S2/E30: The Harnel-Aoot

This is a series of talks about objective consciousness, an objective universe, and an objective way to awaken.

It is primarily based on the works of George I. Gurdjieff and Russell A. Smith, and aims to simplify and explain what Gurdjieff actually meant within the various subject areas of the Fourth Way. All material discussed is drawn from Russell Smith’s book, Gurdjieff: Cosmic Secrets, The Teaching Guide.

In our last talk, we found an octave in every interval, which made it possible for us to better understand the octave of organic life. We also informed the listeners that there was an objective exercise that would cause a human being to awaken. An exercise that contained a Great Secret and Great Truth; and, those who knew it, after gaining some preliminary information, could perform the exercise and awaken. This exercise is colloquially known as The April Fools Exercise, and this is included for free at the end of The Teaching Guide

We hope you found it, acquired it, and are working towards that aim.

OK. Today, we will explore what Gurdjieff called the Harnel-Aoot.

In this discussion, as in previous discussions, diagrams will be helpful. They can also be found on our website thedogteachings.com, by clicking on the link shown in the description of this podcast. So, pause, find the diagrams, print them off, if you would like, and let’s begin.

The Harnel-Aoot

We will begin with this Gurdjieff passage from Beelzebub’s Tales to His Grandson, wherein he first introduced the Harnel-Aoot:

quote

“As regards the third Stopinder, then changed in its ‘subjective action’ and which is fifth in the general successiveness and is called ‘Harnel-Aoot,’ its disharmony flowed by itself from the change of the two aforementioned Stopinders.

“This disharmony in its subjective functioning, flowing from its asymmetry so to say in relation to the whole entire completing process of the sacred Heptaparaparshinokh, consists in the following:

First Particularity:

“If the completing process of this sacred law flows in conditions, where during its process there are many ‘extraneously-caused-vibrations,’ then all its functioning gives only external results.”

Second Particularity:

“But if this same process proceeds in absolute quiet without any external ‘extraneously-caused-vibrations’ whatsoever, then all the results of the action of its functioning remain within that concentration in which it completes its process, and for the outside, these results only become evident on direct and immediate contact with it.”

Third Particularity:

“And if however during its functioning there are neither of these two sharply opposite conditions, then the results of the action of its process usually divide themselves into the external and the internal.”

end quote

OK. To help us better understand the Harnel-Aoot, we will use several of Mr. Smith’s models that describe them.

His model for the first particularity is, if an apple tree exists in a densely populated area where there are many people, birds, and animals, then, all the apples get eaten; and, none get returned to the earth. After a few seasons, the yield of the apple tree diminishes, because the nutrients that are constantly being taken out of the ground are not being replenished. Thus, nothing is being given back to the tree. 

That represents the first particularity, “If the completing process of this sacred law flows in conditions, where during its process there are many ‘extraneously-caused-vibrations,’ then all its functioning gives only external results.”

Mr. Smith’s model for the second particularity is, if an apple tree grows in the middle of nowhere, where there are no people, a few birds, and a few animals, then, most of the apples will fall to the ground and fertilize the soil. Thus, the soil becomes very fertile; and, as more and more apples fall to the ground, they find it easier and easier to grow. After which, if you stumble upon the apple tree, you may find an apple orchard, instead of just one apple tree. 

That represents the second particularity, “But if this same process proceeds in absolute quiet without any external ‘extraneously-caused-vibrations’ whatsoever, then all the results of the action of its functioning remain within that concentration in which it completes its process, and for the outside, these results only become evident on direct and immediate contact with it.”

Mr. Smith’s model for the third particularity is, if an apple tree grows where there are some people, some birds, and some animals (but not too many), then, some of the apples become apple pies, and some of them fall to the ground and replenish the soil. 

Thus, the third particularity, “And if however during its functioning there are neither of these two sharply opposite conditions, then the results of the action of its process usually divide themselves into the external and the internal.”

Note: The first particularity can be devastating. 

We found this out in Oklahoma in the early nineteen-hundreds. Man farmed the ground to death. He harvested, harvested, and harvested, depleting the soil, depleting the soil, and depleting the soil; and, after a few years, it turned to dust. 

Many people choked to death on the dust. In fact, some of the dust clouds were so huge, they actually made it to New York. 

Thousands of people in Oklahoma were forced to move.

The farmers did not understand that after every few crops, they needed to plough the next crop under, allowing the nutrients to go back into the earth and replenish what had been taken out.

