Beelzebub's Tales to His Grandson

16.121

After a short pause Beelzebub continued thus:

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“Before telling you further about the three-brained beings who have taken your fancy and who breed on the planet Earth, it is in my opinion absolutely necessary for you, for a clear representation of the strangeness of their psyche and, in general, for a better understanding of everything concerning this peculiar planet, first of all to have an accurate representation of their time-calculation, and of how the being-sensation of what is called the ‘process-of-the-flow-of-time’ in the presences of the three-brained beings of that planet has gradually changed and also of how this process now flows in the presences of the contemporary three-brained beings there.

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“It must be made clear to you because only then will you have the possibility clearly to represent to yourself and understand the events there which I have already related and those I shall yet relate.

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“You must first know that for the definition of Time, the three-brained beings of that planet take the ‘year’ as the basic unit of their time-calculation, just as we do, and also, like us, they define the duration of their ‘year’ by the time of a certain movement of their planet in relation to another definite cosmic concentration; that is to say, they take that period in the course of which their planet, during its movement—that is, during the processes of ‘Falling’ and ‘Catching-up’—makes what is called its ‘Krentonalnian-revolution’ in relation to its sun.

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“It is similar to our reckoning of a ‘year’ for our planet Karatas, which is the period of time between the nearest approach of the sun ‘Samos’ to the sun ‘Selos’ and its next similar approach.

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“A hundred of such ‘years’ of theirs, the beings of the Earth call a ‘century.’

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“And they divide this ‘year’ of theirs into twelve parts and each part they call a ‘month.’

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“For the definition of the duration of this ‘month’ of theirs, they take the time of that completed period during which that larger fragment—which was separated from their planet and which they now call Moon—makes, owing to the same cosmic law of ‘Falling’ and ‘Catching-up,’ its full ‘Krentonalnian-revolution’ in relation to their planet.

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“It must be noticed that the twelve ‘Krentonalnian-revolutions’ of the said Moon do not correspond exactly to a single ‘Krentonalnian-revolution’ of their planet round its sun and therefore they have made some compromise or other when calculating these months of theirs, so that in the sum total these may correspond more or less to reality.

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“Further, they divide these months of theirs into thirty ‘diurnities,’ or, as they usually say, ‘days.’

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“And a diurnity they reckon as that span of time during which their planet makes its ‘completed-rotation’ during the actualizing of the said cosmic laws.

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“Bear in mind, by the way, that they also say ‘it-is-day,’ when in the atmosphere of their planet—just as in general on all the other planets on which, as I have already told you, the cosmic process called ‘Ilnosoparnian’ is actualized—that ‘Trogoautoegocratic’ process which we call ‘kshtatsavacht’ periodically proceeds; and they also call this cosmic phenomenon ‘daylight.’

“As regards the other process, the opposite one, which we call ‘kldatzacht,’ they call it ‘night’ and refer to it as ‘it-is-dark.’

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“And thus the three-brained beings breeding on the planet Earth call the greatest period of the flow of time ‘century,’ and this ‘century’ of theirs consists of a hundred ‘years.’

“A ‘year’ has twelve ‘months.’

“A ‘month’ has an average of thirty ‘days,’ that is, diurnities.

“Further, they divide their diurnity into twenty-four ‘hours’ and an ‘hour’ into sixty ‘minutes.’

“And a ‘minute’ they divide into sixty ‘seconds.’

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“But as in general, my boy, you do not yet know of the exceptional peculiarity of this cosmic phenomenon Time, you must first be told that genuine Objective Science formulates this cosmic phenomenon thus:

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“Time in itself does not exist; there is only the totality of the results ensuing from all the cosmic phenomena present in a given place.

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“Time itself, no being can either understand by reason or sense by any outer or inner being-function. It cannot even be sensed by any gradation of instinct which arises and is present in every more or less independent cosmic concentration.

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“It is possible to judge Time only if one compares real cosmic phenomena which proceed in the same place and under the same conditions, where Time is being constated and considered.

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“It is necessary to notice that in the Great Universe all phenomena in general, without exception wherever they arise and manifest, are simply successively law-conformable ‘Fractions’ of some whole phenomenon which has its prime arising on the ‘Most Holy Sun Absolute.’

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“And in consequence, all cosmic phenomena, wherever they proceed, have a sense of ‘objectivity.’

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“And these successively law-conformable ‘Fractions’ are actualized in every respect, and even in the sense of their involution and evolution, owing to the chief cosmic law, the sacred ‘Heptaparaparshinokh.’

