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Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) · 10 of 225 · tr. Nicholas Bessaraboff and Claude Bragdon

Page 4 (part 3)

Just as Goethe's Werther , with its sex-sentimentality, is said to have provoked an epidemic of suicides, so may Tertium Organum —which restores love to that high heaven from whence descend every beauty and benison—inaugurate a renascence of love and joy. From one point of view this is a terrible book: there is a revolution in it—a revolution of the very poles of thought. Some it will rob of their dearest illusions, it will cut the very ground from beneath their feet, it will consign them to the Abyss. It is a great destroyer of complacency. Yes, this is a dangerous book—but then, life is like that. _______ It is beyond the province of this Introduction either to outline the Ouspenskian philosophy at any length, or to discuss it critically; but some slight indication of its drift may be of assistance to the reader. The book might have appropriately been called A Study of Consciousness , for Ouspensky comes early to the conclusion that all other methods of approach to an understanding of the "enigmas of the world" are vain. Chapters I to VII, inclusive, deal with the problem of the world-order by the objective method. The author erects an elaborate scaffolding for his future edifice, and after it has served its purpose, throws it down. Aware of the deficiencies p. 5 of the objective method and having made the reader conscious of them too, he suddenly alters his system of attack. From chapter VIII onward, he undertakes the study of the world-order from the standpoint of subjectivity—of consciousness. By a method both ingenious and new he correlates the different grades of consciousness observable in nature—those of vegetable-animal, animal and man—with the space sense, showing that as consciousness changes and develops, the sense of space changes and develops too. That is to say, the dimensionality of the world depends on the development of consciousness. Man, having reached the third stage in that development, has a sense of three-dimensional space—and for no other reason. Ouspensky concludes that nothing except consciousness unfolds, develops, and as there appears to be no limit to this development, he conceives of space as the multi-dimensional mirror of consciousness and of time and motion as illusion—what appears to be time and motion being in reality only the movement of consciousness upon a higher space. The problem of superior states of consciousness in which "there shall be time no longer" is thus directly opened up, and in discussing their nature and method of attainment, he quotes freely from the rich literature of mysticism. Instead of attempting to rationalize these higher states of consciousness, as some authors do, he applies to them the logic of intuition —" Tertium Organum "—paradoxical from the standpoint of ordinary reason, but true in relation to the noumenal world. Joseph Conrad and Ford Madox Hueffer once wrote a novel called The Inheritors and by this they meant the people of the fourth dimension. Though there is small resemblance between Ouspensky's "superman" and theirs, it is his idea also that those of this world who succeed in developing higher-dimensional, or "cosmic" consciousness will indeed inherit—will control and regulate human affairs by reason of their superior wisdom and power. In this, and in this alone, dwells the "salvation" of the world. His superman is the "just man made perfect" of the Evangelist. The struggle for mastery between the blind and unconscious forces of materialism on the one hand, and the spiritually illumined on the other, is already upon us, and all conflicts between nations, peoples p. 6 and classes must now be interpreted in terms of this greater warfare between "two races" of men, in which the superior minority will either conquer or disappear.
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Themes
Correspondencecosmology

The Hermetic axiom that the structure of the cosmos is reflected at every scale — 'as above, so below; as within, so without' — making each level a legible map of the others.

The author correlates grades of consciousness with the sense of space, showing inner development maps to outer reality.

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Cosmic Dualismtheology

Ontological opposition between two primal principles (light/darkness, truth/lie, spirit/matter) as the fundamental structure of reality.

The passage frames a struggle between 'blind and unconscious forces of materialism' and the 'spiritually illumined,' describing a conflict between 'two races' of men.

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Gnosis Direct Knowledgesoteriology

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

Salvation is described as dwelling in the 'superior wisdom and power' of those who develop higher-dimensional consciousness.

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Inner Lightanthropology

The divine spark or luminous quality residing within the human person, potentially recognisable through introspection.

The 'spiritually illumined' are contrasted with materialism, suggesting an internal source of light or consciousness.

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Kingdom Withinanthropology

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

The dimensionality of the world depends on the development of consciousness, placing the source of reality within the subject.

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Mechanical Humanityanthropology

Gurdjieff and Ouspensky's claim that ordinary human beings live in a state of waking sleep, reacting mechanically without unified will or consciousness, and that the spiritual path begins with recognising this condition.

[auto] The passage describes ordinary men as subject to 'blind and unconscious forces of materialism' in contrast to the 'spiritually illumined,' aligning with Ouspensky's core teaching on waking sleep.

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Microcosm Macrocosmcosmology

The human being as a small-scale image of the entire cosmos; the body, soul, and intellect mirroring the structure of the heavens and the divine — distinct from correspondence in that it makes the human the privileged mirror.

Man's consciousness determines the dimensionality of the world, making the human mind a mirror or determinant of cosmic structure.

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Numerical Mysticismtheology

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

The text correlates grades of consciousness with spatial dimensions (third stage/three-dimensional, fourth dimension), using numbers to structure metaphysical reality.

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Opposites Transcendedanthropology

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

[auto] The text explicitly mentions a 'revolution of the very poles of thought' and the 'Tertium Organum' as a logic beyond ordinary reason, signifying the transcendence of binary oppositions.

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Paradox As Teachingethics

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

The text explicitly defines the 'Tertium Organum' logic as paradoxical from the standpoint of ordinary reason yet true for the noumenal world.

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Pneumatic Electsoteriology

A spiritual elite who possess the divine spark and are predestined for salvation, contrasted with psychic (faithful) and hylic (material) persons.

It describes a 'superior minority' of spiritually illumined individuals who will conquer or disappear against blind materialistic forces.

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Self Knowledgesoteriology

The recognition of one's own true divine nature as the primary path to liberation; 'know thyself' as soteriology.

The book is characterized as a 'Study of Consciousness' where understanding the world depends on understanding one's own consciousness.

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Spiritual Ascentpraxis

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

The text details grades of consciousness from vegetable-animal to man and beyond into higher-dimensional states.

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Theosis Deificationsoteriology

The doctrine — central to Eastern Orthodox and Maximian theology — that the human person is progressively transformed into a partaker of the divine nature by grace, not merely justified or united in passing ecstasy.

The 'superman' is identified as the 'just man made perfect,' indicating a transformation into a perfected state.

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Unity Of Beingtheology

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

Ouspensky concludes that nothing except consciousness unfolds, presenting space as merely a mirror of this singular developing reality.

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