Here is another example of patterning in Beelzebub’s Tales taken from the fifth flight.  I already posted about a chiastic structure from that chapter which very closely precedes this example.  There are sub-stories or narratives (inner octaves) within the Tales which I think of as a sort of meta-language.  They play through or within the most obvious layer of interpretation, often completely at odds with it.  This will allow us to show similarities to the movements, in particular how this dissonance is related to the “pat your head, rub your belly” characteristic of the movements where one part of the body moves with a different energy or in a different direction than another. In Beelzebub’s Tales, we simply have two parts of the mind moving in different directions instead.

Our example is from page 317 of the Fifth Flight.  Beelzebub has just finished describing the great transmigration of races (which contained our chiasm as one of its sections) and goes on to point out how contemporary learned beings deal with this:

“A number of the ‘learned’ there now puff and blow with all their might to find out why and how it all occurred, so that they can tell everybody else about it.”

Here we receive the usual strain of apparent disdain and sarcasm.  These learned are ‘learned’ in quotation marks, that is, not truly learned.  They are vain and wish to be seen as learned by others.

Now, although it would appear that this is all the information we have at our disposal, we would be wrong to stop short here.  However, before explaining anything further, lets go back and visit another section of the book.  Later, we will return to this statement taken from the Fifth Flight and see it with new associations.

To do this we have to revisit the Fourth Sojourn.  The Fourth sojourn is the chapter exactly preceding Beelzebub’s Fifth Flight, and in it we learn the history of the Akhaldan learned society.

Speaking of this society, Beelzebub recounts seeing their emblem, the Sphinx, and receiving explanations about it from one of their members.  For the Akhaldans, the Sphinx represents Conscience.  Each part of the sphinx represents each of the three human brains as well as its essential contribution to Conscience.  The sphinx is described as having the legs of a lion, the trunk of a bull, and the wings of an eagle. It is also described as having, instead of a head, the breasts of a virgin.  The breasts are a very important part of the analogy, but they arent directly related to this post, so I wont be writing about them.  Instead I will focus on the lion, bull, and eagle.  Beelzebub’s tour guide, who explains to Beelzebub the meaning of the sphinx emblem, says:

“‘And this emblem of ours is understood by all of us, members of the society Akhaldan, in the following way:
“‘The trunk of this allegorical being, represented by the trunk of a “Bull,” means that the factors crystallized in us and which engender in our presences the impulses maleficent for us, those we have inherited, as well as those we have personally acquired, can be regenerated only by indefatigable labors, namely, by those labors for which among the beings of our planet, the Bull is particularly fitted.
“‘That this trunk rests on the legs of a “Lion” means that the said labors should be performed with that cognizance and feeling of courage and faith in one’s “might,” the property of which “might” is possessed among all the beings of the Earth in the highest degree by the possessor of these legs—the mighty Lion.
“‘The wings of the strongest and the highest soaring of all birds, the Eagle, attached to the Bull trunk, constantly remind the members of our society, that during the said labors and with the mentioned inner psychic properties of self-respect, it is necessary to meditate continually on questions not related to the direct manifestations required for ordinary being-existence.
(B’s Tales, 310)

Here we see that the bull relates to labors, the lion to might, and the eagle to questioning; we have the body, heart, and mind. Another section which gives us words meant to be associated with the questioning represented by the Eagle comes from Belcultassi’s story on page 295-296:

“And when, after incredible what are called ‘organic’ and ‘psychic’ efforts, he attained to this, he then without any mercy for these being-impulses which had become inherent in his presence, began to think and recall just when and what various being-impulses had arisen in his presence during the period preceding all this, and how he had consciously or unconsciously reacted to them.
“Analyzing himself in this manner, he began to recall just which impulses evoked which reactions in him, in his independently spiritualized parts, that is to say, in his body, in his feelings and in his thoughts, and the state of his essence when he reacted to anything more or less attentively, and how and when, in consequence of such reactions of his, he had manifested consciously with his “I” or had acted automatically under the direction of his instinct alone.
“And it was just then that this bearer of the later Saint Individual Belcultassi, recalling in this way all his former perceptions, experiencings, and manifestations, clearly constated in consequence, that his exterior manifestations did not at all correspond either to the perceptions or to the impulses definitely formed in him.
“Further, he then began to make similar sincere observations of the impressions coming from outside as well as those formed within himself, which were perceived by his common presence; and he made them all with the same exhaustive, conscious verifications of how these impressions were perceived by his separate spiritualized parts, how and on what occasions they were experienced by the whole of his presence and for what manifestations they became impulses.”