Today, farmers intentionally plant cover crops; or, let the land rest every few seasons. But, back then, they just thought, “Hey look, we can grow some stuff and sell it; we can grow some more stuff and sell it; we can grow even more stuff and sell it. Yikes, what the heck is happening? Our crop yields keep getting poorer and poorer and the ground is turning to dust!”

They failed because they did not understand the rules and laws of land management. 

However, sometimes, failure can be a good thing. Man learns by failing. Edison did not say, “I am going to make a lightbulb.” He said, “I am going to try to make a lightbulb.” 

He understood that, after failing a thousand times, he probably would.

So, achievement, perhaps, is best defined, not by the number of successes, but by the number of failures. 

OK. Let’s get back to the three particularities of the Harnel-Aoot.

One day, while Mr. Smith was looking at The Universal Cosmic Weave (see The Universal Cosmic Weave diagram), he began to think about the three particularities… and wondered how they applied to creation. 

Trying to make sense of it all, he thought, “If I can understand the function of each Harnel-Aoot – in relation to the forces – I might be able to discover which particularity applied, and why.”

So he fixed his gaze on The Universal Cosmic Weave and saw there were thirteen octaves in the Universe that contained a Harnel-Aoot.

Next, after some very clever reasoning, he was able to deduce each particularity.

Let’s see if we can follow what Mr. Smith figured out (see the Harnel-Aoot diagrams). 

The first octave in the Universe that has a Harnel-Aoot is the 3p octave.

Mr. Smith studied the diagram and pondered what was happening during the first Harnel-Aoot; were there many extraneously caused vibrations, were there no extraneous vibrations whatsoever, or was it some number in-between?

This caused him to then ask, “What does ‘extraneously caused vibrations’ even mean? Hmm, extraneously caused vibrations must mean vibrations coming from outside. That is, from the other forces in the Universe! Wow, OK. So, he first needed to know where the other forces in the Universe were.” 

Which was pretty easy because, previously, in episode 10, when he changed the fabric of the Universe, he aligned the LA’s and FA’s with the separated forces; and, therefore, knew that every LA and FA would be a point of an extraneously caused vibration.

So, he looked at the 3p octave to see how many forces, that is, how many LA’s and FA’s, came into existence during its Harnel-Aoot. 

He found three: a FA in the 2p, a LA in the 4s, and a FA in the 3s. He put the number three in the first Harnel-Aoot and quickly decided that the number three would mean many. That is, three forces occurring in one stopinder is a lot. Thus, the first particularity would apply; and, the 3p octave would only give external results.

He then asked, “OK, what does ‘gives only external results’ mean?” He decided that ‘gives only external results’ means that the 3p octave explodes. It goes supernova and makes elements for the rest of the Universe. That is, it only gives external results. It does not live for a long time; it is a short-lived, ten-million-year-old sun that explodes. It only gives off heat and light for ten-million years. Then, it blows up, and seeds the rest of the Universe with elements. 

It never makes it to its own note SO. I repeat, the 3p octave never makes it to its own note SO. There is so much going on during that first Harnel-Aoot that the 3p octave blows up and only gives external results.

So, Mr. Smith crossed out its note SO and all the notes that followed. That is, the 3p octave never sounded its notes SO, FA, MI, RE, or DO.

Why? Because it blew up!

In addition, notice that the first note of the first Harnel-Aoot is also the first vibration in the Universe. Wow! The first vibration in the Universe is the very first note of the very first Harnel-Aoot…. Interesting.

When Mr. Smith saw that, he smiled and thought, “Wow, since the Universe began with a Big Bang”, it is apropos that the first vibration in the Universe is the very first note of the very first Harnel-Aoot that exploded!”

OK. The second Harnel-Aoot in the Universe is in the 4s octave. It only has a FA from the 3s octave coming into existence during its Harnel-Aoot. Thus, Mr. Smith put the number one in that Harnel-Aoot. 

He quickly decided that one was not many, and it was not none; it was in-between many and none. Therefore, the 4s octave obeyed the third particularity. It did both. It gave out, and completed itself (just like the apple tree that was able to make apple pies and replenish the soil). 

In the Universe, the 4s octave would be like our sun; a sun that lives for ten-billion years, not ten-million years like the 3p octave. 

