Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) · 148 of 225 · tr. Nicholas Bessaraboff and Claude Bragdon
Chapter XVIII (part 11)
In an ardor of proselytism, desiring to popularize his moral views, he begins quite definitely to regard everything which is not in accord with his morality as hostile to it.
All this becomes "black" in his eyes.
Starting with the idea of utter freedom, by arguments, by compromises, he very easily convinces himself that it is necessary to fight freedom.
He already begins to admit a censure of thought.
The free expression of opinions contrary to his own seems to him inadmissible.
All this may be done with the best intentions, but the results of it are very well known.
There is no tyranny more ferocious than the tyranny of morality.
Everything is sacrificed to it.
And of course there is nothing so blind as such tyranny, as such "morality." Nevertheless humanity needs morality, but of a different kind—such as is founded on the real data of superior knowledge.
Humanity is passionately seeking for this, and perhaps will find it.
Then on the basis of this new morality will occur a great division, and those few who will be able to follow it will begin to rule others, or they will disappear altogether.
In any case, because of this new morality and those forces which it will engender, the contradictions of life will disappear, and those biped animals which constitute the majority of humanity will have no opportunity to pose as men any longer.
______ The organized forms of intellectual knowledge are: science , founded upon observation, calculation and experience; and philosophy , p.
230 founded upon the speculative method of reasoning and drawing conclusions.
The organized forms of emotional knowledge are: religion and art .
Religious teachings, taking on the character of different "cults" as they depart from the original "revelation," are founded entirely upon the emotional nature of man.
Magnificent temples, the gorgeous vestments of priests and acolytes, the solemn ritual of worship, processions, sacrifices, singing, music, dances—all these have as their aim the attuning of man in a certain way, the evoking in him of certain definite feelings.
The same purpose is served by religious myths, legends, stories of the lives of heroes and saints, prophecies, apocalypses—they all act upon the imagination, upon the feelings, although they fail to fulfil their original purpose, which is to transmit ideas, i.e., to serve knowledge.
The aim of it is to give God to man, to give him morality, i.e., to give him an accessible knowledge of the mysterious side of the world.
Religion may deviate from its true aim, may serve earthly interests and purposes, but its foundation is the search for truth, for God.
Art serves beauty , i.e., emotional knowledge of its own kind.
Art discovers beauty in everything, and compels man to feel it and therefore to know .
Art is a powerful instrument of knowledge of the noumenal world: mysterious depths, each one more amazing than the last, open to the vision of man when he holds in his hands this magical key.
But let him only think that this mystery is not for knowledge but for pleasure in it, and all the charm disappears at once.
Just as soon as art begins to take delight in that beauty which is already found , instead of the search for new beauty an arrestment occurs and art becomes a superfluous estheticism, encompassing man's vision like a wall.
The aim of art is the search for beauty , just as the aim of religion is the search for God and truth.
And exactly as art stops, so religion stops also as soon as it ceases to search for God and truth, thinking it has found them.
This idea is expressed in the precept: Seek .
.
.
the kingdom of God and his righteousness .
.
.
.
It does not say, find; but merely, seek!
______ p.
231 Science, philosophy, religion and art are forms of knowledge.
Final, collective cosmic judgment as an event in which the wicked are sentenced and the cosmos restored; distinct from psychopomp_journey (individual passage at death) and emphasising verdict where Zoroastrian frashokereti emphasises restoration.
The text foresees a 'great division' and the disappearance of life's contradictions based on the new morality, suggesting a future cosmic sorting.
Salvation through direct experiential knowledge of the divine nature, not through faith, ritual, or moral works alone.
[auto] The passage explicitly defines religion and art as forms of knowledge aimed at transmitting ideas about the mysterious side of the world rather than mere ritual or faith.
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 the majority of humanity as 'biped animals' who pose as men, reflecting the Fourth Way concept of mechanical man lacking true consciousness.
The dissolution of binary oppositions (male/female, inner/outer, above/below) as a mark of spiritual completion.
[auto] The passage states that on the basis of a new morality, 'the contradictions of life will disappear', indicating a dissolution of binary oppositions.
A spiritual elite who possess the divine spark and are predestined for salvation, contrasted with psychic (faithful) and hylic (material) persons.
[auto] The text predicts a division where 'those few' who follow the new morality will rule or disappear, contrasting them with the majority of humanity described as 'biped animals'.
Critique of outward religious observance that lacks inner transformation; form without substance.
[auto] The author critiques religious cults and rituals (vestments, processions) that fail to fulfill their original purpose of transmitting knowledge and searching for truth.