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“Only Time alone has no sense of objectivity because it is not the result of the fractioning of any definite cosmic phenomena. And it does not issue from anything, but blends always with everything and becomes self-sufficiently independent; therefore, in the whole of the Universe, it alone can be called and extolled as the ‘Ideally-Unique-Subjective-Phenomenon.’

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“Thus, my boy, uniquely Time alone, or, as it is sometimes called, the ‘Heropass,’ has no source from which its arising should depend, but like ‘Divine-Love’ flows always, as I have already told you, independently by itself, and blends proportionately with all the phenomena present in the given place and in the given arisings of our Great Universe.

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“Again I tell you, you will be able clearly to understand all that I have just told you only when, as I have already promised you, I shall specially explain to you sometime later all about the fundamental laws of World-creation and World-maintenance.

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“Meanwhile, remember this also, that since Time has no source of its arising and cannot like all other cosmic phenomena in every cosmic sphere establish its exact presence, the already mentioned Objective Science therefore has, for its examination of Time, a standard unit, similar to that used for an exact definition of the density and quality—in the sense of the vivifyingness of their vibrations—of all cosmic substances in general present in every place and in every sphere of our Great Universe.

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“And for the definition of Time this standard unit has from long ago been the moment of what is called the sacred ‘Egokoolnatsnarnian-sensation’ which always appears in the Most Holy Cosmic Individuals dwelling on the Most Holy Sun Absolute whenever the vision of our UNI-BEING ENDLESSNESS is directed into space and directly touches their presences.

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“This standard unit has been established in Objective Science for the possibility of exactly defining and comparing the differences between the gradations of the processes of the subjective sensations of separate conscious Individuals, and also of what are called ‘diverse-tempos’ among various objective cosmic phenomena which are manifested in various spheres of our Great Universe and which actualize all cosmic arisings both large and small.

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“The chief particularity of the process of the flow of Time in the presence of cosmic arisings of various scales consists in this, that all of them perceive it in the same way and in the same sequence.

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“In order that you may meanwhile represent to yourself, if only approximately, what I have just said, let us take as an example the process of the flow of Time proceeding in any drop of the water in that decanter standing there on the table.

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“Every drop of water in that decanter is in itself also a whole independent world, a world of ‘Microcosmoses.’

“In that little world, as in other cosmoses, there also arise and exist relatively independent infinitesimal ‘individuals’ or ‘beings.’

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“For the beings of that infinitesimal world also, Time flows in the same sequence in which the flow of Time is sensed by all individuals in all other cosmoses. These infinitesimal beings also, like the beings of cosmoses of other ‘scales,’ have their experiences of a definite duration for all their perceptions and manifestations; and, also, like them, they sense the flow of Time by the comparison of the duration of the phenomena around them.

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“Exactly like the beings of other cosmoses, they are born, they grow up, they unite and separate for what are called ‘sex-results’ and they also fall sick and suffer, and ultimately like everything existing in which Objective Reason has not become fixed, they are destroyed forever.

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“For the entire process of the existence of these infinitesimal beings of this smallest world, Time of a definite proportionate duration also ensues from all the surrounding phenomena which are manifested in the given ‘cosmic-scale.’

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“For them also, Time of definite length is required for the processes of their arising and formation as well as for various events in the process of their existence up to their complete final destruction.

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“In the whole course of the process of existence of the beings of this drop of water also, corresponding sequential definite what are called ‘passages’ of the flow of Time are also required.

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“A definite time is required for their joys and for their sorrows, and, in short, for every other kind of indispensable being-experiencing, down to what are called ‘runs-of-bad-luck,’ and even to ‘periods-of-thirst-for-self-perfection.’

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“I repeat, among them also, the process of the flow of Time has its harmonious sequence, and this sequence ensues from the totality of all the phenomena surrounding them.

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“The duration of the process of the flow of Time is generally perceived and sensed in the same way by all the aforementioned cosmic Individuals and by the already completely formed what are called ‘instinctivized’ units but only with that difference which ensues from the difference in the presences and states, at the given moment, of these cosmic arisings.

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“It must be noticed, however, my boy, that though for separate individuals existing in any independent cosmic unit, their definition of the flow of Time is not objective in the general sense, yet nevertheless for them themselves it acquires a sense of objectivity since the flow of Time is perceived by them according to the completeness of their own presence.

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“The same drop of water which we have taken as an example can serve for a clearer understanding of this thought of mine.

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“Although in the sense of general Universal Objectivity, the whole period of the process of the flow of Time in that same drop of water is for the whole of it subjective, yet for the beings existing in the drop of water itself, the said given flow of Time is perceived by them as objective.

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“For the clarification of this, those beings called ‘hypochondriacs’ can serve, who exist among the three-brained beings of the planet Earth which has taken your fancy.