This second kind of sun gives out heat and light until it expends all its fuel; it does not blow up. Thus, the 4s octave does make it to its own notes SO, FA, MI, RE, and DO, etc. Thank you, Mr. Smith, we can take it from here.

So far, we have two types of suns. Suns that blew up, because during their formation there were many extraneously caused vibrations – which caused them to become very massive, very quickly, and exploded – and by doing so, made elements for the rest of the Universe. And, suns that give off both heat and light and slowly burn themselves out. 

Notice that the second type of suns are not element factories like the first type of suns. Instead, they will spend most of their lives just fusing hydrogen into helium, illuminating the Universe, and warming the planets.

Since we now know there are only two types of suns, we can complete the rest of the Harnel-Aoots in the Universe.

First, we had the 3p octave; it had three forces in its Harnel-Aoot and blew up. Second, we had the 4s octave; it had only one force in its Harnel-Aoot and consumed itself whilst giving out heat and light.

The third octave in the Universe with a Harnel-Aoot is the 1s octave. It has two forces coming into existence during its Harnel-Aoot, a LA in the 3d octave and a LA in the 4p octave. Mr. Smith decided that the number two was also an in-between number. That is, it was not many, nor was it none… so, it got to continue.

The next octave with a Harnel-Aoot is the 3d octave. It has 3, so it blows up.

The 4p octave has 2, so it continues.

The 5s octave also has 2, so it also continues.

The 2s octave has 3, so it blows up.

The 4d octave has 4. Bang!

The 5p octave has 3, again, Supernova!

The 6s octave has 3, Kaboom!

The 2p octave has 2, and continues.

The 4f octave has only 1, so it too continues.

And, the last octave with a Harnel-Aoot in the Universe is the 3s octave. It has zero.

Wow, right there, at the very bottom of the Universe, we have a Harnel-Aoot with zero. 

It is the only Harnel-Aoot in the Universe that obeys the second particularity. That is, it only takes things in; it does not give things out. 

Wait a minute! That sounds like the definition of a Black Hole. A region in space where gravity is so strong that it takes everything in; nothing, not even light, can get out.

Amazingly, we spewed out the Universe with a BIG BANG… and, suns were born. Some of those suns blew up and made elements. Some of those suns left the lights on and kept things warm. And, some of those suns became black holes and sucked it all back in.

Wow!

OK. That completes all of the Harnel-Aoots in the Universe. So, let’s see what we have.

In the completed diagram there are six Harnel-Aoots that only give external results, six Harnel-Aoots that give both external results, as well as provide for their own self-continuation, and one Harnel-Aoot that takes everything back in. 

Gurdjieff singled out the last Harnel-Aoot, that is, the one that takes everything back in, and indicated that it was the Harnel-Aoot that caused the first outer cycle to cease. 

Let’s check that out.

The Harnel-Aoot of the 3s octave is the last Harnel-Aoot in the Universe. It is also fitting, that it is the last interval in the Universe.

Ok. So, who is the 3s octave? Well, let’s see, the 3s octave begins at the FA of the 1s. Thus, the 3s octave is the son of the 1s octave. Remember 1s, 2s, 3s… 12, 10, 8… DO, LA, FA… Father, Mother, Son? Thus, the 3s octave is the Son of God. 

Earlier, we learned that Sons often deny their Fathers. Not to mention the fact that the force that enters at FA runs contrary to the force that enters at DO, as was proved in episode 22. Thus, the 3s octave’s DO, which enters at FA of the 1s octave, stops the 1s octave; and, as such, it stopped the first outer cycle of the Universe. That being said, if the Son often denies the Father, then who denies the Son? Answer: The Son of the Son… or the Grandson. So, if the 3s octave denies the 1s octave, and the 5s octave denies the 3s octave, then, the 5s octave reaffirms the 1s octave, reaffirms God! Perhaps, that is why Gurdjieff called his book Beelzebub’s Tales to His Grandson. Because, the Grandson’s octave reaffirms the Grandfather’s octave, reaffirms God. 

Since the 5s octave reaffirms the 1s octave; and, is also the first Supreme Octave in the Universe. Mr. Smith decided to make the 5s octave, Mr. Gurdjieff’s “Ray of Creation” (see the Ray of Creation diagram). As such, he placed the Absolute at DO, All Worlds at TI, All Suns at LA, the Sun at SO, All Planets at FA, the Earth at MI, and the Moon at Re, which just happened to be the bottom note of the Universe. 

