Gurdjieff
The Moon & Organic Life
Man’s Beliefs About The Moon & Their Relationship To Fourth Way Teaching
In the book In Search of the Miraculous, Mr. Gurdjieff gives P. D. Ouspensky and others in his group the task to speak to people outside the group about the ideas that have been given. This task proves to be a frustrating experience for Ouspensky. The people Ouspensky considers as the most likely to be interested in the work are for many reasons unreceptive to these ideas, ideas Ouspensky sees as both unique and powerful. The intelligentsia dismiss the Teaching as nothing more then a rehash of ideas that have already been brought forth by others. It would be a reasonable speculation to say that had Ouspensky spoken the following words of Gurdjieff a different, though perhaps no more positive, reaction would have been forthcoming: “Everything living on the earth, people, animals, plants is food for the moon… All movements, actions, and manifestations of people, animals and plants depend on the moon and are controlled by the moon… The mechanical part of our life depends upon the moon, is subject to the moon. If we develop in ourselves consciousness and will, and subject our mechanical life and all our mechanical manifestations to them, we shall escape from the power of the moon.” This part of the teaching, that man was not only a slave or perhaps more accurately a puppet of the moon and also provided a “food” for the moon was clearly not one commonly discussed by the Russian intelligentsia circa 1916. At this time philosophers like Kant, Nietzsche, Tolstoy and so forth held sway, and Ouspensky had already published his book Tertian Organum beginning to separate himself from Theosophical ideas and charting an independent course, pre-encounter with Gurdjieff. The ideas in the above words of Gurdjieff and the extension of this idea less often considered, that there would be no organic life or at the least a very different organic life on earth but for the moon’s needs and influence seem to be unique to the teaching that Gurdjieff first brought to Russia in 1912 and later the rest of the western world. But Is this idea, that all organic life and man in particular are intimately involved with the Moon in a mechanical process of reciprocal maintenance, unique to Fourth Way or has modern science, other ways, teachings and religions been aware of this relationship?
Science
Today’s scientific thought considers the moon to be essentially dead and acknowledges only the gravitational influence of the moon, primarily the tidal effect. This influence could be considered a “measurable” influence, physical influence. There is anecdotal evidence of the moon’s more “subtle” metaphysical influence on human behavior, generally considered to be a negative effect, on a women’s menstrual cycle and on plant growth. Belief in the moon’s subtle influence on life is widely held among diverse cultures on earth and often incorporated into their agrarian and cultural practices and beliefs. Science to date has been unable to prove that these subtle influences on life are real.
In the First Series Gurdjieff writes that the moon was created by the collision of the Earth with the comet Kondoor. The largest fragment created by this collision was subsequently captured and became Earth’s moon. After many years of favoring other theories, today’s science, for the most part, has come to accept the hypothesis of a giant collision as the casual event which resulted in the creation of the moon. This theory postulates that during Earth’s early life, some four billion years ago, a planetoid approximately the size of Mars collided with a young planet earth. The ensuing debris that was the result of the collision accreted and formed the moon. Satellite investigations and analysis of the rocks brought back by the apollo manned space missions have provided many details the composition of the moon. With the use of this information and computer modeling, modern science has generally come to believe that the Moon’s origin is best explained by the giant collision hypothesis.
It should be noted that Gurdjieff also states a smaller fragment was created of which man is not aware of. This much smaller moon, which Gurdjieff names Anulios, is a part of the Earth/Moon system. Indeed, there is an object, a quasi moon, named Toro first discovered in 1964 and a mile or two across that is quite possibly what Gurdjieff referred to. This Toro-earth relationship means, that earth is part of a “triplet” sub-system in the solar system, comprised of three bodies instead of only two – the earth, and the moon.
