As we approach finer and finer substances, we naturally have more difficulty discussing them; They play no part in our regular lives and therefor our language has not needed to develop further to describe them.
Gurdjieff resorted to using neologisms (new words), usually composites from a variety of languages to describe these subtle substances.
‘Hanbledzoin’ is one of these interesting ‘finer substances’.
It is a substance analogous to the blood of our physical body, but instead, it services and nourishes the ‘second body’ (kesdjan/ Astral)
Gurdjieff stated that ‘contemporary civilization’ came close to understanding this substance, calling it ‘animal magnetism’.
He indicates that this substance can be used in relation to ‘hynotism’ and other psychic phenomena, but its use is not ‘free’. The substance is used up and needs to be replenished. It’s external use is draining.
Gurdjieff identified three fundamental ‘universal forces’:
The first force continually arises and flows out from causes appearing in the ‘prime source’. Like a ray or stream of ‘creation’, It is compelled to manifest outside the source of its arising, becoming increasingly ‘mechanical’ as it cascades through ever more ‘complex’ combinations.
The second force is what this first force becomes, when, after having lost its momentum, it strives to re-blend with the source of its arising.
This, Gurdjieff states, is according to the fundamental law, ‘the effects of a cause must always re-enter the cause.’
The second force is a ‘backward-flowing’ force. it must constantly resist, in order to have the possibility of re entering its cause, or at least to withstand the contrary flow of the first passive force.
This second force then must be considered active. The first force, as it is manifested from compelling and inevitable causes, far removed from us, in the ‘prime source’, is considered passive.
These two forces are entirely independent and in their manifestations always and in everything keep their own properties and characteristics.
This is the world of duality that we find ourselves in. We could call the first force ‘yin’ and the second force ‘yang’ if we were so disposed.
Gurdjieff stated that the third force is nothing but the result of the clash, everywhere and in everything of these two fundamental, descending and ascending independent forces.
This is the spiritualizing and reconciling principle of every ‘cosmic formation.’
We could call the third force ‘taiji’. It is the place where the opposites clash.
The spiritual path; Instead of being washed away, the active part turns and braces against the stream.
This is conscious work; against nature. Tasting bitterness and suffering voluntarily. Resistance and friction between the first two forces liberates the third force.
On the human scale Gurdjieff named the first two fundamental forces, ‘abrustdonis’ and ‘helkdonis’ (in relation to the active and passive substances in the air we breath)
These substances are transmuted to become the stuff of our ‘higher-being bodies’.
The third force, liberated with the clash of these first two forces, he named ‘Askokin’, which he described as ‘help for the moon’. A substance by which the ‘wave of creation’ can bridge a gap and be transmitted further down-stream.
