Sensing Gurdjieff’s “Hanbledzoin” (“Astral Light”)

 " 'Hanbledzoin' is nothing else than the 'blood' of the 'kesdjan body' of the being, and just as the sum total of cosmic substances called 'blood' serves for the nourishment and renewal of the planetary body of the being, so in the same way 'hanbledzoin' serves for nourishing and perfecting the kesdjan body.”

“ 'being-hanbledzoin’ is that which contemporary civilization calls ‘animal magnetism’”

— Gurdjieff, Beelzebub’s Tales Hypnotism

"'Hydrogen' 96 … is the matter of animal magnetism”

— Gurdjieff, In Search of the Miraculous, Chapter 9

“Hanbledzoin”, or “astral light”, or “the blood of the kesdjan (astral) body”, is the substance derived from air: re 96. It is initially found and identified in the chest, as the second evolute or transformation of the breath. It is used in the formation of the “kesdjan”, or astral, body. It is also the legendary substance manipulated by the Mages, used for creations of their imagination and will.

AN IMPORTANT STEP FOR SENSING “HANBLEDZOIN”: RELAXATION 

AN EXPLANATION OF THE WINDS

“The definition of wind is any of the four elements that is light in weight and moving. Winds can be divided into external and internal winds, and into gross and subtle winds. Gross external wind is the wind we experience on a windy day. Subtle external wind is much more difficult to detect. It is the energy that makes plants grow and exists even inside rocks and mountains. It is with the help of subtle winds that plants draw up water, grow new leaves, and so forth. Such winds are the life force of plants. Indeed, in some Tantric texts wind is called 'life' or 'life-force'.”

— Geshe Kelsang Gyatso, Tantric Grounds and Paths

There are many systems of meditation in existence that teach, as a preliminary or an adjunct, the technique of relaxation. Relaxation — in sensing any raw energy within one’s body — is a completely imperative necessity.

The energies within the body are identified by Gurdjieff on his “food transformation chart” (see above). They exist in the body, at the bodily levels that he indicates on that chart. But it is an acquired art to be able to sense the raw energies at these locations, taking much practice.

One must prepare the body and mind. First of all, one must relax every part of one’s body. This is extremely important. And next it is necessary to focus on relaxing one’s breath; but while still breathing in a conscious way, an almost deliberate way — but still calm.

The reason one must be aware of the breath, is because all the energies which are used in forming the second (astral) body can be initially found in the transmutations of the breath. Wherever the breath travels in the body, there you will find a transformation of the breath.

AN EXERCISE FOR PREPARING TO SENSE ASTRAL LIGHT

In order to sense “hanbledzoin”, or astral light, it is necessary to imagine the breath as an energy coursing throughout the entire body — as a preliminary.

Proceed to sense hanbledzoin by preparing thus:

1. Take a few relaxed breaths, while sensing the body as a whole.

2. Next, take a few relaxed breaths; and sense the air washing through and inside the head on the in-breath. Sense the air filling the head; and feel its effect inside of the head.

3. Next, continue the relaxed breathing, and sense the air coming into the body on the in-breath, and sense it filling the abdomen.

4. Then, sense the air as it exits the abdomen and the body on the out-breath; exiting up into the chest, neck, head, and out through the nose.

5. Finally, continue relaxed breathing, and sense the whole body filling with air; trying, with each in-breath, “blowing up the body, like a balloon”.

This exercise should be practiced for some time, as a preliminary to achieving the sensation of “astral light” or re 96.

WHAT IS GURDJIEFF’S “HANBLEDZOIN” OR ASTRAL LIGHT?

“There are two parts to air, evolving and involving, Involving part only, gives vivifyingness to "I." Only enough of this part is taken now for the Trogo-auto-ego-crat. Not until you have a conscious wish can you assimilate more of this good part of air. This involving part comes from the Prime Source.”

— Gurdjieff New York Friday, 6 February 1931

There are actually two streams of transformation of air which occur in the physical body. The air which we all sense in the body, when we breathe, is actually not what we call “air”. It is not the air which we take in from the external environment. And it is not the air which we experience as the wind, blowing on our bodies, and feel on our skin.

