Somewhere about this time I was very much struck by a talk about the sun, the planets, and the moon. I do not remember how this talk began. But I remember that G. drew a small diagram and tried to explain what he called the “correlation of forces in different worlds.” This was in connection with the previous talk, that is, in connection with the influences acting on humanity. The idea was roughly this: humanity, or more correctly, ORGANIC life on earth, is acted upon simultaneously by influences proceeding from various sources and different worlds: influences from the planets, influences from the moon, influences from the sun, influences from the stars. All these influences act simultaneously; one influence predominates at one moment and another influence at another moment. And for man there is a certain possibility of making a choice of influences; in other words, of passing from one influence to another. Fragments: One

This attracted my attention at once. Nothing had ever seemed to me more artificial, unreliable, and dogmatic than all the usual theories of the origin of planets and solar systems, beginning with the Kant-Laplace theory down to the very latest, with all their additions and variations. The “general public” considers these theories, or at any rate the last one known to it, to be scientific and proven. But in actual fact there is of course nothing less scientific and less proven than these theories. Therefore the fact that G.’s system accepted an altogether different theory, an ORGANIC theory having its origin in entirely new principles and showing a different universal order, appeared to me very interesting and important. Fragments: One

“Humanity, like the rest of ORGANIC life, exists on earth for the needs and purposes of the earth. And it is exactly as it should be for the earth’s requirements at the present time. Fragments: Three

“For instance, the evolution of humanity beyond a certain point, or, to speak more correctly, above a certain percentage, would be fatal for the moon. The moon at present feeds on ORGANIC life, on humanity. Humanity is a part of ORGANIC life; this means that humanity is food for the moon. If all men were to become too intelligent they would not want to be eaten by the moon. Fragments: Three

“If we desire an answer to the question what is the world or worlds in which we live, we must first of all ask ourselves what it is that we may call ‘world’ in the most intimate and immediate relation to us., “To this we may answer that we often give the name of ‘world’ to the world of people, to humanity, in which we live, of which we form part. But humanity forms an inseparable part of ORGANIC life on earth, therefore it would be right to say that the world nearest to us is ORGANIC life on earth, the world of plants, animals, and men. Fragments: Four

“But ORGANIC life is also in the world. What then is ‘world’ for ORGANIC life? “To this we can answer that for ORGANIC life our planet the earth is ‘world.’ “But the earth is also in the world. What then is ‘world’ for the earth? ” ‘World’ for the earth is the planetary world of the solar system, of which it forms a part. Fragments: Four

“In our system the end of the ray of creation, the growing end, so to speak, of the branch, is the moon. The energy for the growth, that is, for the development of the moon and for the formation of new shoots, goes to the moon from the earth, where it is created by the joint action of the sun, of all the other planets of the solar system, and of the earth itself. This energy is collected and preserved in a huge accumulator situated on the earth’s surface. This accumulator is ORGANIC life on earth. Organic life on earth feeds the moon. Everything living on the earth, people, animals, plants, is food for the moon. The moon is a huge living being feeding upon all that lives and grows on the earth. The moon could not exist without ORGANIC life on earth, any more than ORGANIC life on earth could exist without the moon. Moreover, in relation to ORGANIC life the moon is a huge electromagnet. If the action of the electromagnet were suddenly to stop, ORGANIC life would crumble to nothing. Fragments: Five

“The influence of the moon upon everything living manifests itself in all that happens on the earth. The moon is the chief, or rather, the nearest, the immediate, motive force of all that takes place in ORGANIC life on the earth. All movements, actions, and manifestations of people, animals, and plants depend upon the moon and are controlled by the moon. The sensitive film of ORGANIC life which covers the earthly globe is entirely dependent upon the influence of the huge electromagnet that is sucking out its vitality. Man, like every other living being, cannot, in the ordinary conditions of life, tear himself free from the moon. All his movements and consequently all his actions are controlled by the moon. If he kills another man, the moon does it; if he sacrifices himself for others, the moon does that also. All evil deeds, all crimes, all self-sacrificing actions, all heroic exploits, as well as all the actions of ordinary everyday life, are controlled by the moon. Fragments: Five

