Beelzebub's Tales to His Grandson

44 In the Opinion of Beelzebub, Man’s Understanding of Justice Is for Him in the Objective Sense an Accursed Mirage

44.1130-1

“Owing to the fact that this couple had a healthy heredity in every respect, and that the external conditions of ordinary being-existence in general there were still relatively normal and for this couple happened to be specially favorable, hence the result of this sacred process, that is to say, this same, according to them, ‘son’ of theirs who was later called Makary Kronbernkzion, already received in his presence from the beginning of his arising and during his early existence almost the same data for the Being of a future responsible being as every Keschapmartnian three-brained being should possess at his arising anywhere on any other planet of our Great Megalocosmos, and as a desire happened to arise in his producers, or as it is said there in his ‘parents’ to prepare their ‘result’ to become a responsible being with a ‘scientific career,’ and as they also happened to find successful guides for him, then when this result of theirs became a responsible being, he became a very good ‘scientist’—of course, very good for the planet Earth.

44.1131

“He soon became worthy on account of his scientific merits even to become a full member of the learned society Akhaldan.

44.1131

“During the process of his responsible existence in the scientific field, he once more clearly saw the real value of his own significance and sincerely realized his ‘nullity.’

44.1132

“And in consequence of the fact that data for the engendering of the being-impulse called ‘love-of-kind’ were still crystallized in him as in most of the three-brained beings of that period, then in order that other beings of his planet around him similar to him should also know about these truths which he had learned, he created out of marble a ‘Boolmarshano’ under the title of ‘The Affirming and Denying Influences on Man.’

44.1132

“A Boolmarshano on the continent Atlantis was what the contemporary beings there have replaced by what they call ‘books.’

44.1132

“An exact copy of the mentioned Boolmarshano, made from the tusks of what are called ‘Chirniano,’ I happened to see personally later, namely, at my sixth descent there, and to decipher it rather in detail.

44.1132

“As the information I learned concerning the question—in what way the said copy of the Boolmarshano incised with his own hand by Makary Kronbernkzion and which I happened to decipher during my last sojourn on your planet, remained intact and reached to the contemporary epoch—will be very instructive and interesting to you, I will briefly tell you about it.

44.1132

“When the original of that Boolmarshano was created and sincerely admired and approved by the other learned members of the society Akhaldan, it was placed in the middle of the central what is called ‘cathedral’ of the beings belonging to that society.

44.1132-3

“In consequence of the fact that the contents of the said Boolmarshano then began to interest a greater and greater number of the beings of that period, then the leaders of the mentioned society decided to make several copies of it in order to place them in the same way in all the branches of the Church in other cities of that same continent Atlantis as well as on other continents.

44.1133

“Seven very exact copies were made of it just for this purpose from the said tusks of the Chirniano.

44.1133

“One of these mentioned copies, as my what is called ‘Spipsychoonalian investigations’ cleared up for me, was then assigned to that branch of the Church which was situated on the small continent then existing named ‘Sinndraga,’ which lay not far from the still existing continent Africa.

44.1133

“When, as it seems, the said copy was brought to the continent Grabontzi in order from there to send it further, then, just at that time, that second great catastrophe befell to this ill-fated planet, and owing to that fact that that part of the surface of the continent Grabontzi on which this copy was found happened to remain intact, this copy did not enter within the planet.

44.1133-4

“After this terrifying event, this production of the pending Saint Makary Kronbernkzion lay for a long time beneath the ruins and was gradually covered with ‘Kashiman,’ and only after about thirty centuries, when the three-brained beings who have taken your fancy again multiplied and their process of reciprocal destruction proceeded near this place between the communities of that time named ‘Filnooanzi’ and ‘Plitazoorali,’ the beings belonging to the community Filnooanzi, when digging holes to obtain drinking water for themselves and their camels, came across this copy and dug it out.

44.1134

“And when soon after that, the beings belonging to both of the mentioned communities concluded among themselves, as it has already become usual there, what they call a ‘friendly peace,’ and began to divide everything acquired during this process of theirs by various means which have also already become usual there and which they express as ‘conquest,’ ‘pillage,’ ‘commandeering,’ ‘indemnities,’ and so on—then this discovery also, which according to the understanding of the beings of the Earth of that period was valued only as rare material, was divided into halves, and the beings of each separate community took for themselves one half of the said great creation.

44.1134

“One of the halves of this copy, passing for various reasons from one group to another, finally fell, after seven centuries, into the hands of what are called the ‘Egyptian high priests.’

44.1134-5

“Further, that same half of the copy of the Boolmarshano happened to get this time to the continent of Asia and, again passing from hand to hand, passed in the middle of my sixth descent there, by inheritance from his grandfather, just to that Aisorian priest by whom I saw it for the first time.

44.1135

“As for the second half of that unprecedented work which cannot be made again there, passing also from hand to hand owing to reasons of every kind, it finally also happened to get into one of the central communities of Asia, and during one of what they call ‘earthquakes’ there it entered within the planet, though not very deep beneath its surface.