When we breathe, we are actually sensing mostly the internal physical “gaseous matter” or aspect of “air” which is transformed out of our food — probably a combination of our body’s oxygen and carbon dioxide. We sense with our breath an aspect of the “food octave” which exists internally in our lungs, and inside our physical body, in the blood. We are all born, in a sense, completely divorced from a sensation of the “astral” aspect of air. We have no innate way of sensing it within ourselves, as an internal part of our body.

When we have initiated an astral form or body, then all the astral substances along the “breath octave” can be sensed and identified easily, by means of that astral body. These various substances along the breath octave can then be readily utilized and worked with in creating advanced aspects of the astral body.

There are two aspects of air which are very closely related: a physical aspect and an astral aspect. As we only possess a physical body, and not a completely crystallized astral body, we have the capacity to only sense the physical internal aspect of air, or “mi 192”, as Gurdjieff labels it.

However, as Gurdjieff says, the astral aspect of air, or “hanbledzoin”, is necessary for initiating the development of the astral body. It is the “blood” of the astral body; and so is the primary substance in the creation of the second (astral) body.

Hanbledzoin or astral light can be sensed. At first it is difficult to sense. But with patience, it can be finally identified and sensed within the physical chest, as a secondary transformation of the in-breath.

FINDING RE 96 WITHIN THE CHEST CAVETY 

I found and identified re 96 only after understanding and memorizing the food transformation chart (above), along with memorizing the actual substances that the various “hydrogens” stand for. When all this has been memorized and internalized, then one can effectively superimpose the food chart, with one’s mind, on top of one’s body. This ability helps in locating the substance re 96, or hanbledzoin, within oneself.

Hanbledzoin is a type of “animal magnetism”. Animal magnetism is somewhat akin to a material substance and yet akin to thought itself also. It is both one, and the other. But it is helpful initially to be aware of its mental quality, because we don’t usually imagine that we have mind-like substances as a part of our physical structure. However this mind-like substance can actually be sensed — using the physical body along with the mind.

That is the whole trick in sensing astral light (re 96) in the chest area: one must sense with both the body and the mind. Once the astral form has crystallized, however, it is relatively easy to sense hanbledzoin with the actual astral body itself. And at some point, it also becomes possible to sense and take in to the astral body the astral light which is produced by the Sun, and which exists in profuse quantities in the Earth’s atmosphere.

At this point, it is child’s play to increase the “mass” of hanbledzoin within the astral body itself through the breath; and also to perfect the first (or lowest) “center” of the kesdjan body, which is created out of hanbledzoin. (For details regarding formation of the kesdjan centers, see: https://to-be-able.blogspot.com/2022/09/imbuing-higher-bodies-with-immortality.html )

IDENTIFYING HANBLEDZOIN INTERNALLY

In order to begin to sense hanbledzoin, I recommend sitting in a very comfortable chair, like an easy chair or recliner. Alternatively, one can even choose to lie down. The reason for this is because the relaxation of body and mind is extremely important. The goal is not the focused concentration of meditation. It will not hurt even if one falls asleep; because it is only necessary at first to try searching for hanbledzoin a few minutes at a time. It is like finding a needle in a haystack, but only a very small haystack, and a haystack in which you are searching by feeling with your fingers.

When one has been comfortably situated, place the attention on the breath; a relaxed but deliberate breath. The breath should not be automatic, like a machine. But it should have an element of intentionality to it. Because if one is searching for something of a mental nature, one cannot be unconscious or haphazard in one’s efforts.

Next, while continuing the intentional breathing, also move one’s attention within the chest cavity. One might sense the usual mundane feeling of air within the chest, but try to avoid that, and search with one’s feelings for “air” of a higher, more mental character. 

One can possibly think of the process alchemically. The external air we breathe-in (the primary, coarse “hydrogen” designated do 192) meets with the substance of thought in us (a quite refined tertiary “hydrogen”: mi 48), and results in the secondary “hydrogen” re 96, situated in-between the previous two: astral light.

