Beelzebub, on Time

     "But since you, my boy, do not yet have any idea of the exceptional peculiarities of Time, you must first be told that genuine Objective Science defines this cosmic phenomenon thus:

     "'Time in itself does not exist; there is only the totality of the results issuing from all the cosmic phenomena present in a given place.'

     "Time in itself, no being can understand by reason, or perceive by any outer or inner being-function.  It cannot even be sensed by any gradation of the instinct present in every more or less independent cosmic concentration.

     "It is possible to evaluate Time only by comparing different cosmic phenomena occurring in the same place and under the same conditions in which Time is being considered and observed.

     "It should be noted that in the Great Universe all phenomena, without exception, wherever they arise and are manifest, are simply successive, lawful 'fragmentations' of some whole phenomenon which has its prime arising on the Most Holy Sun Absolute.

     "In consequence, all cosmic phenomena, wherever they proceed, have an 'objective' significance.

     "And these successive, lawful fragmentations are actualized in every respect, even in the sense of their involution and evolution, according to the fundamental cosmic law, the sacred Heptaparaparshinokh.

     "Time alone has no objective significance, since it is not the result of the fragmentation of any definite cosmic phenomenon.  Issuing from nothing, but always blending with everything while remaining self-sufficiently independent, Time alone in the whole of the Universe can be named and extolled as the 'Ideally Unique Subjective Phenomenon.'

     "Thus, my boy, Time or, as it is sometimes called, the 'Heropass,' is the only phenomenon that has no source of its arising but, like "divine Love," always flows independently and blends proportionately with all the phenomena present in all the arisings in any given place in our Great Universe.

     "Again I say, you will only be able to understand clearly everything I have just told you when I specially explain to you, as I have already promised, all the aspects of the two fundamental laws of world-creation and world-existence.

     "Meanwhile, simply remember this: since Time has no source of its arising, and its presence cannot be precisely established, as can be done for all other phenomena in every cosmic sphere, Objective Science, in evaluating Time, takes the same 'standard unit' that is used to determine exactly the density and quality of the vibrations of all cosmic substances present in every place and in every sphere of our Great Universe.

     "And this standard unit for the evaluation of Time has always been the moment of what is called 'sacred egokoolnatsnarnian sensation,' which appears in the Holy Cosmic Individuals dwelling on the Most Holy Sun Absolute whenever the vision of our Uni-Being Endlessness is directed into space and directly touches their presence.

     "This standard unit was established in Objective Science to make it possible to define and compare with precision the different degrees of subjective sensation of conscious Individuals as well as what are called the 'diverse tempos' of the various objective phenomena which are manifested throughout the spheres of our Great Universe, and which engender all cosmic arisings, both large and small."

 Beelzebub's Tales to His Grandson, G.I. Gurdjieff, Viking Arkana Edition, 1992, page 117-118