“It is impossible to study a system of the UNIVERSE without studying man. At the same time it is impossible to study man without studying the UNIVERSE. Man is an image of the world. He was created by the same laws which created the whole of the world. By knowing and understanding himself he will know and understand the whole world, all the laws that create and govern the world. And at the same time by studying the world and the laws that govern the world he will learn and understand the laws that govern him. In this connection some laws are understood and assimilated more easily by studying the objective world, while man can only understand other laws by studying himself. The study of the world and the study of man must therefore run parallel, one helping the other. Fragments: Four

“The fewer laws there are in a given world, the nearer it is to the will of the Absolute; the more laws there are in a given world, the greater the mechanicalness, the further it is from the will of the Absolute. We live in a world subject to forty-eight orders of laws, that is to say, very far from the will of the Absolute and in a very remote and dark comer of the UNIVERSE. Fragments: Four

WE TAKE the three-dimensional UNIVERSE and consider the world as a world of matter and force in the simplest and most elementary meaning of these terms. Higher dimensions and new theories of matter, space, and time, as well as other categories of knowledge of the world which are unknown to science, we will discuss later. At present it is necessary to represent the UNIVERSE in the diagrammatic form of the ‘ray of creation,’ from the Absolute to the moon. Fragments: Five

“The ‘ray of creation’ seems at the first glance to be a very elementary plan of the UNIVERSE, but actually, as one studies it further, it becomes clear that with the help of this simple plan it is possible to bring into accord, and to make into a single whole, a multitude of various and conflicting philosophical as well as religious and scientific views of the world. The idea of the ray of creation belongs to ancient knowledge and many of the naive geocentric systems of the UNIVERSE known to us are actually either incompetent expositions of the idea of the ray of creation or distortions of this idea due to literal understanding. Fragments: Five

“Summing up all that has been said before about the ray of creation, from world 1 down to world 96, it must be added that the figures by which worlds are designated indicate the number of forces, or orders of laws, which govern the worlds in question. In the Absolute there is only one force and only one law — the single and independent will of the Absolute. In the next world there are three forces or three orders of laws. In the next there are six orders of laws; in the following one, twelve; and so on. In our world, that is, the earth, forty-eight orders of laws are operating to which we are subject and by which our whole life is governed. If we lived on the moon we should be subject to ninety-six orders of laws, that is, our life and activity would be still more mechanical and we should not have the possibilities of escape from mechanicalness that we now have. “As has been said already, the will of the Absolute is only manifested in the immediate world created by it within itself, that is, in world 3; the immediate will of the Absolute does not reach world 6 and is mani-fested in it only in the form of mechanical laws. Further on, in worlds 12, 24, 48, and 96, the will of the Absolute has less and less possibility of manifesting itself. This means that in world 3 the Absolute creates, as it were, a general plan of all the rest of the UNIVERSE, which is then further developed mechanically. The will of the Absolute cannot manifest itself in subsequent worlds apart from this plan, and, in manifesting itself in accordance with this plan, it takes the form of mechanical laws. This means that if the Absolute wanted to manifest its will, say, in our world, in opposition to the mechanical laws in operation there, it would then have to destroy all the worlds intermediate between itself and our world. Fragments: Five

“The process of the growth and the warming of the moon is connected with life and death on the earth. Everything living sets free at its death a certain amount of the energy that has ‘animated’ it; this energy, or the ‘souls’ of everything living — plants, animals, people — is attracted to the moon as though by a huge electromagnet, and brings to it the warmth and the life upon which its growth depends, that is, the growth of the ray of creation. In the economy of the UNIVERSE nothing is lost, and a certain energy having finished its work on one plane goes to another. Fragments: Five

“The next idea which it is necessary to master is the materiality of the UNIVERSE which is taken in the form of the ray of creation. Everything in this UNIVERSE can be weighed and measured. The Absolute is as material, as weighable and measurable, as the moon, or as man. If the Absolute is Cod it means that God can be weighed and measured, resolved into component elements, ‘calculated,’ and expressed in the form of a definite formula. Fragments: Five

