← Home
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) · 5 of 225 · tr. Nicholas Bessaraboff and Claude Bragdon

Chapter I (part 4)

New forms of knowledge. The ideas of Plotinus. Different forms of consciousness. Sleep (the potential state of consciousness). Dreams (consciousness en-closed in itself, reflected from itself). Waking consciousness (dualistic sensation of the world, the division of the I and the Not-I). Ecstasy ( the liberation of the Self). Turiya (the absolute consciousness of all, as of the self). "The dewdrop slips into the shining sea." Nirvana . 232 CHAPTER XX The sense of infinity. The neophyte's first ordeal. An intolerable sadness. The loss of everything real. What would an animal feel on becoming a man? The p. xi transition to the new logic. Our logic as founded on the observation of the laws of the phenomenal world. Its invalidity for the study of the world of noumena. The necessity for another logic. Analogy between the axioms of logic and of mathematics. TWO MATHEMATICS. The mathematics of real magnitudes (infinite and variable); and the mathematics of unreal, imaginary magnitudes (finite and constant). Transfinite numbers—numbers lying beyond INFINITY. The possibility of different infinities. 243 CHAPTER XXI Man's transition to a higher logic. The necessity for rejecting everything "real." "Poverty of the spirit." The recognition of the infinite alone as real. Laws of the infinite. Logic of the finite—the Organon of Aristotle and the Novum Organum of Bacon. Logic of the infinite—Tertium Organum. The higher logic as an instrument of thought, as a key to the mysteries of nature, to the hidden side of life, to the world of noumena. A definition of the world of noumena on the basis of all the foregoing. The impression of the noumenal world on an unprepared consciousness. "The thrice unknown darkness in the contemplation of which all knowledge is resolved into ignorance." 254 CHAPTER XXII Theosophy of Max Müller. Ancient India. Philosophy of the Vedânta. Tat twam asi . Knowledge by means of the expansion of consciousness as a reality. Mysticism of different ages and peoples. Unity of experiences. Tertium Organum as a key to mysticism. Signs of the noumenal world. Treatise of Plotinus On Intelligible Beauty as a misunderstood system of higher logic Illumination in Jacob Boehme. "A harp of many strings, of which each string is a separate instrument, while the whole is only one harp." Mystics of The Love of the Good . St. Avva Dorotheus and others. Clement of Alexandria. Lao-Tzu^ and Chuang-Tzu. Light on the Path . The Voice of the Silence . Mohammedan mystics. Poetry of the Sufis. Mystical states under narcotics. The Anaestetic Revelation . Experiments of Prof. James. Dostoyevsky on "time" ( The Idiot ). Influence of nature on the soul of man. 270 CHAPTER XXIII Cosmic Consciousness of Dr. Bucke. The three forms of consciousness according to Dr. Bucke. Simple consciousness, or the consciousness of animals. Self-consciousness, or the consciousness of men. Dr. Bucke's fundamental error. Cosmic consciousness. In what is it expressed? Sensation, perception, concept, higher MORAL concept—creative intuition. Men of cosmic consciousness. Adam's fall into sin. The knowledge of good and evil. Christ and the salvation of man. Commentary on Dr. Bucke's book. Birth of the new humanity. Two races. SUPERMAN. Table of the four forms of the manifestation of consciousness 306 CONCLUSION 333 TABLE OF THE FOUR FORMS OF CONSCIOUSNESS 337
Themes
◆Gnosis Direct Knowledgesoteriology

Salvation through direct experiential knowledge of the divine nature, not through faith, ritual, or moral works alone.

The text advocates for knowledge by means of the expansion of consciousness as a reality and a key to mysticism.

All passages →
◆Kingdom Withinanthropology

The claim that the divine realm is present inside the individual, accessible without external mediation.

Knowledge is described as coming from the expansion of consciousness as a reality within the individual.

All passages →
◆Mystical Unionsoteriology

The merging of the individual soul or self with the divine, transcending personal identity.

The passage centrally describes Turiya and Nirvana as the merging of self with all, exemplified by the dewdrop slipping into the sea.