Water and Life
Though many studies have been done and some, though by no means all, have shown a degree of correlation between moon phases, human behavior and women’s menstrual cycles these studies are quite far from showing causation. There perhaps is a connection between the scientifically acknowledged measurable influence of the moon, as the cause of tidal movements and the widely believed, and the as yet scientifically unfounded, subtle influences of the moon. The commonality may be that the moon does affect the movement of fluids on earth. The human body is between 50 and 60 percent water, with the brain containing approximately 75 percent water. Plant life can contain up to 90 percent water. The one element that science believes to be indispensable for life is water in some form. Scientific observations see that the earth has an abundance of water, a complex atmosphere and therefore an abundance of life. Conversely, until recently science believed the moon had no water, essentially no atmosphere and no way of acquiring either and therefore is dead and will likely always be dead. The part of this scientific thinking that has recently changed involves the presence of water on the moon. The moon is now believed to have small quantities of water in the form of ice at the moons south and north poles. The source and extent of water on the moon is still unknown. So, is the moon dead or merely a very young (in planetary terms) planet beginning its process of growth? Gurdjieff stated quite clearly that the moon is a being, a younger version of the earth evolving and growing with the help of organic life on earth. And that organic life is influenced and manipulated to provide what the moon needs for its growth. This trogoautoegocratic system is a part of the teaching’s cosmology as graphically demonstrated in the ray of creation. It is posited that within the evolution of the solar system, the Earth will become a sun and the moon an Earth like planet.
Modern Science isn’t the first word, nor always the last
While modern scientific thought has relegated the moon to a chunk of dead rock exerting only a measurable gravitational influence on the earth, this view did not always dominate man’s beliefs. The science, religions and peoples of the ancient world had a quite different view of the moon.
“We may certainly conjecture that the moon is not unjustly regarded as the star of our life. This it is that replenishes the earth; when she approaches it, she fills all the bodies, while when she recedes, she empties them. From this cause it is that shell-fish increase with the increase of the moon and that the bloodless creatures especially feel the breath at that time; even the blood of men grows and diminishes with the light of the moon, and leaves and herbage also feel the same influence, since the lunar energy penetrates all things.” These words written by Pliny the Elder, a first century AD Roman naturalist illustrate the scientific beliefs of his time which still held the moon as an influential presence on the organic life of earth. Pliny’s words and observations, specifics aside, are not incompatible with Fourth Way teachings in that they represent a sweeping and dynamic view of the moon’s influence on organic life.
In the past the moon was often seen as a living, life giving and life effecting being as represented by a particular God or Goddess. Worship of the Moon or its representatives and the orientation of life by the lunar calendar was a main focus of religious life. Time was measured by the cycles of the moon and the moon was believed to have an effect on the most essential aspects of life. Within the belief systems of the past there is often found a close association of the moon with liquids of life: Water, rain, the ocean, dew, sap, milk, blood, semen, menstrual fluids. The crescent moon often represented a container of a life-giving liquid and is seen throughout the ancient world as a crown adorning the heads of Gods and Goddesses. The old polytheistic religions of the world are replete with moon gods, goddesses and beings associated with the moon: Thoth, Ancient Egypt; Bridgit the Enchantress, Celtic Ireland; Diana, Ancient Rome; Artemis the Divine Archer, Ancient Greece; Shing-Moo, Ancient China; Cybele, The Lioness, Ancient Phrygia; Sinn, Ancient Babylonia; Helcate, the dark one Ancient Greece; Lilith, Ancient Sumeria; Khons the forgotten Egyptian, Ancient Egypt; Caridwen, Queen of the Cauldron; Danu, the Good Mother, Ireland; Isis, Mistress of Majic, Ancient Egypt and many others
Though many of the man’s religions of the past promoted these beliefs, people through their own observations, experiences and instincts could often confirm the basis of religious teachings. In the arid, warm climes where civilization first arose, the moon was generally the most important object and focus of religious ideas and observances. In juxtaposition to the Sun, the other large dynamic celestial presence in their lives, the night and moon were welcomed. The desiccating sun, often seen as a destroyer of life, was gone, cooler temperatures enveloped the world, dew was formed and life became tolerable. The tangible relief that people felt in the setting of the sun and rising of the moon confirmed the soundness of many of their religious beliefs. Throughout the records that have come to us from the past there is an extensive documentation of the widespread belief of life’s dependence on the moon. This view of dependence, to some degree, correlates with Fourth Way teachings. Gurdjieff says that it is the moon that exerts a mechanical control on all organic life on earth, though he also presents a much less benign posture towards the moon: “The Moon is man’s big enemy. We serve the moon.” While acknowledging the moon’s control, Fourth Way teaching brings a way to escape from this control, from mechanical life to potentially “real life”.
