Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) · 31 of 225 · tr. Nicholas Bessaraboff and Claude Bragdon
Chapter IV (part 3)
If, presupposing that we are moving upon a sphere, upon its equator or one of its parallels, then it will appear that we recognize as really existing only one meridian: those which are behind us have disappeared and those ahead of us have not appeared as yet.
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We are going forward like a blind man, who feels paving stones and lanterns and walls of houses with his stick and believes in the real existence of only that which he touches now , which he feels now .
That which has passed has disappeared and will never return!
That which has not as yet been does not exist.
The blind man remembers the route which he has traversed; he expects that ahead the way will continue, but he sees neither forward nor backward because he does not see anything ; because his instrument of knowledge—the stick—has a definite, and not very great length, and beyond the reach of his stick non-existence begins.
Wundt, in one of his books, called attention to the fact that our vaunted five organs of sense are in reality just feelers by which we feel the world around us.
We live groping about.
We never see anything .
We are always just feeling everything.
With the help of the microscope and the telescope, the telegraph and the telephone, we are extending our feelers a little, so to speak, but we are not beginning to see .
To say that we are seeing would be possible only in case we could know the past and the future.
But we do not see, and because of this we can never assure ourselves of that which we cannot feel .
p.
42 This is the reason why we count as really existing only that circle which our feelers grasp at a given moment.
Beyond that—darkness and non-existence.
But have we any right to think in this way?
Let us imagine a consciousness that is not bound by the conditions of sensuous receptivity.
Such a consciousness can rise above the plane upon which we are moving; it can see far beyond the limits of the circle enlightened by our usual consciousness; it can see that not only does the line upon which we are moving exist, but also all lines perpendicular to it which we are intersecting, which we have ever intersected, and which we shall intersect.
After rising above the plane this consciousness can see the plane, can convince itself that it is really a plane, and not a single line.
Then it can see the past and the future, lying together and existing simultaneously.
That consciousness which is not bound by the conditions of sensuous receptivity can outrun the stupid traveller, ascend the mountain to see in the distance the town to which he is going, and be convinced that this town is not being built anew for his arrival, but exists quite independently of the stupid traveller.
And that consciousness can look off and see on the horizon the towers of that city where that traveller had been, and be convinced that those towers have not fallen, that the city continues to stay and live just as it stayed and lived before the traveller's advent.
It can rise above the plane of time and see the spring behind and the autumn ahead, see simultaneously the budding flowers and ripening fruits.
It can make the blind man recover his sight and see the road along which he passed and that which still lies before him.
The past and the future cannot not exist , because if they do not exist then neither does the present exist.
Unquestionably they exist somewhere together, but we do not see them.
The present, compared with the past and the future, is the most unreal of all unrealities.
We are forced to admit that the past, the present and the future do not differ in anything, one from another; there exists just one present — the Eternal Now of Hindu philosophy.
But we do not perceive this, because in every given moment we experience just a p.
Themes
◆Active Contemplationpraxis
A form of meditation that uses imagery, imagination, or symbolic thought rather than purely empty stillness.
The text invites the reader to 'imagine a consciousness' that is not bound by sensuous receptivity, utilizing imagination as a contemplative tool.
All passages →◇Body As Obstacleanthropology
The material body viewed as a prison, tomb, or source of error that hinders spiritual knowledge and return.
[auto] Human senses are described as limited feelers that prevent true sight and knowledge of existence beyond the immediate moment.
All passages →◇Gnosis Direct Knowledgesoteriology
Salvation through direct experiential knowledge of the divine nature, not through faith, ritual, or moral works alone.
[auto] The passage contrasts ordinary sensory feeling with a higher consciousness that directly 'sees' and knows the true nature of reality beyond appearances.
All passages →◇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 explicitly describes ordinary humans as 'blind men' living by 'feelers' (senses) in a state of 'groping about,' which aligns perfectly with the Gurdjieff-Ouspensky concept of mechanical humanity.
All passages →◇Opposites Transcendedanthropology
The dissolution of binary oppositions (male/female, inner/outer, above/below) as a mark of spiritual completion.
[auto] It claims the dissolution of temporal oppositions where past, future, and present exist simultaneously without difference.
All passages →◇Paradox As Teachingethics
Using apparent contradiction, reversal, or riddle to destabilise ordinary understanding and induce insight.
[auto] The passage uses paradoxical statements such as the present being the 'most unreal of all unrealities' to challenge ordinary understanding.
All passages →◇Spiritual Ascentpraxis
A staged journey of the soul upward through heavenly realms or levels of being toward the divine source.
[auto] It describes a consciousness that can 'rise above the plane' and 'ascend the mountain' to perceive a broader reality beyond ordinary limits.
All passages →◇Unity Of Beingtheology
The doctrine that all existence is ultimately one substance or one divine reality; non-duality as a theological claim.
[auto] The text asserts that past, present, and future do not differ in existence and there is just one present or Eternal Now.
All passages →Related passages · 11 parallels
◆christian_mysticism|Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names|Chapter 7, Section 1d
“Furthermore, we must ask how it is that we know God when He cannot be perceived by the mind or the senses and is not a particular Being.