“Matter or substance necessarily presupposes the existence of force or energy. This does not mean that a dualistic conception of the world is necessary. The concepts of matter and force are as relative as everything else. In the Absolute, where all is one, matter and force are also one. But in this connection matter and force are not taken as real principles of the world in itself, but as properties or characteristics of the phenomenal world observed by us. To begin the study of the UNIVERSE it is sufficient to have an elementary idea of matter and energy, such as we get by immediate observation through our organs of sense. The ‘constant’ is taken as material, as matter, and ‘changes’ in the state of the ‘constant,’ or of matter, are called manifestations of force or energy. All these changes can be regarded as the result of vibrations or undulatory motions which begin in the center, that is, in the Absolute, and go in all directions, crossing one another, colliding, and merging together, until they stop altogether at the end of the ray of creation. Fragments: Five

“Thus instead of one concept of matter we have seven kinds of matter, but our ordinary conception of materiality only with difficulty embraces the materiality of worlds 96 and 48. The matter of world 24 is much too rarefied to be regarded as matter from the scientific point of view of our physics and chemistry; such matter is practically hypothetical. The still finer matter of world 12 has, for ordinary investigation, no characteristics of materiality at all. All these matters belonging to the various orders of the UNIVERSE are not separated into layers but are intermixed, or, rather, they interpenetrate one another. We can get an idea of similar interpenetration of matters of different densities from the penetration of one matter by another matter of different densities known to us. A piece of wood may be saturated with water, water may in its turn be filled with gas. Exactly the same relation between different kinds of matter may be observed in the whole of the UNIVERSE: the finer matters permeate the coarser ones. Fragments: Five

“All the matter of the world that surrounds us, the food that we eat, the water that we drink, the air that we breathe, the stones that our houses are built of, our own bodies — everything is permeated by all the matters that exist in the UNIVERSE. There is no need to study or investigate the sun in order to discover the matter of the solar world: this matter exists in ourselves and is the result of the division of our atoms. In the same way we have in us the matter of all other worlds. Man is, in the full sense of the term, a ‘miniature UNIVERSE’; in him are all the matters of which the UNIVERSE consists; the same forces, the same laws that govern the life of the UNIVERSE, operate in him; therefore in studying man we can study the whole world, just as in studying the world we can study man. Fragments: Five

“But a complete parallel between man and the world can only be drawn if we take ‘man’ in the full sense of the word, that is, a man whose inherent powers are developed. An undeveloped man, a man who has not completed the course of his evolution, cannot be taken as a complete picture or plan of the UNIVERSE — he is an unfinished world. Fragments: Five

“As has been said already, the study of oneself must go side by side with the study of the fundamental laws of the UNIVERSE. The laws are the same everywhere and on all planes. But the very same laws manifesting themselves in different worlds, that is, under different conditions, produce different phenomena. The study of the relation of laws to the planes upon which they are manifested brings us to the study of relativity. Fragments: Five

“In order to understand the mechanics of the UNIVERSE it is necessary to resolve complex phenomena into these elementary forces. Fragments: Seven

“The first fundamental law of the UNIVERSE is the law of three forces, or three principles, or, as it is often called, the law of three. According to this law every action, every phenomenon in all worlds without exception, is the result of a simultaneous action of three forces — the positive, the negative, and the neutralizing. Of this we have already spoken, and in future we will return to this law with every new line of study. Fragments: Seven

“The next fundamental law of the UNIVERSE is the law of seven or the law of octaves. Fragments: Seven

“In order to understand the meaning of this law it is necessary to regard the UNIVERSE as consisting of vibrations. These vibrations proceed in all kinds, aspects, and densities of the matter which constitutes the UNIVERSE, from the finest to the coarsest; they issue from various sources and proceed in various directions, crossing one another, colliding, strengthening, weakening, arresting one another, and so on. Fragments: Seven

“If we grasp its full meaning the law of octaves gives us an entirely new explanation of the whole of life, of the progress and development of phenomena on all planes of the UNIVERSE observed by us. This law explains why there are no straight lines in nature and also why we can neither think nor do, why everything with us is thought, why everything happens with us and happens usually in a way opposed to what we want or expect. All this is the clear and direct effect of the ‘intervals,’ or retardations in the development of vibrations. Fragments: Seven