Another talk was about the moon and its relation to ORGANIC life on earth. And again one of our group found a very good example showing the relation of the moon to ORGANIC life. Fragments: Five

The moon is the weight on a clock. Organic life is the mechanism of the clock brought into motion by the weight. The gravity of the weight, the pull of the chain on the cogwheel, set in motion the wheels and the hands of the clock. If the weight is removed all movements in the mechanism of the clock will at once stop. The moon is a colossal weight hanging on to ORGANIC life and thus setting it in motion. Whatever we may be doing, whether it is good or bad, clever or stupid, all the movements of the wheels and the hands of our organism depend upon this weight, which is continually exerting its pressure upon us. Fragments: Five

“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

“You know the prayer ‘Holy God, Holy the Firm, Holy the Immortal’? This prayer comes from ancient knowledge. Holy God means the Absolute or All. Holy the Firm also means the Absolute or Nothing. Holy the Immortal signifies that which is between them, that is, the six notes of the ray of creation, with ORGANIC life. All three taken together make one. This is the coexistent and indivisible Trinity. Fragments: Seven

“The conditions to insure the passage of forces are created by the arrangement of a special mechanical contrivance between the planets and the earth. This mechanical contrivance, this ‘transmitting station of forces’ is ORGANIC life on earth. Organic life on earth was created to fill the interval between the planets and the earth. Fragments: Seven

“Organic life is the organ of perception of the earth and it is at the same time an organ of radiation. With the help of ORGANIC life each portion of the earth’s surface occupying a given area sends every moment certain kinds of rays in the direction of the sun, the planets, and the moon. In connection with this the sun needs one kind of radiations, the planets another kind, and the moon another. Everything that happens on earth creates radiations of this kind. And many things often happen just because certain kinds of radiation are required from a certain place on the earth’s surface.” Fragments: Seven

At the same time he constantly emphasized the fact that no matter what took place in the thin film of ORGANIC life it always served the interests of the earth, the sun, the planets, and the moon; nothing unnecessary and nothing independent could happen in it because it was created for a definite purpose and was merely subordinate. Fragments: Seven

And once dwelling on this theme he gave us a diagram of the structure of the octave in which one of the links was “ORGANIC life on earth.” “This additional or lateral octave in the ray of creation begins in the sun,” he said. “The sun, sol of the cosmic octave, begins at a certain moment to sound as do, sol 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

We at once felt that there was a great deal of meaning in this lateral octave. First of all it showed that ORGANIC life, represented in the diagram by three notes, had two higher notes, one on the level of the planets and one on the level of the sun, and that it began in the sun. This last was the most important point because once more, as with many other things in G.’s system, it contradicted the usual modern idea of life having originated so to speak from below. In his explanations life came from above. Fragments: Seven

Then much talk arose about the notes mi, re, of the lateral octave. We could not, of course, define what re was. But it was clearly connected with the idea of food for the moon. Some product of the disintegration of ORGANIC life went to the moon; this must be re. In regard to mi it was possible to speak quite definitely. Organic life undoubtedly disappeared in the earth. The role of ORGANIC life in the structure of the earth’s surface was indisputable. There was the growth of coral islands and limestone mountains, the formation of coal seams and accumulations of petroleum; the alteration of the soil under the influence of vegetation, the growth of vegetation in lakes, the “formation of rich arable lands by worms,” change of climate due to the draining of swamps and the destruction of forests, and many other things that we know of and do not know of. Fragments: Seven

“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

Later on one of G.’s Moscow pupils added to this that, speaking with them once of cosmoses and of different time in different cosmoses, G. had said that the sleep and waking of living beings and plants, that is, twenty-four hours or a day and night, constitute the “breath of ORGANIC life.” 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

