https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4SnzRmJeAY&t=2s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8KAvgdihfU

asked about the possibility
of reincarnation, and whether
it was possible to believe in
cases of communication with
the dead.

"Many things are possible,"

said Gurdjieff.

"But it is necessary to
understand that man's being,
both in life and after death,
if it does exist after death,
may be very different in
quality.

"The 'man-machine' with
whom everything depends
upon external influences,
with whom everything
happens, who is now
one, the next moment
another, and the next
moment a third, has
no future of any
kind; he is buried
and that is all.

"Dust returns to dust.

"This applies to him.

"In order to be able
to speak of any kind
of future life there
must be a certain
crystallization,
a certain FUSION
of man's inner
qualities, a
certain independence
of external influences.
If there is anything in
a man able to resist
external influences,
then this very thing
itself may also be
able to resist the
death of the physical
body. But think for
yourselves what there
is to withstand physical
death in a man who faints
or forgets everything when
he cuts his finger?

"If there is anything
in a man, it may survive;
if there is nothing, then
there is nothing to survive.

"But even if something
survives, its future can
be very varied.

"In certain cases of
fuller crystallization
what people call
'reincarnation'
may be possible
after death, and,
in other cases,
what people call
'existence on the
other side.' In
both cases it is
the continuation
of life in the
'astral body,'
or with the help
of the 'astral body.'

"You know what the
expression 'astral
body' means.

"But the systems with
which you are acquainted
and which use this expression
state that all men have an
'astral body.'

"This is quite wrong.

"What may be called the
'astral body' is obtained
by means of FUSION, that
is, by means of terribly
hard inner work and
struggle.

"Man is not born with it.

"And only very few men
acquire an 'astral body.'
If it is formed it may
continue to live after
the death of the physical
body, and it may be born
again in another physical
body.

"This is 'reincarnation.'

"If it is not re-born,
then, in the course
of time, it also
dies; it is not
immortal but it
can live long
after the death
of the physical
body.

FRICTION

"Fusion, inner unity,
is obtained by means of
'friction,' by the struggle
between 'yes' and 'no' in man.
If a man lives without inner
struggle, if everything
happens in him without
opposition, if he goes
wherever he is drawn or
wherever the wind blows,
he will remain such as
he is. But if a struggle
begins in him, and
particularly if
there is a
definite line
in this struggle,
then, gradually,
permanent traits
begin to form themselves,
he begins to 'crystallize.'
But crystallization is
possible on a right
foundation and it
is possible on a
wrong foundation.
'Friction,' the
struggle between

'yes'

and

'no,'

can easily take place
on a wrong foundation.
For instance, a fanatical
belief in some or other
idea, or the 'fear of
sin,' can evoke a
terribly intense
struggle between

'yes'

and

'no,'

and a man may
crystallize on
these foundations.
But this would be
a wrong, incomplete
crystallization. Such
a man will not possess
the possibility of further
development. In order to
make further development
possible HE MUST BE MELTED
DOWN AGAIN, AND THIS CAN BE
ACCOMPLISHED ONLY THROUGH
TERRIBLE SUFFERING."
--ISO

LAW OF FUSION

(ch 42, America)

"These poisonous active
elements that issue from
tin or similar metals,
remaining in hermetically
closed cans, are unable
to volatilize into space.
And meeting certain elements
in the products in these cans
that correspond to them by
'kinship of class,'
determined by the
number of vibrations,
these active elements
combine with them
according to the
cosmic 'law of fusion',
and later of course
these combined elements
enter the organism of
the beings who consume
these products.

"Not content with
preserving their products
in these 'poison-exuding'
tin cans, which are so
harmful for them, your
contemporary favorites
of the continent of
America moreover prefer
to preserve them in the
raw state.

"The beings of the
continent of Asia,
on the contrary,
preserve all their
food products roasted
or boiled, according
to the custom that
reached them from
their remote
ancestors,
because products
preserved in this
way do not decompose
as rapidly as when raw.

"And the reason is that
when a product is boiled
or roasted, there is
induced an artificial
'chemical fusion' of
certain active
elements among
those constituting
its fundamental mass,
whereby many active
elements useful for
beings can remain in
the products for a
comparatively long
time.

COSMIC LAW

"Again I advise you
to become more thoroughly
acquainted with all the
kinds of 'chemical and
mechanical fusions'
proceeding in the
Megalocosmos.

"Knowledge of this cosmic
law will greatly help you
to represent to yourself
and understand why and
how such numerous and
varied formations are
in general produced
in Nature.

"And how a permanent
fusion of the active
elements in the interior
of products is obtained
by boiling or roasting
them, you will understand
clearly if you can represent
to yourself the process that
occurs during the artificial
preparation of 'prosphora.'

"Prosphora, or bread, is
generally made everywhere
by beings who are aware of
its sacred significance.
Only your contemporary
favorites prepare it
without any consciousness
of what they do, merely
as a practice automatically
transmitted to them by
inheritance.

"In this bread the
crystallization of
cosmic substances
proceeds, as always,
in accordance with
the Law of Triamazikamno,
whose three holy forces
are represented by
substances from
three relatively
independent sources,
namely the

Holy Affirming,

or active principle,
is represented by the
totality of cosmic
substances composing
what your favorites
call

'water',

the Holy Denying,

or passive principle,
by the totality of
substances composing
what your favorites
call

'flour,'

obtained from the
divine wheat grain,
and

the Holy Reconciling,

or neutralizing principle,
by the substances obtained
from burning, or as your
favorites say, from

'fire.'

"To clarify the idea
I expressed about the
significance of a permanent
fusion of cosmic substances
from diverse sources, let
us take as an example that
relatively independent
totality of substances
which serves as the
active principle in
the formation of this
'prosphora,' or 'bread' ...
namely, the totality
which your favorites
call 'water.'

