“Seven cosmoses, taken together in their relation to one another, alone represent a complete picture of the universe. The idea of two analogous cosmoses, accidentally preserved from a great and complete teaching, is so incomplete that it can give no idea whatever of the analogy between man and the world. “The teaching on cosmoses examines seven cosmoses: “The first cosmos is the Protocosmos — the first cosmos. “The second cosmos is the Ayocosmos, the holy cosmos, or the Megalocosmos, the ‘great cosmos.’ “The third cosmos is the Macrocosmos — the ‘large cosmos.’ “The fourth cosmos is the Deuterocosmos — the ‘second cosmos.’ “The fifth cosmos is the Mesocosmos — the ‘middle cosmos.’ “The sixth cosmos is the Tritocosmos — the ‘third cosmos.’ “The seventh cosmos is the MICROCOSMOS — the ‘small cosmos.’ “The Protocosmos is the Absolute in the ray of creation, or world 1. The Ayocosmos is world 3 (‘all worlds’ in the ray of creation). The Macro-cosmos is our starry world or the Milky Way (world 6 in the ray of creation). The Deuterocosmos is the sun, the solar system (world 12). The Mesocosmos is ‘all planets’ (world 24), or the earth as the representative of the planetary world. The Tritocosmos is man. The MICROCOSMOS is the ‘atom.’ Fragments: Ten

“The conditions of the action of laws on each plane, that is, in each cosmos, are determined by the two adjoining cosmoses, the one above and the one below. Three cosmoses standing next to one another give a complete picture of the manifestation of the laws of the universe. One cosmos cannot give a complete picture. Thus in order to know one cosmos, it is necessary to know the two adjoining cosmoses, the one above and the one below the first, that is, one larger and one smaller. Taken together, these two cosmoses determine the one that lies between them. Thus the Mesocosmos and the MICROCOSMOS, taken together, determine the Tritocosmos. The Deuterocosmos and the Tritocosmos determine the Mesocosmos, and so on. Fragments: Ten

“The relation of one cosmos to another is different from the relation of one world to another in the astronomical ray of creation. In the ray of creation worlds are taken in the actual relation in which they exist in the universe for us, from our point of view: the moon, the earth, the planets, the sun, the Milky Way, and so on. Therefore the quantitative interrelation of the worlds one to another in the ray of creation is not permanent. In one case or on one level it is greater, for instance, the relation of ‘all suns’ to our sun; in another case, on another level, it is less, for instance, the relation of the earth to the moon. But the interrelation of the cosmoses is permanent and always the same. That is to say, one cosmos is related to another as zero to infinity. This means that the relation of the MICROCOSMOS to the Tritocosmos is the same as that of zero to infinity; the relation of the Tritocosmos to the Mesocosmos is that of zero to infinity; the relation of the Mesocosmos to the Deuterocosmos is that of zero to infinity; and so on. Fragments: Ten

“All that you have said,” I said, “refers without doubt to the problems of dimensions. But before I pass to them, I should like to elucidate one point, which is not quite clear to me. It is what you said about the MICROCOSMOS. We are accustomed to connect the idea of the MICROCOSMOS with man. This means that man represents a world in himself. A world analogous to the large world, the Macrocosmos. But you give man the name of Tritocosmos, that is, the third cosmos. Why third? The first is Protocosmos; the second, the sun or Deuterocosmos. Why is man the third cosmos?” Fragments: Ten

“But do you really mean that the concept MICROCOSMOS cannot be used in relation to man?” asked one of the audience. “This creates a strange difference in terminology.” Fragments: Ten

“Yes, yes,” said G. “Man is the Tritocosmos. The MICROCOSMOS is the atom or rather” — he paused as though looking for a word — “the microbe. Fragments: Ten

“If we adopt this point of view, we shall have to admit that the relation of one cosmos to another is the relation of two bodies of different dimensions. If one cosmos is three-dimensional then the next cosmos, that is, the one above it, must be four­dimensional, the next — five-dimensional, and so on. If we take the ‘atom’ or ‘microbe,’ as you say, that is, the MICROCOSMOS as a point, then relative to this point man will be a line, that is, a figure of one dimension. The next cosmos, the earth, will be a plane relative to man, that is, it will have two dimensions, as is actually the case for direct perception. The sun, the solar system, will be three-dimensional for the earth. The starry world will be four-dimensional for the sun. ‘All worlds’ are five-dimensional, and the Absolute or Protocosmos is six-dimensional. Fragments: Ten

“Thus, if we take the MICROCOSMOS, that is, the ‘atom’ or ‘microbe,’ as G. has defined it, then the Tritocosmos for it will be four-dimensional space, the Mesocosmos will be five-dimensional space, and the Deuterocosmos six-dimensional space. Fragments: Ten

