"After the actualizing on this planet of the 'Ilnosoparnian' process, one year, by objective time-calculation, passed.

"During this period there had gradually been coordinated on this planet also the corresponding processes or the involution and evolution of everything arising there.

"And of course there began gradually to be crystallized in the three-brained beings there the corresponding data for the acquisition of objective Reason.

"In short, on this planet also everything had then already begun to proceed in the usual normal order.

"And therefore, my boy, if the Most High Commission under the supreme direction of the same Archangel Sakaki had not, at the end of a year, gone there again, perhaps all the subsequent misunderstandings connected with the three-brained beings arising on that ill-fated planet might not have occurred.

"This second descent of the Most High Commission to that planet was due to the fact that in spite of the measures they had taken, of which I have told you, there had not yet crystallized in the Reasons of the majority of its sacred members a complete assurance of the impossibility of any undesirable surprise in the future, and they now wished to verify on the spot the results of those measures.

"It was just during this second descent that the Most High Commission decided in any event, if only for the sake of their own reassurance, to actualize certain further special measures, among which was also that measure the consequences of which have not only gradually turned into a stupendous terror for the three-brained beings themselves who arise on this ill-fated planet, but have even become, so to say, a malignant sore for the whole of the great Universe.

"You must know that by the time of this second descent of the Most High Commission, there had already gradually been engendered in them—as is proper to three-brained beings—what is called 'mechanical instinct.'

"The sacred members of this Most High Commission then reasoned that if the said mechanical instinct in these biped three-brained beings of that planet should develop towards the attainment of Objective Reason—as usually occurs everywhere among three-brained beings—then it might quite possibly happen that they would prematurely comprehend the real cause of their arising and existence and make a great deal of trouble; it might happen that having understood the reason for their arising, namely, that by their existence they should maintain the detached fragments of their planet, and being convinced of this their slavery to circumstances utterly foreign to them, they would be unwilling to continue their existence and would on principle destroy themselves.

"So, my boy, in view of this the Most High Commission then decided among other things provisionally to implant into the common presences of the three-brained beings there a special organ with a property such that, first, they should perceive reality topsy-turvy and, secondly, that every repeated impression from outside should crystallize in them data which would engender factors for evoking in them sensations of 'pleasure' and 'enjoyment.'

"And then, in fact, with the help of the Chief-Common-Universal-Arch-Chemist-Physicist Angel Looisos, who was also among the members of this Most High Commission, they caused to grow in the three-brained beings there, in a special way, at the base of their spinal column, at the root of their tail—which they also, at that time, still had, and which part of their common presences furthermore still had its normal exterior expressing the, so to say, 'fullness-of-its-inner-significance'—a 'something' which assisted the arising of the said properties in them.

"And this 'something' they then first called the 'organ Kundabuffer.'

"Having made this organ grow in the presences of the three-brained beings and having seen that it would work, the Most High Commission consisting of Sacred Individuals headed by the Archangel Sakaki, reassured and with good consciences, returned to the center, while there, on the planet Earth which has taken your fancy, the action of this astonishing and exceedingly ingenious invention began from the first day to develop, and developed, as the wise Mullah Nassr Eddin would say—'like a Jericho-trumpet-in-crescendo.'

"Now, in order that you may have at least an approximate understanding of the results of the properties of the organ devised and actualized by the incomparable Angel Looisos—blessed be his name to all eternity—it is indispensable that you should know about the various manifestations of the three-brained beings of that planet, not only during the period when this organ Kundabuffer existed in their presences, but also during the later periods when although this astonishing organ and its properties had been destroyed in them, nevertheless, owing to many causes, the consequences of its properties had begun to be crystallized in their presences.

"But this I will explain to you later.

"Meanwhile you must note that there was still a third descent of that Most High Commission to that planet, three years later according to objective time-calculations, but this time it was under the direction of the Most-Great-Arch-Seraph Sevohtartra, the Most Great Archangel Sakaki having, in the meantime, become worthy to become the divine Individual he now is, namely, one of the four Quarter-Maintainers of the whole Universe.