WATER

"This relatively independent
totality of cosmic substances
called 'water' is in itself,
one might say, a 'NATURAL
MECHANICAL MIXTURE,' and
can be preserved only
provided that it keeps
its connection with
Nature. If the link
between this 'water'
and Nature is cut,
that is, if a
little of this
water is taken
out of a river
and kept separately
in some receptacle,
after a certain time
the water in this
vessel inevitably
begins, little by
little, to be
destroyed
or, as is
otherwise
said, to
'decompose',
and this process
usually has a very
malodorous effect
on the perceptive
organs of beings
or, as your
favorites
would say,
this water
soon begins
'TO STINK.'

FLOUR

"The same thing will take
place with the mixture of
this water with flour.
Only a temporary mechanical
mixture, or what is called
'dough,' will be obtained,
in which the water, after
a relatively short time,
will inevitably decompose.

FIRE

"But if this dough, namely,
this mixture of water with
flour, is baked over fire,
then thanks to the substances
issuing from fire … which, as
I have already said, serve
as the third holy neutralizing
force of the sacred Law of
Triamazikamno … the result
will be a 'CHEMICAL FUSION,'
or a 'permanent fusion of
substances,' whereby the
new totality of substances
obtained from the water and
flour, that is, the 'prosphora,'
or 'bread,' will now resist the
merciless Heropass, and will
not decompose for a much
longer time.

"Bread made in this
way can dry, crumble,
or even to all appearances
completely disintegrate,
yet the elements of
water which have
taken part in
this process of
transformation
will not be
destroyed for
rather a long
time, but will
remain active
among what are
called the
'enduring
prosphorian
active elements.'

"I repeat, my boy,
that if the contemporary
beings breeding on the
continent of Asia preserve
their products exclusively
in a roasted or boiled
state, and not raw, as
the contemporary American
beings prefer to do, this
is because these usages
reached them from their
ancestors, whose communities
had lasted for many centuries,
and who therefore had a long
practical experience behind
them, whereas the community
of those American beings
was just, as our wise
teacher would say,
'born yesterday.'"
--ch 42, America

YES AND NO

"In what way can
one evoke the struggle
between 'yes' and 'no'
in oneself?" someone asked.

"Sacrifice is necessary,"
said Gurdjieff.

"If nothing is sacrificed
nothing is obtained. And
it is necessary to
sacrifice something
precious at the moment,
to sacrifice for a long
time and to sacrifice a
great deal.

"But still, not forever.
This must be understood
because often it is not
understood.

"Sacrifice is necessary
only while the process of
crystallization is going on.

"When crystallization is
achieved, renunciations,
privations, and sacrifices
are no longer necessary.
Then a man may have
everything he wants.
There are no longer
any laws for him,
he is a law unto
himself."
--ISO

"An Eastern teaching
describes the functions
of the four bodies, their
gradual growth, and the
conditions of this growth,
in the following way:

MECHANICAL MIXTURE

"Let us imagine a vessel
or a retort filled with
various metallic powders.
The powders are not in any
way connected with each
other and every accidental
change in the position of
the retort changes the
relative position of
the powders. If the
retort be shaken or
tapped with the finger,
then the powder which
was at the top may
appear at the bottom
or in the middle,
while the one which
was at the bottom may
appear at the top. There
is nothing permanent in
the position of the powders
and under such conditions
there can be nothing
permanent. This is an
exact picture of our
psychic life. Each
succeeding moment,
new influences may
change the position
of the powder which
is on the top and put
in its place another
which is absolutely
its opposite. Science
calls this state of the
powders the state of
mechanical mixture.
The essential characteristic
of the interrelation of the
powders to one another in
this kind of mixture is
the instability of
these interrelations
and their variability.

A SPECIAL KIND OF FIRE

-for-

FUSION

"It is impossible to
stabilize the interrelation
of powders in a state of
mechanical mixture. But
the powders may be fused;
the nature of the powders
makes this possible. To
do this a special kind
of fire must be lighted
under the retort which,
by heating and melting
the powders, finally
fuses them together.
Fused in this way
the powders will
be in the state
of a chemical
compound. And
now they can no
longer be separated
by those simple methods
which separated and made
them change places when
they were in a state of
mechanical mixture. The
contents of the retort
have become indivisible,
'individual.' This is a
picture of the formation
of the second body. The
fire by means of which
fusion is attained is
produced by 'friction,'
which in its turn is
produced in man by the
struggle between

'yes'

and

'no.'

"If a man gives way
to all his desires,
or panders to them,
there will be no
inner struggle in
him, no 'friction,'
no fire.

"But if, FOR THE
SAKE OF ATTAINING
A DEFINITE AIM, he
struggles with desires
that hinder him, he will
then CREATE A FIRE which
will gradually transform
his inner world into a
single whole.

"Let us return to our
example. The chemical
compound obtained by
fusion possesses certain
qualities, a certain specific
gravity, a certain electrical
conductivity, and so on.
These qualities constitute
the characteristics of the
substance in question. But
by means of work upon it
of a certain kind the
number of these
characteristics
may be increased,
that is, the alloy
may be given new
properties which
did not primarily
belong to it. It
may be possible
to magnetize it,
to make it
radioactive,
and so on.

"The process of imparting
new properties to the alloy
corresponds to the process
of the formation of the
third body and of the
acquisition of new
knowledge and powers
with the help of the
third body.

"When the third body
has been formed and
has acquired all the
properties, powers,
and knowledge possible
for it, there remains
the problem of fixing
this knowledge and these
powers, because, having
been imparted to it by
influences of a certain
kind, they may be taken
away by these same influences
or by others. By means of a
special kind of work for all
three bodies the acquired
properties may be made
the permanent and
inalienable possession

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