’ and ‘understanding’ present in three-brained
beings in general.
“The conscious Reason-of-understanding, which in
general it is proper for three-brained beings to have, is a
’something’ which blends with their common presence,
and therefore information of every kind perceived with
this Reason becomes forever their inseparable part.
“The information perceived with this Reason, or results
obtained thanks to being-contemplation of the totality of
formerly perceived information—however a being himself
may change and whatever changes may proceed in the
spheres around him—will be forever a part of his essence.
“And as for that Reason which for most of your contemporary
favorites has become habitual and which I
called the Reason-of-knowing, every kind of new impression
perceived through this Reason, and likewise every
kind of intentionally or simply automatically obtained
result from formerly perceived impressions is only a temporary
part of the being, and might result in them
exclusively only in certain surrounding circumstances, and
on the definite condition that the information which constitutes
all his foundation and entirety should without fail
be from time to time so to say ‘freshened’ or ‘repeated’;
otherwise these formerly perceived impressions change of
themselves, or even entirely, so to say, ‘evaporate’ out of
the common presence of the three-brained being.
“Although in respect of the Sacred Triamazikamno the
process of the arising of both kinds of being-Reason flows
equally, yet the fulfilling factors for the actualization of its
three separate holy forces are different. Namely, for the
formation of the Reason-of-knowing the formerly perceived
contradictory impressions crystallized in any one of
the three localizations which three-brained beings have,
serve as the affirming and denying factors and the new
impressions proceeding from without serve in this case as
the third factor.
“And for the Reason-of-understanding these factors are
as follows: the first, that is the ‘sacred-affirming,’ is the
newly perceived impressions of any localization which has
at the given moment what is called ‘the-center-of-gravity-functioning’;
the second or ‘sacred-denying’ is the corresponding
data present in another of his localizations; and
the third factor is what is called the ‘being-Autokolizikners,’
or as they otherwise call it ‘Hoodazbabognari,’ the sense
of which name signifies, ‘the results of the persevering actualizing
of the striving towards the manifestation of one’s
own individuality.’
“By the way, you might as well hear still once more even
if you do know it, that the said being-Autokolizikners are
formed in the presences of three-brained beings in general
in all three localizations exclusively only from the results
of the actualization of ‘being-Partkdolg-duty,’ that is to
say, thanks to those factors which, from the very beginning
of the arising of the three-brained beings, our UNIBEING
COMMON FATHER designed to be the means for
self-perfection.
“It is these same formations in the common presences
of three-brained beings which are actualized as the third
holy force of the Sacred Triamazikamno for the arising of
the Reason-of-understanding. > |
In this diagram, are shown the states and possible bodies of a 'three-brained being': - the Infant, Youth, and Adult in the Perfection of Personality,
- Artist/Dancer/Musician in the Perfection of the Arts,
- the Objective Scientist/Philosopher in the Perfection of Thought,
- the Body Kesdjan in the Perfection of 'Agápe Love',
- the Soul in the Perfection of 'Gnosis' and
- Perfected Soul aligned with God '.
These states and bodies can be listed by order of Reason: - First, the Reason of the Body (Personality) ('do' to 're' to 'mi') corresponding to the senses of Touch, Taste, and Smell,
- Second, the Reason of Emotions (Angels) at 'fa' corresponding to Hearing,
- Third, the Reason of Thinking (Degindad) (Archangels) at 'sol' corresponding to Seeing,
- Fourth, the Reason of the Body Kesdjan (Ternoonald) at 'la' corresponding to the Vestibular System, and
- Fifth, the Reason of the Soul (Podkoolad) at 'ti corresponding to the Proprioception System, and
- Seventh, the Reason of God (Anklad) is at the higher 'do' after passing through Purgatory (the Sixth).
| "Beelzebub's Tales to His Grandson" Ch 47 "The Inevitable Result of Impartial Mentation" |
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During the solemn, sacred action, horns little by little
began to grow upon the head of Beelzebub.
At first, while just the bare horns were being formed,
only a concentrated quiet gravely prevailed among those
assembled. But from the moment that forks began to appear
upon the horns a tense interest and rapt attention began
to be manifested among them. This latter state
proceeded among them, because everybody was agitated
by the wish to learn how many forks would make their appearance
on Beelzebub, since by their number the gradation
of Reason to which Beelzebub had attained according
to the sacred measure of Reason would be defined.