Several of us tried to approach these problems from many different sides and, although all of us felt a great deal of potential energy in the idea of cosmoses, for a long time we got no results. We were especially confused by the “MICROCOSMOS.” Fragments: Ten

“If it were possible to take man as the MICROCOSMOS and the Tritocosmos as the human race, or rather as organic life, it would be much easier to establish the relation of man to other cosmoses,” one of us, Z., said in this connection, who with me had attempted to understand and to develop further the idea of the cosmoses. Fragments: Ten

“Try to understand what the MICROCOSMOS means,” answered G. “If you succeed in understanding this, then all the rest about which you ask now will become clear to you.” Fragments: Ten

I remember that when we talked about it later the question was quite easy to solve when we took the “MICROCOSMOS” as man. Fragments: Ten

It was certainly conditional, but nevertheless it was in complete accord with the whole system which studied the world and man. Every individual living being — a dog, a cat, a tree — could be taken as a MICROCOSMOS; the combination of all living beings constituted the Tritocosmos or organic life on earth. These definitions seemed to me the only ones that were logically possible. And I could not understand why G. objected to them. Fragments: Ten

At any rate, some time later when I returned again to the problem of cosmoses I decided to take man as the MICROCOSMOS, and to take the Tritocosmos as organic life on earth. Fragments: Ten

With such a construction a great number of things began to be much more connected. And once, looking through a manuscript of “Glimpses of Truth” given me by G., that is, the beginning of the story that was read at the Moscow group the first time I went there, I found in it the expressions “Macrocosmos” and “MICROCOSMOS”; moreover “MICROCOSMOS” meant man. Fragments: Ten

Now you have some idea of the laws governing the life of the Macrocosmos and have returned to the Earth. Recall to yourself: “As above, so below.” I think that already, without any further explanation, you will not dispute the statement that the life of individual man — the MICROCOSMOS — is governed by the same laws. Fragments: Ten

This still further strengthened us in our decision to understand “MICROCOSMOS” as applying to man. Later it became clear to us why G. wished to make us apply the concept “MICROCOSMOS” to small magnitudes as compared with man, and to what he wished to direct our thought by this. Fragments: Ten

“If we want to represent graphically the interrelation of the cosmoses,” I said, “we must take the MICROCOSMOS, that is, man, as a point, that is to say, we must take him on a very small scale and, as it were, at a very great distance from ourselves. Then his life in the Tritocosmos, that is, among other people and in the midst of nature, will be the line which he traces on the surface of the earthly globe in moving from place to place. In the Mesocosmos, that is, taken in connection with the twenty-four hours’ motion of the earth around its axis, this line will become a plane, whereas taken in relation to the sun, that is, taking into consideration the motion of the earth around the sun, it will become a threedimensional body, or, in other words, it will be something really existing, something realized. But as the fundamental point, that is, the man or the MICROCOSMOS, was also a three-dimensional body, we have consequently two three-dimensionalities. Fragments: Ten

“If the MICROCOSMOS, or man, is a three-dimensional body, then the Tritocosmos — organic life on earth — is a four-dimensional body. The earth has five dimensions and the sun — six. Fragments: Ten

“Further, seven cosmoses represent a ‘period of dimensions,’ but this does not mean that the chain of cosmoses comes to an end with the MICROCOSMOS. If man is a MICROCOSMOS, that is, a cosmos in himself, then the microscopic cells composing his body will stand towards him in about the same relation as he himself stands to organic life on earth. A microscopic cell which is on the boundary line of microscopic vision is composed of milliards of molecules comprising the next step, the next cosmos. Going still further, we can say that the next cosmos will be the electron. Thus we have obtained a second MICROCOSMOS — the cell; a third MICROCOSMOS — the molecule; and a fourth MICROCOSMOS — the electron. These divisions and definitions, namely ‘cells,’ ‘molecules,’ and ‘electrons,’ are possibly very imperfect; it may be that with time science will establish others, but the principle will remain always the same and lower cosmoses will always be in precisely such relation to the MICROCOSMOS.” Fragments: Ten

Finally having decided to try to put together everything I thought on the subject, I took man as the MICROCOSMOS. The next cosmos in relation to man I took as “organic life on earth,” which I called “Tritocosmos” although I did not understand this name, because I would have been unable to answer the question why organic life on earth was the “third” cosmos. But the name is immaterial. After that everything was in ac­cordance with G.’s system. Below man, that is, as the next smaller cosmos, was the “cell.” Not any cell and not a cell under any conditions, but a fairly large cell, such as for instance the embryo-cell of the human organism. As the next cosmos one could take a small, ultramicroscopic cell. The idea of two cosmoses in the microscopic world, that is, the idea of two microscopic individuals differing one from the other as much as does “man” from a “large cell,” is perfectly clear in bacteriology. Fragments: Ten