If nothing convincingly like astral light appears to oneself after some efforts, try raising one’s thoughts to a higher, more lofty thought or ideation, while continuing to breathe with sensation. Then lower the “astral” thought or ideation into the chest where one is sensing. Astral light, as the name suggests, is not any part of this physical world; but belongs to a separate, higher world. If one can raise one’s thoughts to that level, one will likely be able to sense the substance of that world: astral light.

If one gets stuck, and has no luck in the sensation of hanbledzoin, try looking at and examining one’s motivations. Astral light has an innate ethicality to it. It definitely has the character of a higher cosmic level. It is not for the fulfilling of desires. It is also not for the manifestation of the lower will, as perhaps in a selfish magic. In fact it is used for building the ethical and moral foundation of the astral body — of a Buddha Body.

If one has the motivation of increasing one’s level of compassion, of being a better person, or of contributing to the welfare of others, that is a good motivation to have in looking to sense inner astral light. Hanbledzoin is a spiritual substance, to be used for a spiritual purpose.

In order to understand the food transformation chart (above) and also the alchemy behind it, I recommend careful reading of the essays titled, Hydrogens, in book one of Nicoll’s Psychological Commentaries on the Teaching of Gurdjieff and Ouspensky. The pdf set can be found here: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/

Gurdjieff, the hypnotist. An expert with hanbledzoin.

Aging, Alchemy, & Immortality

 

                               A Happy Old Age

         When I was younger and going to college in Bloomington, Indiana, I experienced a meeting I’ll never forget. It was a meeting of a quite older man bounding off in front of me from a bus, by himself, carrying a backpack. He quickly walked on, without speaking to us. But my friend, whom I was with, knew the man’s family and told me the story of this older man, who not long ago had been senile and bedridden. His grown daughter, seeing her father’s condition, of course resolved to help him. And as she was a nutritionist, she immediately put him on a strict diet of healthy fruits and vegetables and juices. After some length of time the elder man actually regained his thinking faculties, and became strong and healthy and independent, as I had seen him… An example of aging, turned around through the “shock” of outer conscious intervention.

                               A Musical Law 

The spiritual teacher G. I. Gurdjieff taught that “shocks” are an integral part of life. In his metaphysical system, all phenomena develop under what he called the Law of Octaves. This law designates that processes in the cosmos, and in Man, follow a pattern of seven successive steps, like notes in a musical scale. Importantly, these steps have two specific points within the pattern sequence which need a bit of extra energy — or “shocks” — necessary to keep the process on track, and for it to reach its goal.

(For musicians out there, the correct placement of the two “shocks” required for Gurdjieff’s “octave” would be at the two points between each of the two semi-tone steps of a major musical octave scale.)

Any phenomenon consisting of a beginning, a middle, and an end is under the law of octaves. Any such process in and of itself can be analyzed and described using the common “solfège” notation (do, re, me, etc) — the beginning of the process’s octave starting at a “do”, and its completion ending at a final “do” beginning the next octave.

                       Reaching Our Life Aim

Our lives, from birth to death, might be described as a series of stages — perhaps notes in one large octave if you will — that hopefully have us better off at our end than we were at our beginning. By our old age, we want to have reached the “do” of a higher octave, we want to have reached our goal in Life.

The spiritual teachers are clear: they say that we must engage in personal work to become better, to self-evolve. It cannot happen by itself, mechanically, or through some lazy magic.

The ancients “saw” that Mankind has two influences; they envisioned a good angel on the right shoulder whispering encouraging things, and a bad angel on the left leading to error. Regardless of what one believes, in practice the path upwards often means for Mankind swimming upriver, against the cosmic currents, against one’s lower nature.

The hardest part, in beginning the spiritual path, is growing a conscience. This is the first step, and the hardest. It entails developing certain emotions where there were none before. Emotions in relation to wrongs one has committed, and in regard to the ideals one wants to incorporate in one’s life. If the relevant emotions are developed, it is a sign that the first level on the path has been achieved.

While the first step on the spiritual path is emotional, the second step is intellectual. It entails beginning to know oneself in an intellectual way; learning to observe and monitor one’s whole being: physical, emotional, and intellectual. Gradually, one starts to form within oneself a nascent inner being. Something organized begins to form psychologically on the inside of oneself. This inner being signifies one’s arrival at the second level of the path.