44.1136-7

“Having learned in this way that the aforesaid Aisorian priest possessed the half I referred to of the copy of the original Boolmarshano created personally by Makary Kronbernkzion, and likewise having learned that the same Aisorian priest existed on the continent Asia in the locality called ‘Urmia,’ I went there and, having found him, soon made it clear that indeed he had a very ancient and, as he expressed it, ‘shapeless large ivory mass’ which he himself considered very antique and valuable.

44.1137

“Although after brief negotiations he agreed to show it to me, yet he did not wish to sell it for any money at all; nevertheless, as a result of my talks and persuasions of several days, he allowed me to make an alabaster copy of it which I took away with me.

44.1137

“As for the second half, although owing to the same method of searching I soon found out where it was, yet it cost very much trouble and bother to obtain it for the immediate deciphering of its contents.

44.1137

“Although I said that the second half had not yet had time during that period to enter deeply into that planet, yet nevertheless it did enter so deep that it was impossible to obtain it by ordinary methods.

44.1137

“But my chief trouble was caused then by this, that the place where it existed was near a center populated by your favorites, and I had to prepare everything in advance and to take all suitable measures in order that none of them should either learn nor even suspect anything about it at all.

44.1137

“Among the measures I took, for instance, was even the purchase of parts of the outskirts of the given place from various large and small proprietors, and I had it dug by workmen exclusively of foreign origin, under the guise of preparing a shaft for what are called copper mines.

44.1137

“And so, my boy! After I had found both of these halves of the copy of the creation of the pending Saint Makary Kronbernkzion by the aforesaid means, and took them to the city of the country now called ‘Turkestan’ in which at that period I had the chief place of my existence, I began to decipher the inscriptions and incisions on the Boolmarshano of the scientific thesis by Makary Kronbernkzion under the title of ‘The Affirming and Denying Influences on Man.’

44.1137-8

“When we return home, I shall without fail try to recall and tell you as nearly as possible word for word the whole contents of this great production of the Reason and, as is said, of the ‘hand’ of a three-brained being, but meanwhile I will expound to you only that part of it in which Makary Kronbernkzion first employed the notion of ‘Good and Evil,’ signifying by these words those forces which are just the basis for the formation of the presence as well as of the flowing state of every separate relatively independent cosmic arising, and also of course of every being.

44.1138

“If the notions recorded on this Boolmarshano were put into ordinary language, they could be stated in the following words:

44.1138

“‘Evidently we men, also like all the existing units of the World, are formed and always consist of the same three independent forces, by means of which the process of reciprocal maintenance of everything existing proceeds; namely, of the following three independent World forces:

44.1138

“‘The first of these forces constantly arises from the causes which proceed in the Prime Source itself and from the pressure of the newly arisen, and issuing from it by momentum, flows out of that Prime Source.

44.1138

“‘The second World force is what this first force becomes, when, after having spent the momentum which it has received, it strives to reblend with the source of its arising, according to the fundamental World law called “The effects of a cause must always re-enter the cause.”

44.1138

“‘Both of these forces in the general process of reciprocally maintaining forces are entirely independent, and in their manifestations have always and in everything their own properties and particularities.

44.1138-9

“‘The first of these two fundamental forces, namely, that one which for compelling reasons always manifests outside the source of its arising, must constantly involve; and the second one, on the contrary, striving to blend with the cause of its arising, must always and in everything evolve.

44.1139

“‘Owing to the fact that the first of the mentioned three independent forces arises from vivifying actions proceeding in the very foundation of the cause of everything existing and thus receives in its presence the germ of the possibility of manifesting vivifyingness, it may be considered as “Good,” that is, as a factor for the actualizing of the backward-flowing effects which in relation to this first force can and must be considered as “Evil.”

44.1139

“‘Moreover, the first of these forces, which is manifested from inevitable and compelling causes arising in the Prime Source itself, can from this point of view be considered as passive. And the second backward-flowing force, because it must constantly resist in order to have the possibility of penetrating backward or at least the possibility of withstanding the opposite-flowing first passive force which has received its momentum from the Prime Source causes, must be regarded as active.

44.1139

“‘And as for the third independent World force, this force is nothing else but only the result of the clash everywhere and in everything of these two fundamental descending and ascending independent forces.

44.1139

“‘Although this third independent force is only the result of both first fundamental forces, it is nevertheless the spiritualizing and reconciling source of every World formation.

44.1139

“‘And it is the spiritualizing source of every World formation because it arises and must exist in them as a presence all the time while the given results exist which arise from various unusual mutual resistances occurring between the said two fundamental forces flowing in entirely opposite directions.’

44.1139-40

“And so, my boy, it was in this sense and in this meaning that the words ‘Good’ and ‘Evil’ were first used by this unfortunate Makary Kronbernkzion.

44.1140

“Thanks to the aforesaid Boolmarshano of his and according to other data elucidated by me there on the spot, there was crystallized in me, both concerning Makary Kronbernkzion himself and everything else, my own special opinion, entirely different from the one which the righteous dwellers of the holy planet expressed as a result of all their researches, which although wise were not direct.

44.1140

“I repeat, although the idea of ‘external Good and Evil’ first arose there thanks to the individuality of that Makary Kronbernkzion, yet he was, in my opinion, not to blame for it having taken such a maleficent form.