“In this manner twenty notes are obtained, eight of which are fundamental: do, re, mi, fa, sol, LA, si, do; and twelve intermediate: two between each of the following two notes: do-re re-mi fa-sol sol-LA LA-si; and one between each of the following two notes: mi-fa si-do. “But in practice, that is, in music, instead of twelve intermediate semitones only five are taken, that is one semitone between: do-re re-mi fa-sol sol-LA LA-si. “Between mi and fa and between si and do the semitone is not taken at all. Fragments: Seven

“What precisely does happen at the moment of the retardation of vibrations? A deviation from the original direction takes pLAce. The octave begins in the direction shown by the arrow: “But a deviation takes pLAce between mi and fa; the line begun at do changes its direction and through fa, sol, LA, and si it descends at an angle to its original direction, shown by the first three notes. Between si and do the second ‘interval’ occurs — a fresh deviation, a further change of direction. Fragments: Seven

“In the big cosmic octave, which reaches us in the form of the ray of creation, we can see the first complete example of the LAw of octaves. The ray of creation begins with the Absolute. The Absolute is the All. The All, possessing full unity, full will, and full consciousness, creates worlds within itself, in this way beginning the descending world octave. The Absolute is the do of this octave. The worlds which the Absolute creates in itself are si. The ‘interval’ between do and si in this case is filled by the will of the Absolute. The process of creation is developed further by the force of the original impulse and an ‘additional shock.’ Si passes into LA which for us is our star world, the Milky Way. La passes into sol — our sun, the soLAr system. Sol passes into fa — the pLAnetary world. And here between the pLAnetary world as a whole and our earth occurs an ‘interval.’ This means that the pLAnetary radiations carrying various influences to the earth are not able to reach it, or, to speak more correctly, they are not received, the earth reflects them. In order to fill the ‘interval’ at this point of the ray of creation a special apparatus is created for receiving and transmitting the influences coming from the pLAnets. This apparatus is organic life on earth. Organic life transmits to the earth all the influences intended for it and makes possible the further development and growth of the earth, mi of the cosmic octave, and then of the moon or re, after which follows another do — Nothing. Between All and Nothing passes the ray of creation. Fragments: Seven

“The ray of creation like every other process which is complete at a given moment can be regarded as an octave. This would be a de-scending octave in which do passes into si, si into LA and so on. Fragments: Seven

“The Absolute or All (world 1) will be do; all worlds (world 3) — si; all suns (world 6) — LA; our sun (world 12) — sol; all pLAnets (world 24) — fa; the earth (world 48) — mi; the moon (world 96) — re. The ray of creation begins with the Absolute. The Absolute is All. It is — do. Fragments: Seven

“In the present instance sol begins to sound as do. Descending to the level of the pLAnets this new octave passes into si; descending still lower it produces three notes, LA, sol, fa, which create and constitute organic life on earth in the form that we know it; mi of this octave blends with mi of the cosmic octave, that is, with the earth, and re with the re of the cosmic octave, that is, with the moon.” Fragments: Seven

“Then will follow notes LA, sol, fa: that is, Fragments: Nine

“The radiations reach the sun. Two notes are included in the sun itself, do, an ‘interval,’ and si, then follow LA, sol, fa — radiations going towards the earth. Fragments: Nine

“Then an ‘interval’ and the ‘shock’ of organic life which fills it, then mi and re. The earth: do, an ‘interval,’ si, and then LA, sol, fa — radiations going towards the moon; then again an ‘interval,’ a ‘shock’ unknown to us, then mi, re, and the moon, do. Fragments: Nine

“It must be observed that, although there are six ‘intervals’ in these three octaves, only three of them actually require to be supplemented from outside. The first ‘interval’ between do and si is filled by the will of the Absolute. The second ‘interval’ do-si is filled by the influence of the sun’s mass upon radiations passing through it. And the third ‘interval’ do-si is filled by the action of the earth’s mass upon radiations passing through it. Only the ‘intervals’ between fa and mi have to be filled by ‘additional shocks.’ These ‘additional shocks’ can come either from other octaves which pass across the given point or from parallel octaves which start from higher points. We know nothing about the nature of the ‘shock’ between mi-fa in the first octaoctave Absolute-Sun. But the ‘shock’ in the octave Sun-Earth is organic life on earth, that is, the three notes LA, sol, fa of the octave which starts in the sun. The nature of the ‘shock’ between mi and fa in the octave Earth-Moon is unknown to us. Fragments: Nine

“The note LA will be the conductor of the neutralizing force designated by the number 3, and the matter in which sounds the note LA will be ‘nitrogen’ (N). Fragments: Nine

“So that the note LA of the first triad is the conductor of the active force in the next triad which it enters with the density of 2. If ‘carbon’ enters with the density of 2, then ‘oxygen’ and ‘nitrogen’ must correspond to it in densities, repeating the ratio of densities of the first triad. In the first triad the ratio of densities was 1, 2, 3; in the second triad it should be 2, 4, 6, that is, ‘carbon’ of the second triad will possess the density of 2, ‘nitrogen’ a density of 4, ‘oxygen’ a density of 6. Taken together they will give ‘hydrogen’ 12 (H12): The second triad Fragments: Nine

“The triad do, si, LA will give ‘hydrogen’ 96 (H96): Fragments: Nine

the triad LA, sol, fa — ‘hydrogen’ 192 (H192): Fragments: Nine

do, si, LA — ‘hydrogen’ 1536 (H1536): The ninth triad Fragments: Nine

LA, sol, fa — ‘hydrogen’ 3072 (H3072): Fragments: Nine

“Physical food is H768, or LA, sol, fa of the third cosmic octave of radiations. This ‘hydrogen’ enters the lower story of the organism as ‘oxygen’ do 768. Fragments: Nine