In addition, the Trinity of Supreme Octaves in the Universe, the 5s, 6s, and 7s octave, constitute Gurdjieff’s: First Order Concentrations, Second Order Suns, and the Third Order Suns or Planets, respectively.

We will discuss what that means shortly, but for now, back to the Harnel-Aoot.

However, before we go back to the Harnel-Aoot, we should consider why, in some places, Gurdjieff uses the term “Fundamental Sacred”, while in other places, he uses the term “Sacred”. Mr. Smith deduced that the term Fundamental Sacred referred to the original Trinity of forces; or, to the forces that were created in the Holy Sun Absolute. Whereas, the term Sacred refers to the forces that are created in the Universe. 

This understanding will make it a lot easier for us to comprehend Gurdjieff’s cosmology, as well as, what we are now about to discuss.

OK. Back to the Harnel-Aoot.

Here is something else that Gurdjieff said about the second particularity; it is near the bottom of page 758 in Beelzebub’s Tales to His Grandson.

I will insert additional meaning as it is being discussed

quote

“And as after this, surrounding conditions of actualization were everywhere established corresponding to the manifestation of the second particularity”

end quote

Which means, the Harnel-Aoot with the zero.

quote

“…. of the fifth Stopinder of the fundamental sacred Heptaparaparshinokh,”

end quote

Fundamental sacred refers to either the original Trinity, or to the octaves created in the Holy Sun Absolute.

quote

“…. therefore from then on the actualization of the fundamental outer cycle of the sacred Heptaparaparshinokh ceased,”

end quote

Fundamental and Sacred refer to all the forces, both those created in the Holy Sun Absolute, and those created in the Universe. 

It is also important to note that the Harnel-Aoot that stopped the first outer cycle, began at 360 vibrations (see the Ray of Creation Diagram).

Many other clues also point to 360 vibrations.

quote

 “…. and all the action of its functioning entered forever into the results already manifested by it, and in them there began to proceed its inherent permanent processes of transformation, called ‘evolution’ and ‘involution.’”

end of main quote

Mr. Smith suggests that the last passage refers to the note TI of the 7s octave, which is also at 360 vibrations; and, as we learned in episode 10, octaves that have the note TI, have a TI-DO interval, which created ascension. That is, when their TI-DO interval became an octave, it doubled, creating an octave that spanned the DO-RE interval above, thus, “facilitating the commencement of a new cycle of its completing process.”

Therefore, at the level of Earths… things are primed and ready to ascend. 

In other words, all that had been created began to accumulate on the surface of the planets, organized itself into life… and started the process of involution and evolution.

Wow! 

Recapitulating: We came out of the Holy Sun Absolute with a BIG BANG, worked our way down the Universe, got to the last Harnel-Aoot (the LA-SO interval of the 3s octave), and the first outer cycle ceased. Everything remaining, entered back into what had already been created; and, the process of involution and evolution began.

Now we will discuss the paragraph in Beelezebub’s Tales to His Grandson that precedes the quote we have just been discussing.

quote

“At this very place in the process of the first outer cycle of the fundamental sacred Heptaparaparshinokh, namely, after the formation of the Third-order-Suns or planets,”

end quote

We just learned that at 360 vibrations, at the TI of the 7s octave, which we previously identified as the Third-order-Suns or planets, things were primed and ready to ascend.

OK. What else can we find that points to 360 vibrations?

quote

“.… just here, owing to the changed fifth deflection of the sacred Heptaparaparshinokh, which as I have already said is now called Harnel-Aoot,”

end quote

All right. Now, let’s look again at the Ray of Creation diagram to see if we can find any of these references. 

Well, sacred means the octaves that are created in the Universe. Hey, the 6s octave, a Supreme Octave, is created in the Universe. And, it is the octave of the Second Order Suns. And, its note SO is at 360 vibrations, which is the ascending fifth note of its octave. And, it begins a Harnel-Aoot.

Wow, all of those, point to 360 vibrations.

We now have several clues that point to 360 vibrations.

quote

“…. the initially given momentum for the fundamental completing process, having lost half the force of its vivifyingness,”

end quote

Now, let’s find that.

Again, we have the term fundamental. We said that the word fundamental referred to the octaves that were created in the Holy Sun Absolute. If we examine the six octaves that were created in the Holy Sun Absolute and ask, “Where does the ‘fundamental completing process’ lose half the force of its vivifyingness?” We can conclude, since all six of those octaves represent the ‘fundamental completing process’, that, not until all six of those octaves have lost half the force of their vivifyingness can we say that the ‘fundamental completing process’ has lost half the force of its vivifyingness.  