Here comes the sun
Beginning with the late Bronze Age and early Iron Age (c.2000-1250 BC) there started to be a diminishment of the belief in the moon as the regulator and provider of life. Consequently, worship of the moon by the earth’s peoples diminished. Concurrent with the moons decent there was an ascendancy of the sun in many of the religious beliefs of the world, the sun began to usurp many of the moon’s powers. This process of ‘solarization’ was gradual and by no means universally accepted and was often met with resistance. Sun worship is essentially a learned belief. As science grew, belief in the sun’s dominance grew. While worship of the moon began and grew instinctively, worship of the sun grew as the minds of men were taken with calculations and rationality; the science behind sun worship was undertaken by priests, not the people. Sun worship was facilitated by continually placing the sun’s location further and further from the earth. Despite resistance by the more instinctive beliefs of the past, solarization continued unabated. The solarization process, has of late, culminated in man’s current scientific view of the moon. This view, conveniently, is not at a cross purpose to the prevailing western religious doctrines or conventional societal thought. By their actions and beliefs, even outside of the current conventional religious teachings, it appears that most modern western people have, in effect, become worshipers of the sun. In the western world, the moon its importance in the minds of men greatly diminished by science and religion, has been left to the realm of poets, pagans and peasants.
Enter the Pagans
Within polytheistic world is found a partial correlation with The Fourth Way’s teaching regarding man’s role as a food for the moon. In the mythology and the teachings of several polytheistic religions is found the belief of the moon as a repository of the finer bodies of man. In Etruscan mythology, the moon or “Luna” is the underworld, where souls go to rest and the production of new souls begins. In Greek mythology upon death, the soul and psyche first go to the moon and then go to the underworld where there is a second death and a separation. The soul then goes to the moon and the psyche to the sun. The Bhagavad-Gita describes two paths souls travel after physical death; one is the path of the sun also known as the bright path and the other the path of the moon known as the dark path.
Gurdjieff states that man is a food for the moon and these myths and beliefs to a degree correlate with his statement. Gurdjieff also states that, “We are like the moon’s sheep which it cleans, feeds and sheers, and keeps for its own purposes”. What would those purposes be? Gurdjieff states that upon the death of the physical body the various matters that make up a man, coarse and fine, separate and go back to the various spheres from where they originated. So, what part of man goes to the moon, and is it continual through life or just upon death? This dispersal of matters is predicated on the level of development a man has come to on Earth. But, Gurdjieff writes that unless one works to create, and does create or as he says coat a higher being body, there is nothing of an individual nature that remain after death the entire microcosmos of a man is dissolved. The moon gets its share.
Though pantheistic religions and mythology put man under the direct control of the Gods they do not equate man to the status of domesticated sheep. This degree of mechanical control over organic life on earth and man in particular by the moon is probably unique to Fourth Way teaching. Gurdjieff’s statement also implies that the moon is somehow feeding man. There is indeed some basis in Hindu beliefs that man does, at least indirectly, receive something from the moon in the form of soma. Soma in Hindu mythology is an elixir of immortality that only the Gods can drink, the moon is said to be the storehouse or cup of soma. Though soma is by some believed to be a plant derived intoxicant or hallucinogen, this may be a distraction from its real meaning. A verse from the Bhagavad-Gita speaks to this, “Permeating throughout the planetary system I maintain all moving and stationary beings by my potency and having become the essence of the moon, I nourish all plant life”. This implies an essential connection between plant life (upon which all higher animals are supported) and the moon. Certain yogis believe that soma is a life-giving fluid created from the finer bodies of man that is to be showered by the moon with her light that descends on vegetables to form vitamins, is also present in the cerebrum and has an essential role in the reproductive process. “The astral body rises up to the moon, the sun or other heavenly stars…All our noble and virtuous deed, our prayers and oblations offered with faith project that astral fluid from our bodies to the higher regions. The moon being the nearest heavenly body and a satellite of the earth attracts the astral fluid thus projected up and converts it into soma which in turn falls on the electric atmosphere of the earth and showers with rains, it descends with rainwater and takes the form of sap in vegetables, and lastly takes the form of semen when vegetables are consumed as food”.