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

“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

“The usual scientific view takes man as a three-dimensional body; it takes ORGANIC life on earth as a whole, more as a phenomenon than a three-dimensional body; it takes the earth as a three-dimensional body; the sun as a three-dimensional body; the solar system as a three-dimensional body; and the Milky Way as a three-dimensional body. Fragments: Ten

“The inexactitude of this view becomes evident if we try to conceive the existence of one cosmos within the other, that is, of a lower cosmos in a higher, of a smaller cosmos in a greater, such as, for instance, the existence of man in ORGANIC life or in relation to ORGANIC life. In this case ORGANIC life must inevitably be taken in time. Existence in time is an extension along the fourth dimension. 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

“Kundalini is a force put into men in order to keep them in their present state. If men could really see their true position and could understand all the horror of it, they would be unable to remain where they are even for one second. They would begin to seek a way out and they would quickly find it, because there is a way out; but men fail to see it simply because they are hypnotized. Kundalini is the force that keeps them in a hypnotic state. ‘To awaken’ for man means to be ‘dehypnotized.’ In this lies the chief difficulty and in this also lies the guarantee of its possibility, for there is no ORGANIC reason for sleep and man can awaken. Fragments: Eleven

On one occasion when speaking of the orderly connectedness of everything in the universe, G. dwelt on “ORGANIC life on earth.” Fragments: Fifteen

“To ordinary knowledge,” he said, “ORGANIC life is a kind of accidental appendage violating the integrity of a mechanical system. Ordinary knowledge does not connect it with anything and draws no conclusions from the fact of its existence. But you should already understand that there is nothing accidental or unnecessary in nature and that there can be nothing; everything has a definite function; everything serves a definite purpose. Thus ORGANIC life is an indispensable link in the chain of the worlds which cannot exist without it just as it cannot exist without them. It has been said before that ORGANIC life transmits planetary influences of various kinds to the earth and that it serves to feed the moon and to enable it to grow and strengthen. But the earth also is growing; not in the sense of size but in the sense of greater consciousness, greater receptivity. The planetary influences which were sufficient for her at one period of her existence become insufficient, she needs the reception of finer influences. To receive finer influences a finer, more sensitive receptive apparatus is necessary. Organic life, therefore, has to evolve, to adapt itself to the needs of the planets and the earth. Likewise also the moon can be satisfied at one period with the food which is given her by ORGANIC life of a certain quality, but afterwards the time comes when she ceases to be satisfied with this food, cannot grow on it, and begins to get hungry. Organic life must be able to satisfy this hunger, otherwise it does not fulfill its function, does not answer its purpose. This means that in order to answer its purpose ORGANIC life must evolve and stand on the level of the needs of the planets, the earth, and the moon. Fragments: Fifteen

“We must remember that the ray of creation, as we have taken it, from the Absolute to the moon, is like a branch of a tree — a growing branch. The end of this branch, the end out of which come new shoots, is the moon. If the moon does not grow, if it neither gives nor promises to give new shoots, it means that either the growth of the whole ray of creation will stop or that it must find another path for its growth, give out some kind of lateral branch. At the same time from what has been said before we see that the growth of the moon depends on ORGANIC life on earth. It follows that the growth of the ray of creation depends on ORGANIC life on earth. If this ORGANIC life disappears or dies the whole branch will immediately wither, in any case all that part of the branch which lies beyond ORGANIC life. The same thing must happen, only more slowly, if ORGANIC life is arrested in its development, in its evolution, and fails to respond to the demands made upon it. The branch may wither. This must be remembered. To the ray of creation, or let us say to its part earth-moon, exactly the same possibility of development and growth has been given as is given to each separate branch of a big tree. But the accomplishment of this growth is not at all guaranteed, it depends upon the harmonious and right action of its own tissues. The development of one tissue stops and all the others stop. Everything that can be said of the ray of creation or of its part earth-moon equally refers to ORGANIC life on earth. Organic life on earth is a complex phenomenon in which the separate parts depend upon one another. General growth is possible only on the condition that the ‘end of the branch’ grows. Or, speaking more precisely, there are in ORGANIC life tissues which are evolving, and there are tissues which serve as food and medium for those which are evolving. Then there are evolving cells within the evolving tissues, and cells which serve as food and medium for those which are evolving. In each separate evolving cell there are evolving parts and there are parts which serve as food for those which are evolving. But always and in everything it must be remembered that evolution is never guaranteed, it is possible only and it can stop at any moment and in any place. Fragments: Fifteen

