“In addition to our physical ‘planetary’ body, we also have a second body”.
In Gurdjieff’s system this was termed the ‘kesdjan’ body.
It receives it’s nourishment from ‘air’ as opposed to our planetary body which is nourished by ‘food’.
Without conscious development it remains no more than a ghost or shadow. It is only able to exist in the world of psychic energies at its lowest levels. This is not very different from the material world; In fact this state of existence is just one stage removed from the physical and can only be called a dream replica or counterpart. The difference is that ‘here’, the limitations of the physical world do not hold sway.
“One will meet things in this world that are the thought forms of ones own life. it can be a very pleasant experience or a very terrifying one.”
The second body of man can grow. It can become more robust until it is even more substantial than the physical body and can have power over it. With that, it can develop its own intelligence. Gurdjieff insists that ‘real reason and vision’ are only possible in the second body. Our planetary body can only have ‘relative reason.’
the kesdjan body is not entirely free from time, although its relationship to time is very different from that of the physical body. It can move through space and time, it can go into the past and future and do many things that the physical body cannot do.
It remains time-like though, in that events still happen in succession and that it is subject to the law of ‘wearing out.’
The first ‘rascooarno’ is the separation of the kesdjan body from the physical body. (Rascooarno is simply derived from the Russian word meaning ‘separation of parts’.) Then it is said the kesdjan body rises to the sphere of existence corresponding to its own quality. For the sake of our ‘eternal well being’, it is necessary we should see to it that it is brought to the point where it will be able to enter a sphere where its further development is able to continue. This means the working out of the consequences of life!Whether this is done in life or elsewhere. When that is finished something else remains. the third part of man……”
John G Bennett — Talks on Beelzebub’s Tales
