The System of 'Ors'
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 of the Law of Three and the Law of Seven.
The Enneagram
The Enneagram is the most distinctive symbol associated with the Fourth Way. A nine-pointed figure inscribed in a circle, it is composed of two key inner patterns:
The Triangel (3-6-9): This represents the Law of Three, which Gurdjieff described as the fundamental law of creation. Every manifestation arises from the interplay of three forces: - Affirming (the active principle) - Denying (the passive principle) - Reconciling (the harmonizing principle that unites the other two).
The Hexad (1-4-2-8-5-7-1): This arises from dividing one by seven (1/7 = .1428571 repeating). The digits trace the six-pointed figure around the circle. This is the Law of Seve, the law of process, which states that no process proceeds in a straight line, but requires two "shocks" to complete itself (analogous to the semitone gaps between notes in a musical octave).
Together, the triangle (3-6-9) and the hexad (1-4-2-8-5-7-1) are inscribed within the circle (0), which represents eternity, wholeness, and the enclosure of all processes.
In the Fourth Way, the Enneagram is not merely a diagram, but a cosmic formula: "All knowledge can be included in the Enneagram, and with the help of it can be interpreted."
Ors in the Texts
Gurdjieff never defines "Ors" in linguistic terms. He simply introduces it as a given. In the Tales, he writes of Beelzebub being exiled to the "solar system Ors," a distant and neglected region of the cosmos. Ors is the stage for human history, the environment where the "three-brained beings" struggle, and often fail, to develop spiritually.
He also connects Ors with the great cosmic maintenance, the flow of energies through the planets and the Moon, and the distortions introduced after cosmic catastrophies. Ors is not only our home but also the laboratory where the great cosmic laws manifest with particular intensity.
Alphabetic Resonances of "ORS"
To understand Gurdjieff's choice of the name, we can look at the letter-number systems in the alphabets he knew intimately: Greek and Russian (Cyrillic). Each of these alphabets has ancient traditions assigning numerical values to letters.
Greek (Isopsephy)
Omicron (O) = 70
Rho (P) = 100
Sigma (Σ) = 200
Total = 370
Cyrillic (Old Church Slavic System, derived from Greek)
O = 70
P = 100
C = 200
Total = 370
370 as the Enneagram in Seed Form
Now, if we take the digits of 370 as symbolic markers:
3 = The Law of three, the inner triangle (3-6-9)
7 = The Law of Seven, the hexad traced by 1/7 = .1428571
0 = The circle, the enclosure of the nine-pointed figure, representing the wholeness and the eternal cycle.
In other words, 370 is not a random number. It is the Enneagram compressed into a three-digit code.
** note: If one reads Tales in the original texts of Greek and Russian, sentences including the term 'Ors' could be read as either "...the system of Ors..." or "...the system of 370..."
By naming our solar system, Ors, Gurdjieff embedded into his cosmology the sentiment:
This is the cosmic environment where both the Law of Three and the Law of Seven unfold; the total system represented by the Enneagram.
Ors and Human Destiny
By placing humanity within Ors, Gurdjieff was saying more than "we live in this solar system." He was pointing to a deeper truth:
Our world is not in the primordial 360 of perfect recurrence, but in the altered 370.
We are subject to the Law of Three and the Law of Seven, not abstractly, but concretely, in our very cosmic environment.
The extra "10" points to the necessity of conscious shocks, additional effort, self-remembering, and intentionality, to complete the cycles of life and evolution.
The Enneagram, hidden in the name Ors, is both the diagram of this cosmic law and the practical method of transformation.
Seen in this light, Ors is not an arbitrary word. It is a symbolic key. Thus, in the name of our solar system, Gurdjieff quietly signals his central doctrine:
We live in Ors, the cosmic Enneagram itself; a system where the laws of Three and Seven govern all processes, and where conscious effort is required to restore balance.
Pierce!
September 12, 2025