Eventually, there arises the need for a teacher to appear. And it is here, that the actual Path itself with a capital “P” begins. When the teacher themself manifests, the spiritual aspirant begins the Work of development into the Perfect Human.

               A Child: A New Creation 

Although our lives can be seen as one large octave leading to an overall goal, we also have many sub-goals or sub-octaves running throughout our lives, that are perhaps equally important. Career, family, cultural or financial development, and many other things occupy our lives.

These aims sometimes almost seem to manifest through physical desires or urges. One of the main forces within a human being is the instinct of procreation. The sex drive is actually a very refined and powerful energy, alchemically. It is a part of a human octave of transformations which culminate in the penultimate “si” of the sex impulse. If we choose to complete that octave’s impulse by coming together with the opposite polarity of a partner, then a new creation, the “do” of a new octave or a child, is born.

An interesting way of viewing the act of procreation, is that there are in actuality two successive octaves in play. There is firstly the parents’ octave of creating a child. And then there is secondly that octave’s continuation to the next higher octave: that of the parents’ raising of the child — including the perfection of the child’s spiritual nature, as overseen by the parents. What began in a physical sense must be continued and finished in a spiritual sense.

                       A Second Birth 

Having a child in one’s prime, is one example of the completion of an octave. However as we age it is possible for us to more easily sublimate the sexual drive. That excess sexual energy can then be diverted to reinforce other more refined octaves within ourselves.

Those inner octaves can, over time, alchemically help to increase our essence, to perfect our being, or — putting it another way — to produce within ourselves a metaphorical “spiritual child”. In theosophical lingo it is referred to as developing an astral body.

Maurice Nicoll, a close follower of Gurdjieff and Jung, writes:

“If a person begins to give himself the First Conscious Shock, the shock of Self-Remembering, the shock of the whole Work, if he begins to transform his daily contact with life and not take things as always in the ordinary way in which he always takes them, if he feels deeply that he is always doing something else and that he is related to something else which gradually becomes more important, then he may (…) create as it were a child that he has to look at very closely. What is this child? It is something quite new in him. He must pay attention to this new-born thing in him, which is the beginning of his own re-birth.”

— Nicoll, Psychological Commentaries on the Teachings of Gurdjieff and Ouspensky p. 437

This “spiritual child” is the result of the development and completion of our original inner essence. In religious terms, it might be said to be what the New Testament calls the “second birth”.

                                  

        Everything in its Place 

One could postulate that our old age is simply the product or result of precisely the kind of life we have lived beforehand. Every choice we make throughout our life ultimately shapes our ending. Our kids end up our caretakers. The way we treat our physical body throughout our life determines our physical health in our old age. And the values we hold throughout our life shape our inner self later on — our mind and our feelings that we possess when we’re older.

The body and the mind are connected. But it is our inner essence or self that determines our merit at our end. If what we have inside of us is solid, good, and sincere, then it matters little if the outer form is frail. Our survivors, after we are gone, will think well of us for the strength of our soul, rather than the strength of our body.

If we have created something of great value that dwells within us at the end of our life — something that resonates with a higher world of love, kindness, and compassion — then that inner being of ours will find its home there, in that greater world.

Higher Law: Inner & Outer

 INTRODUCTION: HIGHER LAW

That someone or something is under a higher law is to an extent a common figure of speech. It might refer to someone perhaps transgressing a minor civil law in order to accomplish something for the greater good of another person or group. It might refer to someone who is seen as an outcast by society at large, but who by following some inner ideal achieves a great work that benefits others. An example of a thing under the auspices of a higher law might be an inspiring scripture, or it could even describe a sublime masterpiece of art.

But does higher law actually exist? And where or what part of the universe might it belong to? 

Religion describes a faith in a heaven, maybe consisting of three or more levels. Could higher law be a fixture of a religious heaven, it somehow affecting us on Earth as a type of grace? 

So-called esoteric or theosophical philosophy describes a universe consisting of successive and interpenetrating higher levels above the material world — seven in total, usually. Theosophists also believe in orders of laws functioning in relation to the higher levels of the cosmos. When those higher laws somehow affect or manifest on the lower material level, what we would call a miracle is the result sometimes.

