The architectural reviews on the current Bienalle in Venice seem to reflect the burning issues of our times. They are all so overwhelming and interconnected, that a self-preserving drive makes one open ancient wisdom left to us for instance from Atlantis:
On Tuesdays, namely, on the ‘day-of-architecture,’ the
learned beings belonging to the second group brought
various models for such proposed buildings and constructions
as could endure a very long time.
“And in this case, they set up these buildings not
exactly in accordance with the stability ensuing from the
Law of Sevenfoldness, or as the beings there were mechanically
already accustomed to do, but otherwise.
“For instance, the cupola of a certain construction had,
according to all the data, to rest on four columns of a
certain thickness and definite strength.
“But they placed this said cupola on only three columns; and
the reciprocal thrust, or, as it is also expressed,
the ‘reciprocal resistance,’ ensuing from the Law of Sevenfoldness
for supporting the surplanetary weight, they
took not from the columns alone, but also from other unusual
combinations ensuing from the same Law of Sevenfoldness with
which the mass of the ordinary beings of
that time were also already acquainted; that is to say,
they took the required degree of resistance of the columns
chiefly from the force of the weight of the cupola itself.
“Or still another example; a certain stone, according
to all the data established there both mechanically from
long-centuries practice and also thanks to the fully conscious
calculations of certain beings with Reason there,
ought infallibly to have its definite strength corresponding
to a certain power of resistance; but they infallibly made
and placed this cornerstone so that it did not correspond at
all to the mentioned data; but the strength and power of
resistance for the support of the superimposed weight
required on the basis of the Law of Sevenfoldness they
took from the setting of the lower stones, which in their
turn they did not lay according to the established custom,
but again they based their calculations on the manner of
laying the still lower stones, and so on.
“And it was just in these unusual combinations of the
laying of stones, ensuing from the Law of Sevenfoldness,
that they indicated, also by means of a conventional
‘alphabet,’ the contents of some or other useful information.
“This group of learned members of the club of the
Adherents-of-Legominism further indicated what they
wished in their minia-images or models of proposed constructions,
by utilizing the law called ‘Daivibrizkar,’ that
is the law of the action of the vibrations arising in the
the atmosphere of enclosed spaces.
“This law, which has utterly failed to reach the contemporary
three-brained beings of that planet, was then
quite familiar to the beings there, that is to say, they were
already quite aware that the size and form of enclosed
spaces and also the volume of air enclosed in them influence beings in particular ways.
“Utilizing this law, they indicated their various ideas
in the following way:
“Let us suppose that according to the character and
purpose of some building or other it is required that from
the interiors of the given building, in accordance with
the Law of Sevenfoldness and with the mechanical practice
of centuries, definite sensations must be evoked in a
certain lawful sequence.
“Then utilizing the law of Daivibrizkar they combined
the interiors of this proposed building in such a way that
the required sensations were evoked in the beings who
entered them, not in the anticipated familiar lawful
sequence but in some other order.
“And it was just in these deviations from the lawful
sequence of sensations that they placed whatever they
wished in a certain way.
Excerpts from Beelzebub’s Tales, G.I.Gurdjieff, volume II.
Mr.G wrote his books esoterically. Like in the ancient scriptures, everything has several meanings for different levels of understanding of his readers, and each level must be correct, that is a law. Do I fully understand the most elemental meaning of the above section?
No, I do not. I would love to hear or read some lectures from the 4th Way student architects. Just a thought to switch attention from the external to the internal for a change.