There are many more aspects to Belcultassi’s story.  The part I am emphasizing is the use of words like “how”, “when”, “on what occassions”.  Notice the specificity of Belcultassi’s observations.  This is clearly the domain of the mind, and it is not surprising Belcultassi is the “head” of the society Akhaldans.  In Beelzebub’s Tales, words or phrases like “how”, “how and why”, always relate us back to these stories and the role that the mind plays.  It is important to note that the Akhaldans are referred to as “learned”, a fact which will become more significant in a moment.

Coming all the way back around to our original passage, we now will read or hear the words contained in it with new associations:

“A number of the ‘learned’ there now puff and blow with all their might to find out why and how it all occurred, so that they can tell everybody else about it.”

Ive now highlighted the sections of our original passage with the same colors as the corresponding parts from the passage taken from the Fourth Sojourn.  These words should now have associations “stuck” to them from the section we read about the learned society Akhaldans’ sphinx.  “Puff and blow” associates us to the “indefatigable labors” of the bull.  “With all their might” associates us to the “might” of the lion.  Finally, “why and how it all occurred” relates us to the continual meditation on “questions not related to the direct manifestations required for ordinary being-existence “ symbolized by the eagle. (Notice how this description of the learned corresponds exactly to belcultassi, who makes great efforts to unbury his own psychological entanglement and then proceeds to “tell others all about it”, of course very discreetly.)

What is counter-intuitive here is that the passage, because of its outermost layer of interpretation, causes an expectation or a motion in one direction, while simultaneously, using the same words, creates a movement in quite another direction simultaneously.  That is, if these learned are puffing and blowing with all their might to find out how and why it all occurred, then they are engaging in a three-centered activity; what Gurdjieff refers to as active mentation.  Also, the addition of Belcultassi’s story tells us that “telling others all about it” is actually precisely what should be happening, but with the caveat that this is done discreetly and with careful understanding.

Very importantly, however, the superficial meaning of vain learned beings remains just as it is, and plays an important role in the secondary layer of meaning.  Im not going to open this up here, but will point it out as the relationship of these two kinds of learned beings which are being represented simultaneously here is presented elsewhere in the book as well.  (For instance, see the two kinds of learned beings in the Fifth flight, the two kinds of initiates in the chapter on Ashiata’s organization, and the two kind of learned beings in the chapter about the Law of Heptaparaparshinokh.)

At this point, most people unfamiliar with Gurdjieff’s writings ask why all of this is significant.  So we can draw lines between these two passages and infer two different meanings.  So what?

The most concise way to explain this is that by creating several points of view within the reader at one and the same time regarding these learned beings, Gurdjieff gives not only a means for developing the attention, but more specifically, a means for developing the ability to see others in a more holistic way. Another person isnt just a good or a bad guy, but both (and many things in-between). The passage itself, engaged in fully, gives the reader an entirely new experience of their own mind and forces operating in it. More importantly, because the reader must intentionally hold to points of view, it gives them a hand in their own capacity for thinking. The learned being of this passage is an object in the mind of the reader just as the reader’s wife or husband or child or friend is in life.  Its much easier to strengthen this function in the artificial laboratory or  neurological gym of Beelzebub’s Tales than in other situations, where there are already so many buttons that tend to distract and fragment.

This is also important for anyone who wishes to understand Gurdjieff’s theory of Art.  The creation of a state in the reader through a specific tasking of the attention (and, presumably, of the physical brain) corresponds entirely to Gurdjieff’s definition of Objective Art as the creation of an exact experiencing within each viewer according to their level of understanding.  It is also an example of the use of inexactitudes, which Gurdjieff claims in the chapter on art is foundational for his art theory, because the two levels of meaning, being opposite to each other, are “inexact” or contradictory.

Returning to the material, there are many more levels to this particular passage.  In one sense, it is a highly significant passage.  In another, it is insignificant because every other passage has such levels.  If you think of the fact that the learned beings with their puffing and blowing “contain” the story of the akhaldans, and imagine that passages from the akhaldan story contain yet other stories, it becomes much more clear what Gurdjieff is speaking about when he speaks of inner octaves and fractalism.

Another quote from the book that strengthens the point of view that words and phrases are meant to “remind” the reader of other stories in Beelzebub’s Tales:

“And so, after I had very attentively read over that opening chapter of the first series, which I had written in the said conditions, and when in my memory by association there had been recalled the texts of those many succeeding chapters…” (page 1186)

Here we find Gurdjieff himself saying that one section of the book evokes in his memory associations from other chapters.  This is entirely in keeping with his indirect method of hinting.  Even vital information about how to read Beelzebub’s Tales is given in a form that will increase the student’s capacity to pay attention.

