About the Book … i

Dedication … ii

Table of Contents … iii

Word Count … iv

Word Cloud … v

Author … vi

Gurdjieff International Review … vii

Introduction … viii

I ♦ The Absolute … 1

II ♦ The Milky Way in the World of Spiral Nebulae … 4

III ♦ The Solar System in the Milky Way … 10

I ♦ The Relation Between Space and Time … 19

II ♦ The Days and Lives of Worlds … 25

III ♦ Moments of Perception … 31

I ♦ The Long Body of the Solar System … 35

II ♦ The Solar System as Transformer … 40

III ♦ The Interaction of Sun and Planets … 45

I ♦ The Three Factors of Causation … 49

II ♦ The Six Processes in Nature … 53

III ♦ The Four States of Matter … 57

I ♦ The Physical Being of the Sun … 64

II ♦ Hydrogen into Light … 69

III ♦ Possibilities in the Sun … 74

I ♦ The Planetary Octaves … 78

II ♦ The Meaning of the Harmony … 81

III ♦ The Circulation of Light: Visible and Invisible … 87

I ♦ Elemental Octaves … 92

II ♦ Speeds of Diffusion … 100

III ♦ The Triple Creation of Organic Chemistry … 104

I ♦ The Moon as Balance-weight … 109

II ♦ The Moon as Magnet … 114

III ♦ The Moon as Earth's Offspring … 119

I ♦ The Six Realms of Nature … 123

II ♦ Nature in Space: Nature in Geologic Time … 127

III ♦ The Perception of Animals … 132

I ♦ The Anatomical Systems and their Regulators … 138

II ♦ Types: Endocrine and Astrological … 143

III ♦ The Bloodstream as Index of Man's Being … 151

I ♦ The Slowing down of Human Time … 156

II ♦ The Milestones of Life … 162

III ♦ Calendar: Superhuman and Subhuman Times … 166

I ♦ Gtrowth … 172

II ♦ Digestion … 176

III ♦ Elimination, and Role of Organic Compounds … 180

I ♦ Corruption … 189

II ♦ Healing … 193

III ♦ Regeneration … 198

I ♦ Personality, Essence and Soul … 204

II ♦ Self-remembering, Consciousness, Memory … 210

III ♦ The Play of Human Types … 221

I ♦ Functions and Castes: Cells and Men … 227

II ♦ The Soul of a Civilization: the Four Ways … 235

III ♦ Declining Absolute, or Comparative Religion … 242

I ♦ Civilization's Earthly Hour … 245

II ♦ Birth and Rebirth of Cultures … 251

III ♦ The Age of the Conquest of Time … 260

I ♦ Physiognomy: the Mirror of Mercury … 269

II ♦ Venus and Fertility … 274

III ♦ Mars and War … 287

I ♦ The Asteroids, Economics and Crime … 285

II ♦ Jupiter, or the Harmonics of Moons … 289

III ♦ Saturn and Conquest … 293

I ♦ Fashion: Masculine and Feminine Phases of Uranus … 299

II ♦ The Psychology of Sex … 302

III ♦ Sex as the Quest for Perfection … 306

I ♦ Favourable Periods … 313

II ♦ The Work of Schools … 319

III ♦ School as a Cosmos … 326

I ♦ Death … 334

II ♦ Recurrence … 337

III ♦ Beyond Recurrence … 342

I. The Logical and Super-logical Minds in Scientific Illumination (Introduction) … 348

II. Table of Times and Cosmoses (2) … 349

III. The Theory of Octaves (6) … 350

IV. Planetary Tables (6) … 351

V. Table of Elements (7) … 352

VI. Table of Human Functions (10) … 353

VII. Table of Organic Compounds (12) … 354

VIII. The Cycle of Civilizations (16) … 355

IX. Planetary Cycles and Human Activity (17) … 356

X. The Cycle of War (17) … 357

XI. Relation between Jovial and Solar Systems (18) … 358

XII. The Cycle of Sex (19) … 359

XIII. The Cycle of Regeneration (20) … 360

XIV. Bibliography … 361

Index … 362

Index of Proper Names … 363

I. The Solar System in the Milky Way … 11

II. The Long Body of the Solar System … 11

III. The Generation of Energy in the Sun … 42

IV. The Conjunction of Venus … 42

V. The Circulation of Light … 106

VI. The Elements, the Realms of Nature and the Planets … 106

VII. Man as Microcosm … 138

VIII. The Clock of Human Life … 138

1. Cross-Section and Appearance of the Milky Way … 13

2. The Solar System … 36

3. Primary and Secondary Coils: Part of the Solar System, in Time … 41

4. Field of Force Created by a Rotating Sphere … 65

5. Atoms of Hydrogen, Helium, Carbon, etc. … 69

6. The Octave of the Planets … 89

7. The Circulation of Light … 90

8. The Design of the Year … 168

9. Triads of Digestion & Elimination … 181

10. The Octaves of Molecular Compounds … 184

11. Fascination, Divided Attention, Self-Remembering … 215

12. The Types of Humanity … 222

13. The Sequence of Civilisations in Europe … 254

14. The Round of Types … 309

15. School as Cosmos … 329

16. The Scheme of the Universe … 138

Table 1 ♦ The Shift of Dimensions from one Cosmos to Another … 21

Table 2 ♦ General Relation Between Line and Time / Space and Duration … 24

Table 3 ♦ Sequence of 'Days' for Different Cosmoses … 28

Table 4 ♦ Life-Span for All Cosmic Creatures … 28

Table 5 ♦ Six Possible Categories of Process … 53

Table 6 ♦ Summary of the Six Processes … 57

Table 7 ♦ Minor and Major Conjunctions … 79

Table 8 ♦ Planetary Influences and Developmental Notes … 80, 286

Table 9 ♦ Planetary Influences and Lunar Periods … 80

Table 10 ♦ The First Three Periods in the Table of Elements … 96

Table 11 ♦ Speeds of Diffusion … 101

Table 12 ♦ The Nature of the Phenomena … 104

Table 13 ♦ The Relation Between the Cosmos of a Simple Molecule and the Cosmos of a Cell … 108

Table 14 ♦ The Functions Controlled by the Glands … 141

Table 15 ♦ The First Octave of Organic Compounds … 184

Table 16 ♦ Table of Molecular Compounds … 187

Table 17 ♦ The Growth of Mankind … 250