Inner Moon, the Moon in Man
The question that arises is how we escape “man’s big enemy”. In general terms Gurdjieff says that we must work with what he has called, “being-Partkdolg-duty, conscious-labors-and-intentional-sufferings.” It is said that Gurdjieff spoke of creating an “inner” Moon and Sun. Documentation of this is fuzzy and is not written directly in any of his books. Ouspensky spoke of it, as did his students such as Nicoll, but it is logical in the context of the Teaching to complete our own micro solar system our own microcosmos. So, what is an inner moon? First is it inner in the sense we typically take the word? That is does an inner moon reside, in some sense, inside the physical body? The physical moon is outside the earth though certainly within its sphere of influence, and orbits the Earth and the Sun. The Sun is the center around which the Earth/Moon(s) system as well as the entire solar system orbits. As to an inner moon, given that man exists on Earth, world 48 and the moon itself is of world 96, a much lower level of vibration than Earth, at the tail end of a lateral octave of the ray of creation—why do we wish to create something within that is at the moon level? Indeed, psychologically the vast majority of humanity already exist at the moon level, a level of duality and low vibration.
A general sense in what little has been written about this, is that the inner moons function has been of that as a/the permanent center of gravity which can be come to through being-Partklog-duty. A permanent center of gravity is something that Gurdjieff says is a feature of man number 4. Man number 4 is a transitional man but has come to a level where his lower centers are in equipoise. That is, that they operate in unity giving a stability which allows for a three centered perceiving. And importantly, though outside shocks may jar the balance, balance returns, the system of linked lower centers has reached balance and unity operating directly to receive and process impressions. But what is it that “holds” this inner Earth/Moon system together and in balance?
What follows is an explanation: this quote is attributed (by some) to Gurdjieff but it is of undetermined origin and the author feels it is not Gurdjieff’s words or writing; however, it is worthy of consideration. The portion quoted here is what is believed to be a reasonable point from which to begin self-exploration and likely represents what someone in the Work has concluded but not likely what Gurdjieff said. “The Moon-in-man is sensation. It is that broken part of the original consciousness of man, and it is that part towards which a man who wishes to work has a primary responsibility; for sensation in man is the growing part of his inner cosmos. The Ray of Creation inside man extends from free attention to sensation…just as the moon in the sky requires vibrations from earth for the growth of its atmosphere, sensation is the atmosphere of being. No growth of being will take place without a corresponding growth in sensation.” It is to always remember that in the Fourth Way nothing is taken on faith, therefore it is for every student & Teacher to verify the above for themselves.
If as Gurdjieff (and many others) teach that each human being is a “similitude of the whole” that is a cosmos, a Tetartocosmos in Gurdjieff’s terminology, if this is so then we already have a “moon”. Then the first question arising is what, on the level of world 48, is “it”. To the author’s understanding, the idea that the sensation of the body is the “moon in man”, is an obviously flawed concept. Briefly, one must understand that the sensation that is written of is not of the neuromuscular system. From a density standpoint this sensation is much less dense than the physical body and is of a much higher vibration. It is a sensation of the body not in the body, though it can and does penetrate the planetary body. In fact, the planetary body appears within this sensation. Whereas the “moon of man” must be denser and of lower vibration, that is of or at least at the “border” of world 96. This leaves the question as to what is of the density, low vibration and dualism that is a part of man that equates to the moon? The “head” brain meets these criteria.
So another avenue of approaching the question of the “moon in man”  arises from the point of view of man as a cosmos. It seems that on a physical, world 48 level, the head or a portion of the head has the most resonance as to location. Why? The skull is the densest part of the body. As Gurdjieff says the physical moon controls organic life on earth, this is in much the same way as the brain controls life in and of the human body. The moon is in an orbit around the Earth and Sun but the moon has a synchronized rotation that although it rotates, the same face always is toward the Earth, thus we have a side of the moon never seen without the use of modern technology. The same could be said of an individual man’s head, the back of which an individual cannot see as a reflection occurring in nature but only with use of simple technology. Gurdjieff also says that the moon is the growing tip of the ray of creation, that the moon is evolving and over vast time periods will become an earth like planet. This also equates to man’s brain, the intellectual center which operates at the slowest/lowest speed of all the centers, and which has also evolved, and we can probably assume is still evolving. The human brain would be the evolving physical part of the cosmos of man, the tetartocosmos.
