Media Insights

One of the first things that Gurdjieff demolishes as the causes of war are singular individuals. Gurdjieff says wars are not caused by Hitler or Idi Amin or Stalin. This is nonsense; they are figureheads. They are simply put forward by all of the propaganda itself. It pops up these false images. The causes of war lie in us.

Significance of Life on Earth

On the significance of life on Earth, I think probably the lateral octave, and the way in which he approached it, is broken out in considerable detail in In Search. The construction of the lateral octave is filling this great interval in the Ray of Creation, so that all life becomes absolutely essential to fulfill a certain task. That task is to provide certain forms and energies to continue the Ray. This is for the life of Earth and for the life of planets. So, it fills this great interval. He came, eventually, to put it in those terms. The Great Traditions have put it in many other terms, but this is so solidly Gurdjieffian in the sense that he puts it right down into real life. This is Microcosmos, Tetartocosmos, multi-celled beings, one-brained beings, two-brained beings–all of life plays a role in this, as well as Kesdjan and Higher Being-body–they all play a role in fulfilling this requirement, this need. So, the whole lateral octave is–in all the solar systems that have lateral octaves throughout the Universe–they all serve that purpose, so they are part of a great design in the expression of endlessness’s creative activities that, he came to see for himself. So, he put it in those terms, using those figures, if you will. What was the second part of your question?

Causes of War

MM: What are the causes of war?

KB: Causes of war? Yes, he approaches that, and I wrote a couple of chapters on it trying to get a little closer to his vision, what he saw. But, one of the first things that Gurdjieff demolishes as the causes of war are singular individuals. Gurdjieff says wars are not caused by Hitler or Idi Amin or Stalin. This is nonsense; they are figureheads. They are simply put forward by all of the propaganda itself. It pops up these false images. The causes of war lie in us, in our inner world, exactly like Krishnamurti would say–that when there is unresolved conflict inside of ourselves, we resolve them by putting them outside. Then, “it’s you; you sonofabitch! Get out of my way!” and on and on. Inevitably, then I pick up my gun. Then we glorify it, you know. We think oh, we stand for freedom in the world. So, the nonsense, the Kundabufferian nonsense has no limit placed on it. It can go on forever. It can become cosmic! And, unfortunately, we have some fundamentalist perspectives that want to make it cosmic.

So, the causes ultimately–and here is where Gurdjieff’s differentiation of good and evil becomes more and more essential to see, that evil is in us. Its ultimate source is egoism. So, the very thing that makes life in its first-brain activity, if you will, and even before that in Microcosmos and Tetartocosmos, is impulse of living–staying alive!

I have this little paper of Mrs. Popoff’s that she shared with us called, “A Real Man Wishes to Live Forever.” I had to puzzle over that because I know I’m not going to live forever. Yet, there is this statement: A real man wishes to live forever. Well, one can see this in so many ways. There is the return to God, the return to higher-being God, through higher reason and so forth. All of this that shows so well on the lateral octave that one can create a new Kesdjan and create a Higher Being-body, and then return to Holy Sun Absolute. That’s the end perspective, the end of that progression.

So, what stands in the way? The very same that also makes us distinctive. In other words, the wish to live. Even though it is individualized in living forms, it is enormously powerful–the most powerful thing that there is. This, I believe, is Gurdjieff’s core principle–that all this nonsense about good and evil in the world, and that they are, somehow or other, separate powers from the laws. This is a very destructive thing. This is the entry of Babylonian dualism into the life of man that was unbelievably destructive because it opens the door to this consideration of evil being something that has an existence separate from Man that it is out there in devils and evil things and all of this kind of thing. Gurdjieff insisted that it was Man’s egoism–that when he turns on himself and becomes God in his inner world, and refuses to be of service, then he becomes a monster. This is the ultimate cause of war; that all of us, either by passive agreement with the “rightness of our cause” and so on and so on. If I am so propagandized in my inner world that I think that the worst thing that could possibly happen to Europe was the invasion by Hitler, therefore, we have to do something about this, then I can dedicate myself and so on and then take up rifles and go over there and fight. But, that’s the dupe, that’s the propaganda. The people who are at the upper echelon of all that–all the way from people like Hitler and the Nazi movement–are also including all of the people in the United States that supported that and fed that and made billions of bucks off of it; they are just as responsible, ultimately.

So, the egoism is a very individuated thing, which at the same time can become a terrible monster when it becomes united in its egoism: We are right! We must stand against all this, and so forth. We have the right answer, and nobody else does. If you don’t believe this, we will simply do away with you. That’s how I understand what Gurdjieff saw.

You know, when Hassein finally asks him, “What can be done, Grandfather? What can be done?” He says, “Only Time alone . . . (I don’t know).” It’s a delightful end to the chapter because he kind of drops you off the edge of this cliff–I don’t know. There have been many efforts made, and throughout the whole chapter he takes up efforts that have been made in ancient China and the Far East and the Middle West for lifetimes–this has happened many times. The United Nations has been recreated many times. The effort of good men, who have been infected by these monsters. Then they turn it all upside down and it comes to nothing.