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“To these terrestrial hypochondriacs it very often seems that Time passes infinitely slowly and long, and, as they express themselves, ‘it-drags-phenomenally-tediously.’

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“And so, exactly in the same way, it might also sometimes seem to some of the infinitesimal beings existing in that drop of water—assuming, of course, that there happen to be such hypochondriacs among them—that Time drags very slowly and ‘phenomenally-tediously.’

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“But actually from the point of view of the sensation of the duration of Time by your favorites of the planet Earth, the whole length of the existence of the ‘beings-Microcosmoses’ lasts only a few of their ‘minutes’ and sometimes even only a few of their ‘seconds.’

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“Now, in order that you may still better understand Time and its peculiarities, we may as well compare your age with the corresponding age of a being existing on that planet Earth.

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“And for this comparing of ours we too must take the same standard unit of Time, which, as I have already told you, Objective Science employs for such calculations.

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“Bear in mind, first of all, that according to the data about which you will also learn when I shall later have specially explained to you the fundamental laws of World-creation and World-maintenance, it is also established by the same Objective Science that in general all normal three-brained beings, and amongst them certainly even the beings arising on our planet Karatas, sense the sacred ‘Egokoolnatsnarnian’ action for the definition of Time forty-nine times more slowly than the same sacred action is sensed by the sacred Individuals dwelling on the Most Holy Sun Absolute.

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“Consequently the process of the flow of Time for the three-brained beings of our Karatas flows forty-nine times more quickly than on the Sun Absolute, and thus it should flow also for the beings breeding on the planet Earth.

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“And it is also calculated that during the period of Time in which the sun ‘Samos’ actualizes its nearest approach to the sun ‘Selos,’ which period of the flow of Time is considered a ‘year’ for the planet Karatas, the planet Earth actualizes in relation to its Sun ‘Ors’ three hundred and eighty-nine of its ‘Krentonalnian-revolutions.’

“From which it follows that our ‘year,’ according to the conventionally objective time-calculation, is three hundred and eighty-nine times longer than that period of Time which your favorites consider and call their year.’

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“It may not be without interest for you to know that all these calculations were partly explained to me by the Great Arch-Engineer of the Universe, His Measurability, Archangel Algamatant. MAY HE BE PERFECTED UNTO THE HOLY ANKLAD….

“He explained this to me when, on the occasion of the first great misfortune to this planet Earth, he came to the planet Mars as one of the sacred members of the third Most Great Commission; and the captain of the trans-space ship Omnipresent, with whom I had several friendly talks during that journey, also partly explained it to me during my journey home.

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“Now it must be further noticed that you, as a three-brained being who arose on the planet Karatas, are at the present time still only a boy of twelve years, and in respect of Being and of Reason, you are exactly like a boy of twelve on the planet Earth who has not yet been formed and who is not yet cognizant of himself—through which being-age all the three-brained beings arising there also live during the process of their growing up to the Being of a responsible being.

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“All the ‘features’ of the whole of your psyche—what are called your ‘character,’ ‘temperament,’ ‘inclinations,’ and, in short, all the particularities of your psyche which are manifested exteriorly—are exactly the same as those of a still immature and pliant three-brained being there of the age of twelve years.

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“And so, it follows from all that has been said that although according to our time-calculations you are still only like a boy of twelve there on the planet Earth who is not yet formed and not yet cognizant of himself, yet according to their subjective understanding and their being-sensations of the flow of Time, you have already existed by their time-calculation, not twelve years but the whole of four thousand six hundred and sixty-eight years.

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“Thanks to all I have said, you will have material for the clarification of certain of those factors which were later the cause that the average proper normal duration of their existence began gradually to diminish and that it has now already become in the objective sense almost ‘nothing.’

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“Strictly speaking, this gradual diminution of the average length of the existence of the three-brained beings of that ill-fated planet, which has finally brought the whole of the duration of their existence to ‘nothing,’ did not have one cause but many and very varied causes.

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“And among these many and varied causes the first and the chief one is of course that Nature had to adapt Herself correspondingly gradually to change their presences to those they now have.

“And concerning all the rest of the causes, Justice demands that I should first of all emphasize that on that ill-fated planet these causes might never have arisen had that first cause not occurred there, from which, at least in my opinion, they all chiefly ensued, though of course very gradually.

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“Concerning all this you will understand in the course of further talks of mine about these three-brained beings, and meanwhile I will tell you only of the first and chief cause, namely, why and how Great Nature Herself was compelled to take stock of their presences and to form them into such new presences.

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“You must first be told that there exist in the Universe generally two ‘kinds’ or two ‘principles’ of the duration of being-existence.