"And during just this third descent there, when it was made clear by the thorough investigations of the sacred members of this third Most High Commission that for the maintenance of the existence of those said detached fragments there was no longer any need to continue in actualization of the deliberately taken anticipatory measures, then among the other measures there was also destroyed, with the help of the same Arch-Chemist-Physicist Angel Looisos, in the presences of the three-brained beings there, the said organ Kundabuffer with all its astonishing properties.

"But let us return to the tale I began.

"Now listen. When our confusion, caused by the recent catastrophe that had menaced that whole solar system, had passed off, we slowly, after this unexpected interruption, resumed the settlement of our new place on the planet Mars.

"Little by little we all of us made ourselves familiar with the local Nature and adapted ourselves to the existing conditions.

"As I have already said, many of us definitely settled down on the planet Mars; and others, by the ship Occasion which had been put at the disposal of the beings of our tribe for interplanetary communication, either went or prepared to go to exist on other planets of the same solar system.

"But I with my kinsmen and some of my near attendants remained to exist on that planet Mars.

"Yes, I must note that by the time to which my tale refers, my first Teskooano had already been set up in the observatory which I had constructed on the planet Mars and I was just then devoting myself entirely to the further organization and development of this observatory of mine, for the more detailed observation of the remote concentrations of our great Universe and of the planets of this solar system.

"Among the objects of my observations, then, was also this planet Earth.

"Time passed.

"The process of existence on this planet also began gradually to be established and it seemed, from all appearances, that the process of existence was proceeding there just as on all other planets.

"But by close observation, first, it could be clearly seen that the numbers of these three-brained beings were gradually increasing and, secondly, it was possible sometimes to observe very strange manifestations of theirs, that is, from time to time they did something which was never done by three-brained beings on other planets, namely, they would suddenly, without rhyme or reason, begin destroying one another's existence.

"Sometimes this destruction of one another's existence proceeded there not in one region alone but in several, and would last not just one 'Dionosk' but many 'Dionosks' and sometimes even for whole 'Ornakras.' (Dionosk signifies 'day'; Ornakra signifies 'month.')

"It was sometimes very noticeable also that from this horrible process of theirs their numbers rapidly diminished; but on the other hand, during other periods, when there was a lull in these processes, their numbers also very noticeably increased.

"To this peculiarity of theirs we gradually got used, having explained it to ourselves that obviously, for certain higher considerations, these properties also must deliberately have been given to the organ Kundabuffer by the Most High Commission; in other words, seeing the fecundity of these biped beings, we assumed that this had been done with aforethought, in view of the necessity that they should exist in such large numbers for the needs of the maintenance of the common-cosmic Harmonious Movement.

"Had it not been for this strange peculiarity of theirs, then it would never have entered anybody's head that there was anything 'queer' on that planet.

"During the period to which the aforesaid refers, I visited most of the planets of that solar system, the populated and the as yet unpopulated.

"Personally I liked best of all the three-centered beings breeding on the planet bearing the name Saturn, whose exterior is quite unlike ours, but resembles that of the being-bird raven.

"It is interesting, by the way, to remark that for some reason or other, the form of being-bird raven breeds not only on almost all the planets of this solar system, but also on most of those other planets of the whole of our great Universe upon which beings of various brain systems arise and are coated with planetary bodies of different forms.

"The verbal intercourse of these beings, ravens, of that planet Saturn is something like ours.

"But in regard to their utterance, it is in my opinion the most beautiful of any I have ever heard.

"It can be compared to the singing of our best singers when with all their Being they sing in a minor key.

"And as for their relations with others, they—I don't even know how to describe them—can be known only by existing among them and by experiencing them oneself.

"All that can be said is that these bird-beings have hearts exactly like those of the angels nearest our ENDLESS MAKER AND CREATOR.

"They exist strictly according to the ninth commandment of our CREATOR, namely: 'Do unto another's as you would do unto your own.'

"Later, I must certainly tell you much more in detail about those three-brained beings also who arise and exist on the planet Saturn, since one of my real friends during the whole period of my exile in that solar system was a being of just that planet, who had the exterior coating of a raven and whose name was 'Harharkh.'"

Copyright © 1950 G. I. Gurdjieff This webpage © 1998 Gurdjieff Electronic Publishing Revision: January 1, 1999