Religion and esotericism however seem to require a degree of blind faith at first. That is not to say that one cannot arrive eventually at absolute certainty about one’s initial faith. I’m sure there are people — saints perhaps — who have wisdom, who “know” with surety what they once accepted as belief. But knowledge about “higher law” need not start from just faith.

This essay will explore the concept of higher law through a fairly mundane route, one that does not require faith: that of literature, or rather, spiritual literature. For to be sure, literature has its levels of quality; from romance novels and serial Westerns up to the classics and then on up to the sacred scriptures of the various religions. But it is the spiritual literature which presumes to be on a so-called higher or inspirational level, by a general consensus. So it is works of spiritual literature that will be looked at here, in exploration of higher law and higher levels.

It is interesting to note that certain works of “spiritual literature” are deemed to have different levels of meaning hidden within them. For example, Aesop’s fables, thought by some to be a type of Sufi stories, might seem to a child to be simply stories about the behavior of different animals. Outwardly they are so, but they can as well be applied on another level to the discerning adult, applied to his/her own behavior and psychology.

But levels don’t necessarily need only apply as descriptions of literature or of the outer world. Great literature or art sometimes impacts us emotionally and psychologically, on our own inner levels, too. Or rather one could say great art manifests “higher feelings” in us on “deep” or “inner” levels. Ancient wisdom would say that the uppermost levels of the cosmos correspond to the innermost levels within ourselves.

It could be said that, although we don’t necessarily see with our physical eyes higher spiritual levels of the cosmos, we experience those higher levels of spirit deep within our psyche, in our thoughts and emotions, on encountering great works of art or inspired religious creations or even upon witnessing the beauty in nature.

Nicoll’s diagram showing the three levels (I. Outer, II. Middle, and III. Inner) of the emotional center.

[From Psychological Commentaries on the Teaching of Gurdjieff and Ouspensky, Maurice Nicoll]

THE EMOTIONAL CENTER OF GURDJIEFF 

So it is really deep within the mind and emotional center where one can “see heaven”, where one can map out the presumed higher realms of the universe. Actually the emotional center has been mapped out or diagramed, by the Jungian psychologist and student of G. I. Gurdjieff, Maurice Nicoll. Nicoll divined a tri-level emotional center; consisting of an outer portion, a middle portion, and an innermost portion.

According to Nicoll’s map of the emotional center, the inmost area of our emotions is labeled the ‘intellectual part’; the part that processes ‘artistic creation’, and is also the seat of that highly spiritual area within us: the ‘magnetic center’. The so-called magnetic center — when developed — guides us to those particular spiritual writings and teachers we need, those influences which might appear at just the most providential times in our lives.

The New Testament, with its multi-layered parables of Jesus, would be an example of literature which speaks to us at this inmost level of our emotions. The New Testament is one example of 

“conscious art”; art which is sacred in its nature. Over time, and through multiple readings of the New Testament, the magnetic center theoretically grows in strength; absorbing the higher influences, and forming a spiritual center within the reader. The New Testament is regarded by some as being a creation on a higher level; it relates to the reader on a deep inner level.

The innermost division of the emotional center, as well as the New Testament itself, would, according to Gurdjieff’s system, correspond to the mental sphereof the cosmos, and would relate to the third or mental body. The middle emotional division would correspond to the astral sphere of the cosmos and the astral body. Whereas, the outer emotional division would correspond to the physical level of reality and the physical body.

SWEDENBORG’S DOCTRINE OF CORRESPONDENCES

The 17th century sage, Emanuel Swedenborg, envisioned a tri-level system of interpretation of the entire Bible. He mapped out the Bible as having an outer or literal layer, along with a ‘spiritual’ inner level, and then also a ‘celestial’ innermost level. Every word in the Bible had its inner spiritual and celestial meanings. 

Swedenborg said that these three biblical levels collated with actual levels which exist in the cosmos, and also in Man. He described the physical cosmos as having two higher levels: i. e. a spiritual heaven and a celestial heaven. Swedenborg’s ‘doctrine of correspondences’ is fascinating; he postulated his idea that all people and phenomena on earth are ruled by corresponding inner phenomena which occur simultaneously in either the heavens or hells.