The physical moon is a fragment of the Earth. It is held in place by gravitational/tidal forces while there is no direct materially visible connection between the two bodies Earth and Moon are connected. The human head sits upon the body connected by skin, bone, muscle, tendons, arteries, veins, nerves and so forth, but there is a sense that it is a distinct aspect of the planetary body of man. There is the head and there is the body, in most people there is no unity, no bodymind. People in general are “in their heads”, that is their attention is in dreams, in worry, thought, memory and so forth, for all these the locus is in the head. The head brain, particularly the frontal part functions in egotism and dualism: yes/no, right/wrong, me/you as it chatters away. Most people have little awareness of their body except in pain, sickness and discomfort, hunger, pleasure and have no global sense of themselves. As we exist in world 48, the Earth, our actions are controlled by our head brain, we die without it. And according to Gurdjieff as previously quoted all organic life is controlled by the moon. “All movements, actions, and manifestations of people, animals and plants depend upon the moon and are controlled by the moon…All evil deeds, all crimes, all self-sacrificing actions, all heroic exploits, as well as all actions of ordinary life, are controlled by the moon.” There can be no doubt that the head brain of man effectuates these actions in man and man’s functions and therefore essentially acts as the “moon in man.” Just as there can be no life or life as we know it on earth without the moon there can be no human life without the head brain.
Interestingly Gurdjieff says, “The liberation which comes from the growth of mental powers and faculties is liberation from the moon. The mechanical part of our life depends upon the moon, is subject to the moon. If we develop in ourselves consciousness and will, and subject our mechanical life and all our mechanical manifestations to them, we shall escape from the power of the moon.” The mental powers and faculties he is speaking of are functions of man number 5, 6 or 7 and not something that can be acquired with work only with the mental center.
The Fourth Way stands alone
So, it is apparently the second body of man that is the food for the moon. Gurdjieff says that this body, even fully formed, is not an undying body and can and will eventually dissolve. It is only the final body of man, the soul that is immortal within the confines of the solar system. However, given that a fully formed astral body is a relative rarity among the 8 billion people on Earth, it is much more likely that the moon “feeds” on the undeveloped or underdeveloped second bodies of man released after the physical/planetary body dies. In the First Series Gurdjieff calls this substance released at death, Askokin. Essentially the entire process of reciprocal maintenance boils down to: I eat—therefore— I am eaten. This, on many levels, is law.
It appears that within the Hindu/Yogic tradition there is found the closest approximation of Fourth Way teaching regarding the mechanical relationship of reciprocal maintenance of organic life on earth with the moon. Even here, though there is a correspondence, there is no a clear view of the extent of organic life’s interdependence with the moon. A search through the beliefs of religions and mythology of the earth’s peoples in seeking direct correspondence with this part of Fourth Way teaching is striking in the lack of a close correspondence. That the external teachings and beliefs of the three main monotheistic religions Judaism, Christianity and Islam have little in them that remotely resemble Fourth Way teaching as to the moon is perhaps to be expected. All three of these great monotheistic religions external trappings were developed in a world saturated with pagan religions and were established in opposition to pagan beliefs. It is only within the polytheistic religions of the world that hints, pieces and similarities exist. Regardless, the blunt clarity of Gurdjieff’s words is not to be demonstrably found within other teachings.
The lack of direct correlation in and of itself brings up a question. What explains the uniqueness of this part of the Teaching and why isn’t there a more direct correlation? Perhaps Gurdjieff answers this himself in the First Series: “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.”
—Richard Myers— http://www.growingchoongary.com
Notes
- In our system. P. D. Ouspensky In Search of the Miraculous, p. 84
- What interested me. P. D. Ouspensky In Search of the Miraculous, p.25
- Natural History Pliny the Elder. Bk.11 C11(No. 221)
- Bhagavad-Gita. 8.24 8.25 8.26
- The Moon is Man’s Big enemy. G. I. Gurdjieff Views from the Real World p.198
- The Moon-in-man. Christian Wertenbaker, The Enneagram of G.i. Gurdjieff p.110-111
- Bhagavad-Gita. 15.13
- The astral body. Swami Vishnu Tirtha, Devatma Shakti (New Delhi: Swami
Shivom Tirth, 1948), p. 50 - The liberation which. P.D. Ouspensky, In Search of the Miraculous, PP.85-86
- The sacred members. G. I. Gurdjieff, All and Everything Beelzebub’s Tales to his Grandson p 88
Open to Openness 