First one fork formed, then another, and then a third,
and as each fork made its appearance a clearly perceptible
thrill of joy and unconcealed satisfaction proceeded
among all those present.
As the fourth fork began to be formed on the horns, the
tension among those assembled reached its height, since
the formation of the fourth fork on the horns signified that
the Reason of Beelzebub had already been perfected
to the sacred Ternoonald and hence that there remained
for Beelzebub only two gradations before attaining to the
sacred Anklad.
When the whole of this unusual ceremony neared its
end and before all those assembled had had time to recover
their self-possession from their earlier joyful agitation,
there suddenly and unexpectedly appeared on the
horns of Beelzebub quite independently a fifth fork of a
special form known to them all.
Thereupon all without exception, even the venerable
archangel himself, fell prostrate before Beelzebub, who
had now risen to his feet and stood transfigured with a
majestic appearance, owing to the truly majestic horns
which had arisen on his head.
All fell prostrate before Beelzebub because by the fifth
fork on his horns it was indicated that He had attained
the Reason of the sacred Podkoolad, i.e., the last gradation
before the Reason of the sacred Anklad.
The Reason of the sacred Anklad is the highest to
which in general any being can attain, being the third in
degree from the Absolute Reason of HIS ENDLESSNESS HIMSELF.
But the Reason of the sacred Podkoolad, to which
Beelzebub had already perfected himself, is also very
rare in the Universe, hence even the venerable archangel
prostrated himself before Beelzebub because his own degree
of Reason was as yet only that of the sacred Degindad,
i.e., wanting three degrees to the Reason of the
sacred Anklad.
When all had arisen to their feet, the venerable
archangel, addressing this time all the assembled beings of
various natures, proclaimed:
“Beings created by One CREATOR, we have all just become
worthy to be the first to behold the final formation
of the appearance of that which is the dream both of all
those present and of the beings in general of the whole of
our great Megalocosmos.
“And now let us all together exult and rejoice over such
a worthiness, which is for us such a revivifying shock for
our ability to struggle against our own denying source,
which ability alone can lead us to that sacred Podkoolad
attained by one of the sons of our COMMON FATHER,who
although he first transgressed on account of his youth, yet
afterwards was able by his conscious labors and intentional
sufferings to become worthy with his essence to be
one of the very rare Sacred Individuals of the whole of our
Great Universe.” |
It must be clear by now that the building of a Soul is more difficult that the Body Kesdjan. With the Kesdjanian body there is a direct correlation between one's emotions (the Endocrine System) and conscience. It is by impartial observation of the struggle between emotions and thoughts (being Partkdolg-duty) that this emotional body centered at the heart is built and nourished. The Body Kesdjan is the state that most people would call a true human being. It has either been achieved or wished to be achieved by most rational people. It was in the sensing of this body Kesdjan that Hassein and Professor Skridlov were brought to tears. Its state is so magical and fulfilling that it makes one yearn for a Soul.
Is it really enough to aspire to be an Angel? What is so high and mighty about an Archangel? The building of a Soul is in the "University of God". Titles or suffix letters at the end of one's name are of no use here. The traditional Angel spends its days playing the harp, being more content with being in emotional bliss. Is that really enough? The Archangels spend their time trying to figure out the functioning of God's universe and as we have seen: making mistakes. Intellect based on bad assumptions is also a waste of time.
A human being wanting to build a Soul uses the hippocampus, which plays a central role in the consolidation of new memories, to make sure that the information stored is of value; uses the amygdala in a primary role to perform the processing of memory, decision-making, and emotional responses; uses the orbitofrontal cortex in the frontal lobe in the process of decision-making; and other Limbic functions yet to be discovered.
Whereas, emotion appears to have the obvious value of affecting others for good; science and philosophy, having merely changed chariots into cars and guns into lasers, is mostly rejected. The math mistakes like black holes, time travel, and the big bang are the ones that excite the imagination, but Gnosis (objective thinking and philosophy) seems too boring. But for those who do not want to play harps all day, Gnosis is essential to control the complex connection between the Limbic System and the Sexual Energy. In the hackneyed carriage metaphor, the driver, using Gnosis, must balance the crucial interaction of sexual energy and ecstasy while simultaneously holding on to the eternal question of how something can come from nothing or nothing become something? Just as you can only know the Body Kesdjan when you have it in the warmth in the center of your chest, so it is with the Soul: you will have the answer when you have the Gnosis that radiates as a halo around your head. Or like Beelzebub five branching horns:
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