In Beelzebub's Tales to His Grandson, Gurdjieff paints an immense panorama of cosmic laws, human origins, and the destiny of our world. He fills this narrative with invented names: Beelzebub, Ashiata Shiemash, Karatas, Heptaparaparshinohk, that sound both archaic and alien. Among these names, one stands out for its apparent simplicity and its deep significance: Ors, the name he gives to our solar system.

Repeatedly, Beelzebub refers to Earth as belonging to the system of 'Ors.' For Gurdjieff's readers, this choice of term has always carried a certain enigmatic weight. Why call our solar system Ors? Was it an arbitrary invention, or a deliberate cipher, concealing a deeper layer of meaning?

According to our tradition, it is the latter. Ors is not simply a strange proper noun. It is a compact symbolic word that encodes the very heart of the Fourth Way cosmology: the Enneagram, and with it the twin principles…

The Forgotten Organs of Consciousness

In the framework of the Work-teachings, man is described as a being with seven centers (or brains). Five of these are lower centers: Thinking, moving, instinctive, emotional, and sexual. They govern the functions of ordinary life. They are undeveloped, disorganized, and easily hijacked by habit and identification.

But above these, the Work speaks of two higher centers: the Higher Emotional and the Higher Intellectual. Unlike the lower centers, these are fully formed and perfect. They already exist within us, but in our ordinary state, we cannot access them. Our task is not to build them, but to clear the channels so that their influence may reach us.

The question naturally arises: How do these higher centers communicate? What is their language?

Why the Higher Centers Cannot Speak in Concepts

The lower Thinking Center speaks in concepts, definitions, and arguments. The lower Emotional Center speaks in…

Assisting the Perfecting of Other Beings

"...always to assist the most rapid perfecting of other beings, both those similar to oneself and those of other forms, up to the degree of 'Marfotai,' that is, up to the degree of self-individuality."

The first four strivings guide us inward: care for the planetary body, kindle the instinct for Beig, study the laws of creation, and repay our debts. The Fifth Striving is outward. It is the flowering of all of the previous work, the point at which the fruits of inner labor become nourishment for others.

The formulation is precise: it is not merely to help others, but to assist the most rapid perfecting of other beings. This striving is about conscious service, helping others awaken, not according to our fantasies or vanity, but according to what is lawfully possible.

Who are "Other Beings"?

The statement is explicit: "...both those similar to…

Payment and Responsibility

"...the striving, from the beginning of one's existence, to pay as quickly as possible for one's arising and individuality, in order afterward to be free to lighten as much as possible the sorrow of our Common Father."

Few of the Work's formulations strike the modern ear as sharply as this one. To "pay for one's arising?" To pay for "individuality?" What debt have we incurred simply by being born? And why should repayment be linked to the "sorrow of our Common Father?"

The Fourth Striving brings us face to face with the hidden economy of existence. It reminds us that our life is not "ours" in the sense of private property. We are given existence: a body, a soul, a place in the universe. We consume air, food, impressions, and energy. We draw endlessly from the great treasury of creation. Yet in our ordinary state, we imagine…