In addition, notice that the octaves that were created in the Holy Sun Absolute all start at a different vibration; and then, all proceed to half (see The Universal Cosmic Weave diagram).

So, let’s see where they are when that occurs.

The octave of 1296 halves at 648.

The octave of 1080 halves at 540.

The octave of 900 halves at 450.

The octave of 864 halves at 432.

The octave of 750 halves at 375.

And, the octave of 720 halves at 360. Again, another 360.

At 360 vibrations they have all halved. That is, at 360 vibrations all the octaves that were created in the Holy Sun Absolute have all lost half the force of their vivifyingness.

Now, since all the octaves have halved, what happens next?

quote

“…. began in its further functioning to have only half of the manifestation of its action outside itself,”

end quote

All right. The octaves that were created in the Holy Sun have all halved. Thus, the initially given momentum for the fundamental completing process has also halved… which means, thereafter, the fundamental completing process only has half of its force left. That is, it has only half of its initial force capable of manifesting outside of itself.

quote

“…. and the other half for itself, i.e., for its very own functioning, the consequences of which were that on these last big results, i.e., on these said Third-order-Suns or planets, there began to arise what are called, ‘similarities-to-the-already-arisen.’”

end quote

Notice that when the octave of 720 reaches 360, it is the only octave of the Fundamental octaves that still has half the force of its vivifyingness. Therefore, its half-force starts to ascend, and “similarities to the already arisen” begin to arise on the surface of the planets. 

Thus, evolution starts at 360 vibrations, after the Planets form Earths, where a sacred octave is at its fifth deflection; and, when all the fundamental octaves have halved.

Thereby, “…on these last big results…” (the 7s octave) a new structure called “similarities-to-the-already-arisen” begins to arise.

Question:  What structure is similar to the “already-arisen”?

Answer:  The structure that has “already arose”.

This means that the octave between DO and TI of the 7s octave becomes a new 1s octave, similar to the original 1s octave, only on a smaller scale. In this new structure, Life emerges: amino acids, RNA, DNA, and all that follows.  

Note: In the structure of the Universe only nineteen outer octaves are created.  Whereas, in the structure of the ‘similarities-to-the-already-arisen,’ octave creation is infinite. 

Why? 

Simple, you can half the octave of 24, which began in the DO-TI interval of the 7s octave, at 384, and never reach the bottom of the Universe at 324. Just as you can half the number 1 and never reach the number 0.

OK, let’s, again, read the first quote, to see if there is anything else we can find that also points to 360 vibrations.

quote

“And as after this, surrounding conditions of actualization were everywhere established corresponding to the manifestation of the second particularity of the fifth Stopinder of the fundamental sacred Heptaparaparshinokh, therefore from then on the actualization of the fundamental outer cycle of the sacred Heptaparaparshinokh ceased, and all the action of its functioning entered forever into the results already manifested by it, and in them there began to proceed its inherent permanent processes of transformation, called evolution and involution.”

end quote

Here we find another clue: 360 is where the Harnel-Aoot that stops the actualization of the fundamental outer cycle begins… not to mention the references to the fifth stopinder, and to where involution and evolution begins. 

Many clues point to 360 vibrations: after the 7s octave forms, where the 6s octave is at SO, when all of the fundamental octaves have halved, and, after the 3s octave completes its Harnel-Aoot at 324 vibrations, the fundamental outer cycle ceases; and, then – back at 360 vibrations – everything starts to go back up.

I must admit, having studied Gurdjieff’s words, scores of times – trying to understand the Harnel-Aoot, to finally have them methodically explained to me by Mr. Smith was, indeed, a treat to my ears. Thank you Mr Smith, sincerely.

Thank you for listening with yours.

If you would like to know more about the subjects and exercises we’ve been covering in these talks, including the book and guide that underpins it all, which is available for PDF download, and also gives you access to an ultimate exercise that is able to objectively wake people up, you can find us at the website thedogteachings.com.

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There, you will be able to obtain Mr. Smith’s other diagrams, listen to other talks, as well as learn all the mathematics that supports them, and much much more.

But, most importantly, you will have real time access to the material we are discussing.

That’s thedogteachings.com

Goodbye until next time.