It is tempting to identify Swedenborg’s natural, spiritual, and celestial levels with Nicoll’s outer, middle, and inmost divisions of the emotional center. Additionally, Nicoll analyses the intellectual center also as having three divisions. Obviously, of course, a reader can relate to spiritual literature both emotionally and intellectually.

IDRIES SHAH’S VIEW OF THE KORAN

Idries Shah, speaking for the Sufis, says that the Koran also has multiple meanings and layers. In his book, The Sufis, he says:

“For the Sufi, the Koran is a document with numerous levels of transmission, each one of which has a meaning in accordance with the capacity for understanding of the reader. … The Koran in one sense is therefore a document of psychological importance.”

In addition, Shah’s extensive collections of Sufi stories are viewed as having a psychological effect on the reader. His stories often defy a ready literal meaning at first, but then later resurface in the reader’s mind at crucial moments of life.

GURDJIEFF’S HIERARCHICAL “ORDERS OF LAW”

The preceding examples hopefully illustrate what we probably may already know: that, psychologically, we have what seem to be inner levels. We can assume, based on what has been said above, that a “higher law” for us is really also a corresponding “inner law”, as well.

However, an important point to consider is that we are not on the whole developed enough on an inner level to be subject in actuality to the higher laws. What seem to us to be levels deep within us, are actually not completely formed or developed as levels per se; they’re rather pseudo-levels, arising and subsiding purely by accident. If they were completely formed we would be able to access them at any time, on an ongoing basis. We are born onto the material or physical level, and are therefore subject only in that case to the laws — physical and psychological — which affect the Earth.

On the left above, Gurdjieff’s “Ray of Creation “. Next to it on the right, the three higher bodies  —  astral, mental, and divine — above the physical body. On the far right, the “orders of laws” which apply to the specific bodies and their corresponding worlds. Man, as he is at birth, possesses only the physical body; subject to the Earth’s 48 orders of laws. [From Ouspensky’s In Search of the Miraculous]

Gurdjieff spoke of a “Ray of Creation” — worlds above worlds, seven in all; the higher worlds subtly inter-penetrating all the worlds below them. Man has the potential to relate to the higher worlds through the development of higher bodies. But that is initially only his potential. Man is born having only the physical body, subject to Earthly Laws. Developing one or more of the higher bodies takes tremendous focus, time, and effort.

Notice on the diagram above that the higher the body is on the Ray, the fewer “orders of laws” it is subject to. Orders of laws can possibly mean different things; but in this case it may mean “types of laws”. The laws of All Planets would be of a different order or type than the laws of the Earth. Thus, for example, the laws of physics, which apply to the Earth would likely not apply to, or rather would take a different form for, the level of All Planets and higher. We normally look at the Planets, individually and as a group, from the perspective of our physical senses and bodies — that is, at the level of the Earth. Their actual nature and function must be looked at from the perspective of the higher astral body, to truly understand them at their astral level.

However, the convenient thing about Gurdjieff’s Ray of Creation — from the Absolute to the Moon — is that it doesn’t necessarily require “faith” for it to work. It can be looked at and used as a tool, rather than a doctrine. It is basically astronomical in its make-up, and logical in its sequential order.

HIGHER LAW AND THE SPIRITUAL PATH

Higher law is a function of a higher world than the Earth, as one can see on the above diagram. And a higher world such as the astral world (All Planets) relates to a specific developed part of Man; namely the astral body, along with its various centers — intellectual, emotional, and moving. (For details on forming the astral body and its centers, see my previous blog: The Astral Body and its Qualities https://to-be-able.blogspot.com/2022/09/imbuing-higher-bodies-with-immortality.html)

To truly experience and be subject permanently to a higher law such as that of the astral world, a man or woman must reside on an ongoing basis within the confines of his/her astral body. Living at the astral level is a major step upwards in Man’s evolution; as is living within the subtle influences and architecture of the astral world which can be experienced underlying the physical world itself. 

