George Gurdjeff, Belzebub’s Tales to His Grandson

Gurdjeff’s Belzebub certainly counts among the most arcane fiction ever put on paper. And that not only because the Belzebub, commonly identified with the devil, appears as the most benevolent character in the history of mankind. The 1000-something pages oeuvre in which Belzebub tells his adventures on earth  to his grandson Hassein while they are cruising space from Mars to Jupiter gives a rather damning account of human behavior through the ages and makes quite a mockery of sapiens, especially in modern times. The grandson, who takes a compassionate interest into the fate of these “three-brained-beings” asks a final question at the end of Gurdjeff’s opus magnum, right after the apotheosis of his grandfather restoring Belzebub to his original status of a heavenly being next to the center of ‘One and All’. We find the answer compelling for its applications in what society is going through at this very moment and therefore render the episode in full:

            …. When they sat down in their usual places, but not this time with the unconstraint they had formerly shown, Beelzebub turned to Hassein and said: “First of all, my boy, I give you my word that when we get home—unless some event due to external causes independent of our essence prevents it—I will explain to you everything relating to your favorites that I promised to, but for some reason or other during this voyage of ours on the ship Karnak I have left unexplained. Meanwhile, if you have a particular question that needs explanation now, ask it. But I warn you that we have not enough time for me to reply in the form customary to our talks during this time, so try to formulate your question in such a way that my answer may also be brief. – By such a question you can even show me once more to what extent your logical mentation has developed during my tales about the strange psyche of the three-centered beings arising and existing on the planet Earth.

At this proposal of his grandfather, Hassein thought deeply for rather a long time, and then, in a somewhat exalted mood, spoke as follows: “Sacred Podkoolad and fundamental cause of the cause of my arising! After the solemnity which has just taken place—when your sacred essence was coated with a corresponding visible exterior and when thereby its full significance, which until then could not be perceived or understood by every three-brained being, became clear and perceptible to me, as well as to every other cosmic unit except yourself—every word spoken by you and every counsel of yours has for me the force of law. I must therefore strive with the whole of my presence to carry out the suggestion you have just made to me and try to formulate my question as well and as briefly as possible.  – Sacred Podkoolad, and cause of the cause of my arising!  – In order that the convictions formed in me during this time, thanks to your explanations of the abnormalities proceeding on the Earth, may become definitively crystallized in me, I still wish very much to have your personal and sincere opinion about the following:

How would you reply if our All-Embracing Creator Endlessness Himself were to summon you before Him and ask you this: ” ‘Beelzebub’ ” ‘You, who are one of the hoped-for, accelerated results of all My actualizations, manifest briefly the conclusions of your impartial observations and studies over long centuries of the psyche of the three-centered beings arising on the planet Earth, and say whether it is still possible by any means to save them and to direct them into the becoming path. ‘ “

Having said this, Hassein rose and, standing in a posture of reverence, looked expectantly at Beelzebub. Ahoon also rose. Beelzebub, smiling lovingly at this question of Hassein, first said that he was now quite convinced that his tales had brought his grandson the results he had wished for, then, in a serious tone, he went on to say that if our All-Embracing Uni-Being Creator should indeed summon him and ask him such a question, he would answer . . . Suddenly Beelzebub himself arose and, stretching his right arm forward and his left arm back, directed his gaze somewhere far off, and it seemed as though he were piercing the very depths of space. Simultaneously, “something pale yellow” little by little appeared around Beelzebub, and began to envelop him, and it was in no way possible to understand or to discern its origin—whether it emanated from Beelzebub himself or was coming to him through space from sources outside of him. In the midst of this cosmic actualization, incomprehensible to all threebrained beings, Beelzebub, in a loud voice not usual for him, proclaimed in penetrating tones:

“Thou All and the Allness of my Wholeness! “The sole means now of saving the beings of the planet Earth would be to implant in their presence a new organ, an organ like kundabuffer, but this time having such properties that every one of these unfortunates, during the process of his existence, should constantly sense and be aware of the inevitability of his own death, as well as of the death of everyone upon whom his eyes, or attention, rest. “Only such a sensation and such an awareness could destroy the egoism now so completely crystallized in them that it has swallowed up the whole of their essence, and at the same time uproot that tendency to hate others which flows from it—the tendency that engenders those mutual relationships which are the chief cause of all their abnormalities, unbecoming to three-brained beings and maleficent for them and for the whole of the Universe. “

• End of Belzebubs Tales to His Grandson     –

George Gurdjieff. Beelzebubs Tales To His Grandson (Kindle Locations 14335-14369).