But in addition to this the lateral octave showed with particular clarity how easily and correctly things were classified in the system we were studying. Everything anomalous, unexpected, and accidental disappeared, and an immense and strictly thought-out plan of the UNIVERSE began to make its appearance. Fragments: Seven

AT ONE lecture G. began to draw the diagram of the UNIVERSE in an entirely new way. “So far we have spoken of the forces that create worlds,” he said, “of the process of creation proceeding from the Absolute. We will now speak of the processes which take place in the already created and existing world. But you must remember that the process of creation never stops, although, on a planetary scale, growth proceeds so slowly that if we reckon it in our time planetary conditions can be regarded as per-manent for us. Fragments: Nine

“Therefore, let us take the ‘ray of creation’ after the UNIVERSE has already been created. Fragments: Nine

“In order to study these radiations let us take the ‘ray of creation’ in an abridged form: Absolute-sun-earth-moon, or in other words let us imagine the ‘ray of creation’ in the form of three octaves of radiations: the first octave between the Absolute and the sun, the second octave between the sun and the earth, and the third octave between the earth and the moon; and let us examine the passage of radiations between these four fundamental points of the UNIVERSE. Fragments: Nine

“We have to find our place and understand our functions in this UNIVERSE, which is taken in the form of three octaves of radiations between four points. Fragments: Nine

“These three octaves of radiations, in which form we shall now imagine the UNIVERSE, will enable us to explain the relation of matters and forces of different planes of the world to our own life. Fragments: Nine

“It must be noted that the term ‘a point of the UNIVERSE’ which I have used, has Fragments: Nine

a quite definite meaning, namely, a ‘point’ represents a certain combination of hydrogens which is organized in a definite place and fulfills a definite function in one or another system. The concept ‘point’ cannot be replaced by the concept ‘hydrogen’ because ‘hydrogen’ means simply matter not limited in space. A point is always limited in space. At the same time, a ‘point of the UNIVERSE’ can be designated by the number of the ‘hydrogen’ which predominates in it or is central in it. Fragments: Nine

“These twelve ‘hydrogens’ represent twelve categories of matter contained in the UNIVERSE from the Absolute to the moon, and if it were possible to establish exactly which of these matters constitute man’s organism and act in it, this alone would determine what place man occupies in the world. Fragments: Nine

“This chemistry or alchemy regards matter first of all from the point of view of its functions which determine its place in the UNIVERSE and its relations to other matters and then from the point of view of its relation to man and to man’s functions. By an atom of a substance is meant a certain small quantity of the given substance that retains all its chemical, cosmic, and psychic properties, because, in addition to its cosmic properties, every substance also possesses psychic properties, that is, a certain degree of intelligence. The concept ‘atom’ may therefore refer not only to elements, but also to all compound matters possessing definite functions in the UNIVERSE or in the life of man. There can be an atom of water, an atom of air (that is, atmospheric air suitable for man’s breathing), an atom of bread, an atom of meat, and so on. An atom of water will in this case be one-tenth of one-tenth of a cubic millimeter of water taken at a certain temperature by a special thermometer. This will be a tiny drop of water which under certain conditions can be seen with the naked eye. Fragments: Nine

“The ‘table of hydrogens’ makes it possible to examine all substances making up man’s organism from the point of view of their relation to different planes of the UNIVERSE. And as every function of man is a result of the action of definite substances, and as each substance is connected with a definite plane in the UNIVERSE, this fact enables us to establish the relation between man’s functions and the planes of the UNIVERSE.” Fragments: Nine

I have preserved in my memory one episode. It happened at one of the repetitions of this lecture on the structure of matter in connection with the mechanics of the UNIVERSE. The lecture was read by P., a young engineer belonging to G.’s Moscow pupils, whom I have mentioned. Fragments: Nine

“The three-story factory represents the UNIVERSE in miniature and is constructed according to the same laws and on the same plan as the whole UNIVERSE. Fragments: Nine