“The evolving part of ORGANIC life is humanity. Humanity also has its evolving part but we will speak of this later; in the meantime we will take humanity as a whole. If humanity does not evolve it means that the evolution of ORGANIC life will stop and this in its turn will cause the growth of the ray of creation to stop. At the same time if humanity ceases to evolve it becomes useless from the point of view of the aims for which it was created and as such it may be destroyed. In this way the cessation of evolution may mean the destruction of humanity. Fragments: Fifteen

“We have no clues from which we are able to tell in what period of planetary evolution we exist and whether the moon and the earth have time to await the corresponding evolution of ORGANIC life or not. But people who know may, of course, have exact information about it, that is, they may know at what stage in their possible evolution are the earth, the moon, and humanity. We cannot know this but we should bear in mind that the number of possibilities is never infinite. Fragments: Fifteen

“Of course there are very many people who consider that the life of humanity is not proceeding in the way in which according to their views it ought to go. And they invent various theories which in their opinion ought to change the whole life of humanity. One invents one theory. Another immediately invents a contradictory theory. And both expect everyone to believe them. And many people indeed do believe either one or the other. Life naturally takes its own course but people do not stop believing in their own or other people’s theories and they believe that it is possible to do something. All these theories are certainly quite fantastic, chiefly because they do not take into account the most important thing, namely, the subordinate part which humanity and ORGANIC life play in the world process. Intellectual theories put man in the center of everything; everything exists for him, the sun, the stars, the moon, the earth. They even forget man’s relative size, his nothingness, his transient existence, and other tilings. They assert that a man if he wishes is able to change his whole life, that is, to organize his life on rational principles. And all the time new theories appear evoking in their turn opposing theories; and all these theories and the struggle between them undoubtedly constitute one of the forces which keep humanity in the state in which it is at present. Besides, all these theories for general welfare and general equality are not only unrealizable, but they would be fatal if they were realized. Everything in nature has its aim and its purpose, both the inequality of man and his suffering. To destroy inequality would mean destroying the possibility of evolution. To destroy suffering would mean, first, destroying a whole series of perceptions for which man exists, and second, the destruction of the ‘shock,’ that is to say, the force which alone can change the situation. And thus it is with all intellectual theories. Fragments: Fifteen

“If you try to continue these definitions you will see that this plan, so simple at the first glance, makes it possible to determine the most subtle distinctions between classes of living beings, especially if you bear in mind that ‘hydrogens,’ taking them as we have by octaves, are very broad concepts. For example, we took it that a dog, a fish, and a flour worm alike feed on ‘hydrogen’ 1536, implying by this ‘hydrogen’ substances of ORGANIC origin which are not good for human food. Now, if we realize that these substances in their turn can be divided into definite classes, we shall see the possibility of very exact definitions. It is exactly the same with air and exactly the same with the medium. Fragments: Sixteen

“Organic life represents so to speak the earth’s organ of perception. Organic life forms something like a sensitive film which covers the whole of the earth’s globe and takes in those influences coming from the planetary sphere which otherwise would not be able to reach the earth. The vegetable, animal, and human kingdoms are equally important for the earth in this respect. A field merely covered with grass takes in planetary influences of a definite kind and transmits them to the earth. The same field with a crowd of people on it will take in and transmit other influences. The population of Europe takes in one kind of planetary influences and transmits them to the earth. The population of Africa takes in planetary influences of another kind, and so on. Fragments: Seven