Perhaps ‘tis true to say that we know not God by His Nature (for this is unknowable and beyond the rea…”
Both passages explore the limitations of human perception and knowledge. Passage A discusses the constrained nature of human sensory experience and the idea of an eternal present, while Passage B delves into the unknowable nature of God and the limitations of human understanding, suggesting a higher form of knowledge through unknowing.
◆christian_mysticism|Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names|Chapter 9, Section 1b
“Dante passes outwards through the concentric spheres of space to the Empyrean which is beyond space and encloses it.
There he sees the Empyrean as a point and his whole journey from sphere to sphere as a journey inwards instead of outwards…”
Both passages explore the limitations of human perception and the concept of an expanded or higher consciousness that transcends these limitations. Passage A discusses the idea of a consciousness that can see beyond the present moment, encompassing past and future, while Passage B describes a mystical vision that transcends spatial boundaries and comprehends the divine in all things.
◆neoplatonism|Select Works of Plotinus|Select Works, Section 265 (part 2)
“And this is how Time is omnipresent: that Soul is absent from no fragment of the Kosmos just as our Soul is absent from no particle of ourselves.
As for those who pronounce Time a thing of no substantial existence, of no reality, they clea…”
Both passages explore the nature of time and perception, suggesting that our ordinary consciousness is limited and that a higher or more expansive consciousness can perceive time differently. They both hint at the idea of an eternal now and the interconnectedness of past, present, and future.
◆neoplatonism|Select Works of Plotinus|Select Works, Section 267
“Section 1 1. Supposing we played a little before entering upon our serious concern and maintained that all things are striving after Contemplation, looking to Vision as their one end- and this, not merely beings endowed with reason but even…”
Both passages explore the nature of time and perception, suggesting that our ordinary consciousness is limited and that a higher or more expansive consciousness can perceive time differently. They both hint at the idea of an eternal now or a timeless reality beyond our usual experience.
◆neoplatonism|Select Works of Plotinus|Select Works, Section 330
“Section 10 10. The ordering principle is twofold; there is the principle known to us as the Demiurge and there is the Soul of the All; we apply the appellation "Zeus" sometimes to the Demiurge and sometimes to the principle conducting the u…”
Both passages explore the limitations of human perception and consciousness. They discuss how our senses and memory constrain our understanding of reality, and they propose a higher, more comprehensive form of consciousness that can perceive the totality of existence beyond the constraints of time and space.
◆neoplatonism|Select Works of Plotinus|Select Works, Section 368 (part 2)
“And, further, once we reject the theory that these images reach us by way of some outstreaming from the objects seen, there is no reason to think of the air being affected and passing on to us, in a progression of impression, what has been…”
Both passages explore the limitations of human perception and the need for a higher or transcendent form of knowledge. Passage A discusses the role of light in overcoming the darkness of the air to enable vision, while Passage B describes the limitations of sensory perception and the need for a consciousness that can rise above these limitations to perceive reality fully.
◆neoplatonism|Select Works of Plotinus|Select Works, Section 370 (part 2)
“Besides, even on this explanation, the mind must have previously been in contact with the object in the entire absence of intervenient; only if that has happened could contact through an intervenient bring knowledge, a knowledge by way of m…”
Both passages explore the limitations of human perception and the potential for a higher consciousness to transcend these limitations. Passage A discusses the idea of an eternal present and the inability of human senses to perceive the past and future, while Passage B examines the nature of vision and the possibility of perceiving remote objects without an intervening substance, suggesting a deeper unity of perception.
◆neoplatonism|Select Works of Plotinus|Select Works, Section 461
“Section 8 8. So that we are left wondering whence it came, from within or without; and when it has gone, we say, "It was here. Yet no; it was beyond!" But we ought not to question whence; there is no whence, no coming or going in place; now…”
Both passages discuss the nature of perception and the limitations of human understanding, emphasizing the idea of a higher, transcendent reality that is beyond ordinary sensory experience. They both point towards a unified, eternal reality that is not bound by the constraints of time and space.
◆neoplatonism|Select Works of Plotinus|Select Works, Section 708
“Section 4 4. The main part of the difficulty is that awareness of this Principle comes neither by knowing nor by the Intellection that discovers the Intellectual Beings but by a presence overpassing all knowledge. In knowing, soul or mind a…”
Both passages discuss the limitations of human perception and the potential for a higher consciousness to transcend these limitations. Passage A uses the metaphor of a blind man with a stick to illustrate the limited scope of human awareness, while Passage B describes the soul's journey beyond knowing to achieve unity and vision. Both texts emphasize the existence of a reality beyond ordinary perception.
◆neoplatonism|Select Works of Plotinus|Select Works, Section 716
“Section 11 11. This is the purport of that rule of our Mysteries: Nothing Divulged to the Uninitiate: the Supreme is not to be made a common story, the holy things may not be uncovered to the stranger, to any that has not himself attained t…”
Both passages discuss the limitations of human perception and the potential for a higher consciousness to transcend these limitations. They explore the idea of an eternal present and the interconnectedness of past, present, and future, though from different philosophical and mystical perspectives.