“In order to understand the analogy between man, the human organism, and the UNIVERSE, let us take the world as we did before in the form of three octaves from the Absolute to the sun, from the sun to the earth, and from the earth to the moon. Each of these three octaves lacks a semitone between fa and mi and in each octave the place of this missing semitone is taken by a certain kind of ‘shock’ which is created artificially at the given point. If we now begin to look for an analogy between the three-story factory and the three octaves of the UNIVERSE, we ought to realize that the three ‘additional shocks’ in the three octaves of the UNIVERSE correspond to the three kinds of food entering the human organism. The ‘shock’ in the lower octave corresponds to physical food; this ‘shock’ is do 768 of the cosmic three-story factory. The ‘shock’ in the middle octave corresponds to air. It is do 192 of the cosmic factory. The ‘shock’ in the upper octave corresponds to impressions; it is do 48 of the cosmic factory. In the inner work of this cosmic three-story factory all three kinds of food undergo the same transformation as in the human factory, on the same plan and in accordance with the same laws. A further study of the analogy between man and the UNIVERSE is possible only after an exact study of the human machine and after the respective ‘places’ of each of the ‘hydrogens’ in our organism has been established exactly. This means that to proceed with any further study we must find the exact purpose of each ‘hydrogen,’ that is to say, each ‘hydrogen’ must be defined chemically, psychologically, physiologically, and anatomically, in other words, its functions, its place in the human organism, and, if possible, the peculiar sensations connected with it must be defined. Fragments: Nine

At one of the following meetings, after a fairly long talk on knowledge and being, G. said: “Strictly speaking, you cannot as yet speak of knowledge because you do not know with what knowledge begins. “Knowledge begins with the teaching of the cosmoses. “You know the expressions ‘macrocosm’ and ‘microcosm.’ This means ‘large cosmos’ and ‘small cosmos,’ ‘large world’ and ‘small world.’ The UNIVERSE is regarded as a ‘large cosmos’ and man as a ‘small cosmos,’ analogous to the large one. This establishes, as it were, the idea of the unity and the similarity of the world and man. Fragments: Ten

“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

“All cosmoses result from the action of the same forces and the same laws. Laws are the same everywhere. But they manifest themselves in a different, or at least, in not quite the same way on different planes of the UNIVERSE, that is, on different levels. Consequently cosmoses are not quite analogous one to another. If the law of octaves did not exist, the analogy between them would have been complete, but owing to the law of octaves there is no complete analogy between them, just as there is no complete analogy between the different notes of the octave. It is only three cosmoses, taken together, that are similar and analogous to any other three. 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

“In order to understand the meaning of the division into cosmoses and the relation of cosmoses to each other, it is necessary to understand what the relation of zero to infinity means. If we understand what this means, the principle of the division of the UNIVERSE into cosmoses, the necessity of such a division, and the impossibility of drawing for ourselves a more or less lucid picture of the world without this division will immediately become clear to us. Fragments: Ten

“As I have already said, the system of cosmoses, the exposition of which we have just heard, strikes me above all by the fact that it fully corresponds to the ‘period of dimension’ which is the basis of my New Model of the Universe, only this system of cosmoses goes still further and explains many things which were not clear in my model of the UNIVERSE. Fragments: Ten

G.’s lecture on cosmoses and the talk following it greatly aroused my curiosity. This was a direct transition from the “three-dimensional UNIVERSE” with which we had begun, to the problems which I had elaborated in the New Model of the Universe, that is, to the problems of space and time and higher dimensions, on which I had been working for several years. Fragments: Ten

“The symbols that were used to transmit ideas belonging to objective knowledge included diagrams of the fundamental laws of the UNIVERSE and they not only transmitted the knowledge itself but showed also the way to it. The study of symbols, their construction and meaning, formed a very important part of the preparation for receiving objective knowledge and it was in itself a test because a literal or formal understanding of symbols at once made it impossible to receive any further knowledge. Fragments: Fourteen