All passages →
◆Numerical Mysticismtheology

Numbers, proportions, and mathematical relationships as the underlying structure of divine reality.

The passage explicitly discusses two mathematics, transfinite numbers, and the logic of the infinite as structural realities.

All passages →
◆Opposites Transcendedanthropology

The dissolution of binary oppositions (male/female, inner/outer, above/below) as a mark of spiritual completion.

The core theme of Tertium Organum is the transition to a higher logic that transcends the dualistic division of I and Not-I.

All passages →
◆Paradox As Teachingethics

Using apparent contradiction, reversal, or riddle to destabilise ordinary understanding and induce insight.

The text presents the resolution of knowledge into ignorance and the necessity of rejecting the real to find the infinite.

All passages →
◆Spiritual Ascentpraxis

A staged journey of the soul upward through heavenly realms or levels of being toward the divine source.

The text outlines a transition from waking consciousness to higher logic and cosmic consciousness as a staged journey.

All passages →
◆Unity Of Beingtheology

The doctrine that all existence is ultimately one substance or one divine reality; non-duality as a theological claim.

The text emphasizes the unity of experiences across mystics and defines Turiya as the absolute consciousness of all as of the self.

All passages →
◇Poverty Of Spiritanthropology

Eckhart's radical reading of Matthew 5:3 — the saint as one who wants nothing, knows nothing, and has nothing, having emptied even the will and the self with which to receive God; distinct from renunciation_of_wealth (material poverty).

[auto] The text explicitly lists 'Poverty of the spirit' in Chapter XXI as a necessity for rejecting everything 'real' to recognize the infinite.

All passages →
Related passages · 5 parallels
◆neoplatonism|Select Works of Plotinus|Select Works, Section 274 (part 1)
“Section 8 8. From this basis we proceed: In the advancing stages of Contemplation rising from that in Nature, to that in the Soul and thence again to that in the Intellectual-Principle itself- the object contemplated becomes progressively…”
Both passages discuss the concept of different forms of consciousness and the progression towards higher states of awareness. They explore the unity of the knower and the known, and the transcendence of ordinary logic and perception to reach a higher, more unified understanding of reality.
◆neoplatonism|Select Works of Plotinus|Select Works, Section 275 (part 1)
“Section 9 9. Clearly a Being of this nature is not the primal existent; there must exist that which transcends it, that Being [the Absolute], to which all our discussion has been leading. In the first place, Plurality is later than Unity.…”
Both passages explore the concept of different forms of consciousness and the progression towards higher states of awareness. They discuss the unity of the knower and the known, and the transcendence of ordinary logic to understand higher realities.
◆neoplatonism|Select Works of Plotinus|Select Works, Section 420
“Section 4 4. But there is yet another way to this knowledge: Admiring the world of sense as we look out upon its vastness and beauty and the order of its eternal march, thinking of the gods within it, seen and hidden, and the celestial spir…”
Both passages explore the concept of higher states of consciousness and the nature of reality beyond the physical world. Passage A discusses various forms of consciousness and the transition to a higher logic, while Passage B describes the Intellectual-Principle and the archetypal world as the true Golden Age, both emphasizing the unity and perfection of the higher realm.
◆neoplatonism|Select Works of Plotinus|Select Works, Section 424
“Section 8 8. This is the explanation of Plato's Triplicity, in the passage where he names as the Primals the Beings gathered about the King of All, and establishes a Secondary containing the Secondaries, and a Third containing the Tertiarie…”
Both passages explore the concept of higher states of consciousness and the nature of reality beyond the physical world. They discuss the idea of an intellectual or noumenal realm that transcends ordinary perception, with references to mystical experiences and the unity of all existence.
◆renaissance_hermeticism|The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part II (Gli Eroici Furori)|Second Dialoguee
“Now, it must be said that the outcome of the mind is that alone which is always by it desired, sought for, and embraced, and that which is more enjoyed than anything else, with which it is filled, comforted and becomes better,—that is Truth…”
Both passages explore the concept of higher forms of consciousness and the pursuit of truth beyond the physical world. They discuss the limitations of conventional logic and the need for a deeper understanding that transcends ordinary perception.