Beelzebub’s Tales to His Grandson
‘…the second fundamental cosmic law—the sacred Triamazikamno— consists of three independent forces; that is to say, this sacred law manifests itself everywhere and in everything in the Universe, without exception, in three separate and independent aspects.
“And these three aspects exist in the Universe under the following names:
The first, the Holy Affirming;
The second, the Holy Denying;
and The third, the Holy Reconciling.
“…Objective Science, among other statements about this sacred law and its three independent forces, has the following formulation: ‘A law whose consequences always become the cause of further consequences, and which always functions by means of three independent and quite opposite manifestations, latent within it as properties neither seen nor sensed’… —Chapter 17 – The arch-absurd
Views From the Real World
Everything in the world obeys the Law of Three, everything existing came into being in accordance with this law. Combinations of positive and negative principles can produce new results, different from the first and the second, only if a third force comes in…
The three forces or principles, issuing from the Absolute, have created the whole multitude of suns, one of which is our sun. Everything has emanations. The interaction of emanations produces new combinations. This refers to man, to the earth and to the microbe. Each of the suns also emanates, and emanations of the suns, by means of combinations of positive and negative matter, give rise to new formations. The result of one of these combinations is our earth, and the newest combination is our moon.
After the act of creation, existence and emanations go on. Emanations penetrate everywhere according to their possibilities. Thus emanations also reach man. —New York, March 1, 1924 – God the Word
Beelzebub’s Tales to His Grandson
“Three-brained beings have the possibility of personal self-perfecting because of the localization in their common presence of three centers, or three brains, upon which, when the Omnipresent Okidanokh undergoes the process of ‘djartklom,’ the three holy forces of the sacred Triamazikamno are deposited, and acquire the possibility of further, this time independent, actualizations.
“The point is that beings having this three-brained system can, by the conscious and intentional fulfilling of being-partkdolgduty, utilize for their own presence the three holy forces liberated from the Omnipresent Okidanokh by the process of ‘djartklom,’ …so…they can become individuals who have their own sacred law of Triamazikamno, and thereby the possibility…to actualize the functioning…of objective or divine Reason… —Chapter 17 – The arch-absurd
Gurdjieff’s Emissary in New York:
Talks and Lectures with A.R. Orage 1924-1931
“I” is under the Law of Three—individuality, consciousness and will. —Tuesday, 10 September 1929 – “I” and “It”
In Search of the Miraculous
“… Contemporary thought realizes…the necessity of…two forces for the production of a phenomenon: force and resistance, positive and negative magnetism, positive and negative electricity, male and female cells, and so on. But…
“According to real, exact knowledge, one force, or two forces, can never produce a phenomenon. The presence of a third force is necessary, for it is only with the help of a third force that the first two can produce what may be called a phenomenon, no matter in what sphere.
“…(A)ctive… passive (and)…neutralizing…are merely names, for in reality all three forces are equally active and appear as active, passive, and neutralizing only at their meeting points, that is to say, only in relation to one another at a given moment. The first two forces are more or less comprehensible to man and the third may sometimes be discovered either at the point of application of the forces, or in the ‘medium,’ or in the ‘result.’ But, speaking in general, the third force is not easily accessible to direct observation and understanding…
“But by studying himself, the manifestations of his thought, consciousness, activity—his habits, his desires, and so on—man may learn to observe and to see in himself the action of the three forces. Let us suppose, for instance, that a man wants to work on himself… His desire, his initiative, is the active force. The inertia of all his habitual psychological life, which shows opposition to his initiative, will be the passive or the negative force. The two forces will either counterbalance one another, or one will completely conquer the other …producing no result whatever. This may continue for a lifetime. A man may feel desire and initiative. But all this initiative may be absorbed in overcoming the habitual inertia of life, leaving nothing for the purpose towards which the initiative ought to be directed. And so it may go on until the third force makes its appearance, in the form, for instance, of new knowledge… supporting and strengthening the initiative. Then the initiative, with the support of this third force, may conquer inertia and the man becomes active in the desired direction…
“…(I)f we observe a stoppage in anything, or an endless hesitation at the same place, we can say that, at the given place, the third force is lacking… —Chapter 4
Views From the Real World
Between the positive and the negative principles there must be friction, suffering. Suffering leads to the third principle. It is a hundred times easier to be passive so that suffering and result happen outside and not inside you. Inner result is achieved when everything takes place inside you. —New York, February 22, 1924 – Everyone is in great need of one particular exercise
The Reality of Being
The laws governing the universe are here and act in us. The aim is that all the forces, which are within ourselves, turn toward a center and again form a whole. It is this movement in an ascending direction that we must learn. But everything that is below holds us back. It must all be purified. In this coming together, the energy acquires a different quality. The aim of this reuniting is the power to be. —24. Coming together