“Among the formulas giving a summary of the content of many symbols there was one which had a particular significance, namely the formula ‘As above, so below,’ from the ‘Emerald Tablets of Hermes Trismegistus.’ This formula stated that all the laws of the cosmos could be found in the atom or in any other phenomenon which exists as something completed according to certain laws. This same meaning was contained in the analogy drawn between the microcosm — man, and the macrocosm — the UNIVERSE. The fundamental laws of triads and octaves penetrate everything and should be studied simultaneously both in the world and in man. But in relation to himself man is a nearer and a more accessible object of study and knowledge than the world of phenomena outside him. Therefore, in striving towards a knowledge of the UNIVERSE, man should begin with the study of himself and with the realization of the fundamental laws within him. Fragments: Fourteen

“We have spoken earlier of the law of octaves, of the fact that every process, no matter upon what scale it takes place, is completely determined in its gradual development by the law of the structure of the seven-tone scale. In connection with this it has been pointed out that every note, every tone, if taken on another scale is again a whole octave. The ‘intervals’ between mi and fa and between si and do which cannot be filled by the intensity of the energy of the process in operation, and which require an outside ‘shock,’ outside help so to speak, connect by this very fact one process with other processes. From this it follows that the law of octaves connects all processes of the UNIVERSE and, to one who knows the scales of the passage and the laws of the structure of the octave, it presents the possibility of an exact cognition of everything and every phenomenon in its essential nature and of all its interrelations with phenomena and things connected with it. 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

“Speaking in general it must be understood that the enneagram is a universal symbol. All knowledge can be included in the enneagram and with the help of the enneagram it can be interpreted. And in this connection only what a man is able to put into the enneagram does he actually know, that is, understand. What he cannot put into the enneagram he does not understand. For the man who is able to make use of it, the enneagram makes books and libraries entirely unnecessary. Everything can be included and read in the enneagram. A man may be quite alone in the desert and he can trace the enneagram in the sand and in it read the eternal laws of the UNIVERSE. And every time he can learn something new, something he did not know before. Fragments: Fourteen

“These ‘schools of repetition’ were taken as a model for Christian churches — the form of worship in Christian churches almost entirely represents the course of repetition of the science dealing with the UNIVERSE and man. Individual prayers, hymns, responses, all had their own meaning in this repetition as well as holidays and all religious symbols, though their meaning has been forgotten long ago.” Fragments: Fifteen

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

“Partly in connection with what I have just said it is imperative that you should understand the principles of the classification and the definition of living beings from the cosmic point of view, from the point of view of their cosmic existence. In ordinary science classification is made according to external traits — bones, teeth, functions; mammals, vertebrates, rodents, and so on; in exact knowledge classification is made according to cosmic traits. As a matter of fact there are exact traits, identical for every-thing living, which allows us to establish the class and the species of a given creature with the utmost exactitude, both in relation to other creatures as well as to its own place in the UNIVERSE. Fragments: Sixteen

“What personally interests me most in this system of cosmoses is that I see in them the full ‘period of dimensions,’ of my New Model of the Universe. It is not merely a coincidence of details — it is absolutely identical. I do not know how it has come about; I have never heard of seven cosmoses related to one another in the ratio of zero to infinity. Nevertheless my ‘period of dimensions’ coincides with this absolutely exactly. Fragments: Ten

“And this last point seems to me to be connected with what G. calls the ‘principle of relativity.’ His principle of relativity has nothing in common with the principle of relativity in mechanics or with Einstein’s principle of relativity. It is the same again as in the New Model of the Universe; it is the principle of the relativity of existence.” Fragments: Ten

I had previously arrived at the same conclusions after experiments of my own described in the New Model of the Universe in the chapter “Experimental Mysticism,” but now I understood the reason why this was impossible. Fragments: Thirteen

I went into a separate house and again began work abandoned in St. Petersburg, on my book which afterwards appeared under the title A New Model of the Universe. Fragments: Eighteen

It was necessary to get abroad. I had marked down London as my final aim. First because I knew more people there and second because I thought that among the English I should find the greater response and a greater interest in the new ideas I now had, than anywhere else. Besides, when I was in London on my way to India before the war and on my return voyage at the beginning of the war I had decided to go there to write and publish my book, which had been begun in 1911, under the title of The Wisdom of the Cods, and which subsequently appeared under the title of A New Model of the Universe. As a matter of fact this book, in which I touched upon questions of religion and in particular upon methods for studying the New Testament, could not have been published in Russia. Fragments: Eighteen