“The note sol 48 by uniting with ‘carbon’ 12 present in the organism passes into ‘nitrogen’ 24 — LA 24. Fragments: Nine

“The third octave begins with do 48. “Impressions enter the organism in the form of ‘oxygen’ 48, that is, LA, sol, fa of the second cosmic octaoctave Sun-Earth. Fragments: Nine

“Mi 48 passes to fa 24; fa 24 passes to sol 12; sol 12 passes to LA 6. La 6 is the highest matter produced by the organism from air, that is, from the second kind of food. This however is obtained only by making a conscious effort at the moment an impression is received. “It is necessary to understand what this means. We all breathe the same air. Apart from the elements known to our science the air contains a great number of substances unknown to science, indefinable for it and inaccessible to its observation. But exact analysis is possible both of the air inhaled and of the air exhaled. This exact analysis shows that although Fragments: Nine

“We have followed the development of two octaves. The third octave, that is, the octave of impressions, begins through a conscious effort. Do 48 passes to re 24; re 24 passes to mi 12. At this point the development of the octave comes to a stop. “Now if we examine the result of the development of these three octaves, we shall see that the first octave has reached si 12, the second LA 6, and the third mi 12. Thus the first and third octaves stop at notes which are unable to pass to the following notes. “For the two octaves to develop further, a second conscious shock is needed at a certain point in the machine, a new conscious effort is necessary which will enable the two octaves to continue their development. The nature of this effort demands special study. From the point of view of the general work of the machine it can be said in general that this effort is connected with the emotional life, that it is a special kind of influence over one’s emotions. But what this kind of influence really is, and how it has to be produced, can be expLAined only in connection with a general description of the work of the human factory or the human machine. Fragments: Nine

“The second stage refers to the work of the human organism when a man creates a conscious volitional ‘shock’ at the point do 48. In the first pLAce this volitional ‘shock’ is transmitted to the second octave which develops as far as sol 12, or even further up to LA 6 and so on, if the work of the organism is sufficiently intense. The same ‘shock’ also enables the third octave to develop, that is, the octave of impressions which in this event reaches mi 12. Thus in the second stage of the work of the human organism, we see the full development of the second octave and three notes of the third octave. The first octave has stopped at the note si 12, the third at the note mi 12. Neither of these octaves can proceed any further without a fresh ‘shock.’ The nature of this second ‘shock’ cannot be so easily described as the nature of the first volitional ‘shock’ at do 48. In order to understand the nature of this ‘shock’ it is necessary to understand the meaning of si 12 and mi 12. Fragments: Nine

“At this point in our reasoning it would be entirely right to raise the question: Why is one of the ‘intervals’ which is designated by the number 3 found in its right pLAce between the notes mi and fa, and the other, which is designated by the number 6, found between sol and LA, when its right pLAce is between si and do. Fragments: Fourteen

that is, in one case x between mi and fa, and in the other between sol and LA, where it is not necessary. “The apparent pLAcing of the interval in its wrong pLAce itself shows to those who are able to read the symbol what kind of ‘shock’ is required for the passage of si to do. “In order to understand this, it is essential to recollect what was said about the role of ‘shocks’ in the processes proceeding in man and in the universe. “When we examined the application of the LAw of octaves to the cosmos then the step ‘sun-earth’ was represented in this way: “In reLAtion to the three octaves of radiation it was pointed out that the passage of do to si, the filling of the interval, takes pLAce within the organism of the sun. It was pointed out in the cosmic octave in reLAtion to the ‘interval’ do-si that this passage is accomplished by the will of the Absolute. The passage fa-mi in the cosmic octave is accomplished mechanically with the help of a special machine which makes it possible for fa, which enters it, to acquire by a series of inner processes the characteristics of sol standing above it, without changing its note, that is, to accumuLAte, as it were, the inner energy for passing independently into the next note, into mi. Fragments: Fourteen

“The process of the transition fa-mi can be represented in the most schematic way thus: the cosmic fa enters this machine like the food of the lower story and begins its cycle of changes. Therefore in the beginning it sounds in the machine as do. The substance sol of the cosmic octave serves as the substance which enters the middle story like the air in breathing, which helps the note fa inside the machine to pass into the note mi. This sol on entering the machine also sounds as do. The matter which has now been obtained is joined in the upper story by the substance of the cosmic LA, which enters the upper story of the machine, also as do. Fragments: Fourteen

“As we see from this the following notes LA, sol, fa serve as food for the machine. In the order of their succession, according to the LAw of three, LA will be the active element, sol the neutralizing, and fa the passive. The active principle reacting with the passive (that is, becoming connected with it by the help of the neutralizing principle) gives a certain definite result. This is represented symbolically thus: Fragments: Fourteen

“This symbol points out that the substance fa in being mixed with the substance LA gives as a result the substance sol. And as this process proceeds in the octave, developing as it were inside the note fa, it is therefore possible to say that fa without changing its pitch acquires the properties of sol. Fragments: Fourteen

which came into the enneagram at the interval sol-LA. Then I turned my attention to what the Moscow notes, in connection with commentaries on the enneagram, said about the influences of the three octaves on one another in the “food diagram.” I drew the enneagram as it had been given to us and I saw that it represented up to a certain point the “food diagram.” Fragments: Eighteen

“La 24 unites with ‘carbon’ 6 present in the organism and is transformed into ‘nitrogen’ 12, or si 12. Si 12 is the highest substance produced in the organism from physical food with the help of the ‘additional shock’ obtained from the air. Fragments: Nine