A chiastic structure from the Tales, Beelzebub’s Fifth Flight.  Chiasm is a formula used in oral tradition partly for mnemonic purposes, that is, to help remember.  It was used by bards and storytellers to remember very long narratives, as well as served to maintain an accurate oral tradition. However, it has also been used to create patterns of meaning.  It causes an inference or resonance between two or more similar or dissimilar things that happen in different parts of the sequence of a story.

An example of a chiastic structure, each letter representing, for the case we are reviewing in Beelzebub’s Tales, a paragraph:

A
B
C
D
D
C
B
A

Traditionally, the central paragraphs, in this case designated at point “D”, forms the “turn” in the story.  Generally this is the point of greatest conflict.  You can see here that it is a turning point in which Beelzebub changes the story he is telling.
Extract from Fifth Flight (pages 315-316):
A


”During this time, that is to say, between my fourth and fifth visits, great changes occurred to the surface of your planet; many changes also occurred there in the concentrations of the places of settlement of these favorites of yours. For example, all those centers-of-culture of theirs on the continent Ashhark where I had been in person during my previous descents upon the Earth, namely, the countries of Tikliamish and Maralpleicie, had by the time of my fifth arrival there entirely ceased to exist.

B


“The cause of the destruction of these centers-of-culture of theirs and of the changes on the surface of this planet in general, was again a misfortune, the third for this ill-fated planet.



C
“This third misfortune was entirely of a local character and occurred because during several years there had proceeded in its atmosphere unprecedented what are called ‘accelerated-displacements-of-the-parts-of-the-atmosphere’; or, as your favorites there would say, ‘great winds.’



D


“The cause of these abnormal displacements or great winds at that time was once again those two fragments which had been separated from this planet of yours during the first great calamity, and which afterwards became independent small planets of this solar system, and are now called Moon and Anoolios.



D


”Strictly speaking, the main cause of this terrestrial misfortune was only the larger of these separated parts, namely, the Moon; the smaller fragment, Anoolios, played no part in it whatsoever.

C
“The accelerated-displacements in the Earth’s atmosphere resulted from the following:

”When the atmosphere on the small, accidentally arisen planet Moon had been finally formed, and the Moon, according to the already mentioned law of ‘Catching-up,’ continued to fall back upon its fundamental mass by the path already then established, and this newly arisen definite presence on the Moon had not yet acquired its own harmony within the common-system-harmony-of-movement, then the what is called ‘Osmooalnian-friction’ which was, so to say, not harmonized with the whole, evoked in the atmosphere of the Earth the mentioned accelerated-displacements or great winds.

B
“These unprecedented great winds then began, by the force of their currents, as it is said, to wear down the elevated ‘terra-firma-parts’ and to fill up the corresponding ‘depressions.’

A
“Such depressions were also the two countries of the continent Ashhark upon which the process of existence was chiefly concentrated of the second and third groups of beings of contemporary Asia, that is to say, the main parts of the countries Tikliamish and Maralpleicie.”

summary:
A  Tikliamish and Maralpleicie



B  the changes on the surface of this planet

C “‘accelerated-displacements-of-the-parts-of-the-atmosphere’; ‘great winds.’



D
”The cause, Moon and Anoolios.



D
 “The cause, Moon; Anoolios plays no part whatsoever,

C “The accelerated-displacements; accelerated-displacements or great winds.

B  wear down the elevated ‘terra-firma-parts’ and to fill up the corresponding ‘depressions.’



A  Tikliamish and Maralpleicie.”

This is one of hundreds of similar examples.  Others are “buried” beneath several layers of interpretation and much more difficult to see. Here you can see that G moves from the human collective level, to global, to atmospheric, and up to planetary, after which he goes back down.  The use of these kinds of patterns varies quite a lot: some ladders are 7 tiered, some appear only to move “up”, others “down”, and many other variations.

One interesting aspect of this is that right at the turning point when the movement of the metaphor begins to go “down” the scale again, the viewpoint expressed by Beelzebub changes. He goes from saying that both the moon and anulios cause it to saying only the moon caused it.  We’ll leave interpretation to the reader.

Another aspect that is worth while to notice and which applies to other cases of patterning is the subtle change in representation.  For instance, in the material I have colored blue, Gurdjieff repeats nearly the same thing but with more detail the second time. The first time he says there were great changes to the earth and loss of the centers of culture, but doesnt say what those general changes to the earth were. In the second, he fills in some of this information.  This is a ubiquitous techniquie he uses of giving out a very little information at a time, postponing further information until later.