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“The first kind or first ‘principle’ of being-existence, which is called ‘Fulasnitamnian,’ is proper to the existence of all three-brained beings arising on any planet of our Great Universe, and the fundamental aim and sense of the existence of these beings is that there must proceed through them the transmutation of cosmic substances necessary for what is called the ‘common-cosmic Trogoautoegocratic-process.’

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“And it is according to the second principle of being-existence that all one-brained and two-brained beings in general exist wherever they may arise.…

“And the sense and aim of the existence of these beings, also, consist in this, that there are transmuted through them the cosmic substances required not for purposes of a common-cosmic character, but only for that solar system or even only for that planet alone, in which and upon which these one-brained and two-brained beings arise.

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“In any case, for the further elucidation of the strangeness of the psyche of those three-brained beings who have taken your fancy, you must know this also, that in the beginning, after the organ Kundabuffer with all its properties had been removed from their presences, the duration of their existence was according to the ‘Fulasnitamnian’ principle, that is to say, they were obliged to exist until there was coated in them and completely perfected by reason what is called the ‘body-Kesdjan,’ or, as they themselves later began to name this being-part of theirs—of which, by the way, contemporary beings know only by hearsay—the ‘Astral-body.’

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“And so, my boy, when later, for reasons of which you will learn in the course of my further tales, they began to exist already excessively abnormally, that is to say, quite unbecomingly for three-brained beings, and when in consequence of this they had on the one hand ceased to emanate the vibrations required by Nature for the maintenance of the separated fragments of their planet, and, on the other hand, had begun, owing to the chief peculiarity of their strange psyche, to destroy beings of other forms of their planet, thereby gradually diminishing the number of sources required for this purpose, then Nature Herself was compelled gradually to actualize the presences of these three-brained beings according to the second principle, namely, the principle ‘Itoklanoz,’ that is, to actualize them in the same way in which She actualizes one-brained and two-brained beings in order that the equilibrium of the vibrations required according to quality and quantity should be attained.

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“As regards the meaning of the principle ‘Itoklanoz,’ I shall also specially explain it to you sometime.

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“And meanwhile remember, that although the fundamental motives for the diminution of the duration of the existence of the three-brained beings of this planet were from causes not depending on them, yet nevertheless, subsequently, the main grounds for all the sad results were—and particularly now continue to be—the abnormal conditions of external ordinary being-existence established by them themselves. Owing to these conditions the duration of their existence has, down to the present time, continued to become shorter and shorter, and now is already diminished to such a degree that, at the present time, the difference between the duration of the process of the existence of the three-brained beings of other planets in the whole of the Universe and the duration of the process of the existence of the three-brained beings of the planet Earth has become the same as the difference between the real duration of their existence and the duration of the existence of the infinitesimal beings in that drop of water we took as an example.

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“You now understand, my boy, that even the Most Great Heropass of Time has also been compelled to actualize obvious absurdities in the presences of these unfortunate three-brained beings who arise and exist on this ill-fated planet Earth.

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“And thanks to all I have just explained to you, you can put yourself in the position of and understand the although merciless, yet always, and in everything, just Heropass.”

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Having said these last words Beelzebub became silent; and when he again spoke to his grandson, he said with a heavy sigh:

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“Ekh… my dear boy!

“Later when I shall have told you more about the three-brained beings of that ill-fated planet Earth, you yourself will understand and form your own opinion about everything.

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“You yourself will very well understand that although the fundamental causes of the whole chaos that now reigns on that ill-fated planet Earth were certain ‘unforeseeingnesses,’ coming from Above on the part of various Sacred Individuals, yet nevertheless the chief causes for the developing of further ills are only those abnormal conditions of ordinary being-existence which they themselves gradually established and which they continue to establish down to the present time.

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“In any case, my dear boy, when you learn more about these favorites of yours, not only, I repeat, will you clearly see how pitiably small the duration of the existence of these unfortunates has gradually become in comparison with that normal duration of existence which has already long ago been established as a law for every kind of three-centered being of the whole of our Universe, but you will also understand that in these unfortunates, for the same reasons, there has gradually begun to disappear and at the present time are quite absent in them, any normal being-sensations whatever concerning any cosmic phenomenon.

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“Although the beings of that ill-fated planet arose, according to conventionally objective time-reckoning, many decades ago, not only have they not as yet any being-sensation of cosmic phenomena such as it is proper to all three-centered beings of the whole of our Universe to have, but there is not in the Reason of these unfortunates even an approximate representation of the genuine causes of these phenomena.

“They have not an approximately correct representation even of those cosmic phenomena that proceed on their own planet round about them.”