STEPS ON EVOLUTION’S PATH

"The process of evolution, of that evolution which is possible for humanity as a whole, is completely analogous, to the process of evolution possible for the individual man. And it begins with the same thing, namely, a certain group of cells gradually becomes conscious; then it attracts to itself other cells, subordinates others, and gradually makes the whole organism serve its aims and not merely eat, drink, and sleep. This is evolution and there can be no other kind of evolution. In humanity as in individual man everything begins with the formation of a conscious nucleus. All the mechanical forces of life fight against the formation of this conscious nucleus in humanity, in just the same way as all mechanical habits, tastes and weaknesses fight against conscious self-remembering in man."

— Gurdjieff In Search of the Miraculous 

There are three levels that make up the astral body; which are developed in three steps. (For specific information on developing the astral body, see: https://to-be-able.blogspot.com/2022/09/imbuing-higher-bodies-with-immortality.html)

The first step to inhabiting the next or astral world is creating a “permanent center of gravity” within oneself; which in my understanding entails the formation of a distinct astral emotional center. This is done by taking a specific element — Gurdjieff’s re 96, or “animal magnetism” — and fusing it in a special way with several actual emotions, such as compassion & loving kindness, etc.

Over time, through work with the breath, animal magnetism, and various emotions, a  “body” — astral in nature — begins to form around this center.

The next step on the road of evolution is creating a secondary center of gravity in the head. This is the beginning of a struggle to form a coherent structure in the mind itself. This is done using a technique Gurdjieff calls “aiësiritoorassian contemplation” (for details please see my previous blog: Being and Mind https://to-be-able.blogspot.com/2023/06/)

The third step in the evolutionary process is work on the third level of the astral body. This consists mainly of observation and study of one’s “essence”. Our essence is given us at birth by the powers that be, and is made up of fa 24 — a refined substance consisting of various higher matters and qualities from the planets of our solar system. Each individual on the Earth has his or her own unique, proprietary blend of essence derived from the planets making up the astral world. Also, it is important at this stage to engage in a sophisticated application of the “first conscious shock”: self-remembering. The reason being, the human organism can also produce additional fa 24 with the help of self-remembering.

Finally, the astral body that has been formed must go through a certain type of “fire” in the real world; it must be tempered. What that entails is initiating a struggle to exercise the higher spiritual emotions of the astral body within the circumstances of the ordinary material world itself. These are emotions which are perhaps rarely found in typical social situations; refined emotions which often “go against the grain” of daily secular life. This effort produces an internal “friction” which in turn helps to “crystallize” the astral body structure. And at the same time, the effort places oneself gradually in sync with the spiritual structure of the astral world residing beneath the surface of the physical world.

CONCLUSION 

In conclusion, while higher levels of the cosmos might be difficult to perceive or impossible to sense outwardly, it is definitely a possibility to perceive inspiring and deep emotions. Emotional inspiration can come from reading a scripture or a spiritual writing. It can also come from great works of art and from nature. These experiences seem to be happening on deep inner emotional and intellectual levels.

One can deduce that perhaps the universe itself may mirror the inner levels of Man through corresponding higher levels. These higher levels are not necessarily directionally above the Earth. But traditionally it is said that they interpenetrate the Earthly, physical world.

The next higher level above the Earth, the astral world, can be experienced through the development within a man or woman of a secondary body or astral body. The astral body (according to Gurdjieff) is relatively unencumbered by cosmic laws, compared to the physical body with its weight of 48 orders of Earthly laws. The astral body, being spiritual in nature, is governed by the 24 orders of spiritual laws which govern the astral world.

Man is born having only one body, the physical body. While there are people who are born more or less spiritual than other people, this could be said to be purely the result of individual karma, and not the result of conscious individual effort and work. The effort of creating a permanent spirituality requires the guidance of a teacher or guru who is himself conscious and developed spiritually. As Gurdjieff says, the teacher guides the student up a stairway, which leads ultimately to the Path, which the student can then follow precisely. On the Path, the student should ideally have access to a system, which he internalizes, and which can help him form a second body, having all its powers and abilities. At the very least a system should help the student to form some type of permanent internal structure, emotional and mental.