Beelzebub's Tales to His Grandson: An Objectively Impartial Criticism of the Life of Man

«Read each of my written expositions thrice» — la instrucción de lectura que encabeza el volumen: cada exposición ha de leerse tres veces. La dificultad del libro está prescrita, no padecida.

«Every stick has two ends» — una de las fórmulas que el libro repite y que en su sistema funciona como principio, no como refrán suelto.

«Read each of my written expositions thrice: First—at least as you have already become mechanized to read all your contemporary books and newspapers; Second—as if you were reading aloud to another person; And only third—try to fathom the gist of my writings» — el consejo de lectura que antepone al libro, en tres pasadas y con la tercera aparte

«Any prayer may be heard and granted by the Higher Powers only if it is uttered thrice: First—for the welfare or the peace of the souls of one’s parents; Second—for the welfare of one’s neighbor; And only third—for oneself personally» — el dicho de sabiduría popular del que dice derivarlo

«All written according to entirely new principles of logical reasoning and directed toward the accomplishment of the following three fundamental tasks:» — el autor declara en el prospecto de las tres series que todo está escrito según principios enteramente nuevos de razonamiento lógico y dirigido a tres tareas fundamentales.

«Only then will you be able to count upon forming your own impartial judgment, proper to yourself alone, on my writings.» — el autor declara en el consejo de lectura qué espera de la tercera pasada: que el lector forme su propio juicio imparcial sobre sus escritos.

«That is why I now also, in setting forth on this venture quite new for me, namely authorship, begin by pronouncing this invocation, and pronounce it not only aloud but even very distinctly and, as the ancient Toulousites used to say, with a “fully manifested intonation”—of course only to the extent permitted by data already formed in my whole presence and thoroughly rooted in it for such a manifestation; data, by the way, which are generally formed in man’s nature during his preparatory years, and which later, during his responsible life, determine the character and vivifyingness of such an intonation.» — el autor abre el primer capítulo declarando que empieza su empresa de escritor pronunciando la invocación, y en voz alta, con lo que los antiguos toulousitas llamaban entonación plenamente manifestada.

«Having begun thus, I can now be quite at ease and should even, according to contemporary notions of “religious morality, ” be completely assured that from now on everything in this new venture of mine will proceed, as is said, “like a pianola. ”» — el autor declara, tras esa apertura, que según las nociones contemporáneas de moralidad religiosa debería quedar asegurado de que todo saldrá como una pianola.

«In any case, this is the way I have begun, and how the rest will go I can only say, as the blind man put it, “we shall see.”» — el autor cierra ese comienzo con la frase del ciego, sin prometer nada sobre el resto.

«First and foremost, I shall place my hand, moreover the right one, which— although at the moment it is slightly injured due to an accident that recently befell me—is nevertheless really my own, and has never once failed me in all my life, on my heart, of course also my own—but on the constancy or inconstancy of this part of my whole I see no need to expatiate here—and frankly confess that I myself have not the slightest wish to write, but am constrained to do so by circumstances quite independent of me, though whether these circumstances arose accidentally or were created intentionally by extraneous forces I do not yet know.» — el autor confiesa en primera persona que él mismo no tiene el menor deseo de escribir y que lo hace obligado por circunstancias independientes de él, sin saber si surgieron por accidente o si las crearon fuerzas ajenas intencionalmente.

«I only know that these circumstances bid me write not just some trifle for reading oneself to sleep, but thick and weighty tomes.» — el autor dice saber solo que esas circunstancias le mandan escribir tomos gruesos y pesados, no una lectura para dormirse.

«To stop this disagreeable sensation I might still have had recourse to that maleficent property inherent in me, as in all contemporary people, which enables us, without experiencing any remorse of conscience whatever, to put off anything we wish to do “till tomorrow.”» — el autor nombra la propiedad maléfica que atribuye a todo hombre contemporáneo: aplazar hasta mañana lo que se quiere hacer, sin remordimiento alguno.

«I say “of the kind” because in my entire life, from the moment I began to distinguish a boy from a girl, I have always done everything, absolutely everything, not as it is done by other, like myself, biped destroyers of Nature’s good. Therefore I ought now, and am perhaps even bound on principle, to begin not as any other writer would.» — el autor declara que desde siempre ha hecho todo de manera distinta a los demás y que por eso no debe empezar como otro escritor.

«In any case, instead of the conventional preface I shall begin quite simply with a warning.» — el autor anuncia que, en lugar del prefacio convencional, empieza con una advertencia.

«At the same time it will be quite honest—honest, of course, in the objective sense, since I expect without the least doubt, as do all those who know me well, that owing to my writings there will entirely disappear in the majority of readers—immediately and not gradually, as sooner or later must occur to everyone—all the “treasures” they have acquired, either by inheritance or by their own labor, in the form of “quieting notions” that evoke only romantic images of their present lives or naive dreams about the future.» — el autor advierte que por sus escritos desaparecerán en la mayoría de los lectores los tesoros de nociones tranquilizadoras que habían adquirido por herencia o por su propio trabajo.

«In this alone I shall follow their example and also begin with an “address to the reader,” but I shall try not to make it as sugary as they usually do with their evil wiseacring, by which they titillate the sensibilities of the more or less normal reader.» — el autor dice que seguirá a los escritores profesionales solo en dirigirse al lector, y no en el azucaramiento con que ellos halagan la sensibilidad del lector normal.

«I have no practice at all in the established rules and procedures or in what is called “bon ton literary language,” and am therefore constrained to write not as ordinary “patented” writers do, to whose form of writing you are in all probability as much accustomed as to your own smell.» — el autor declara no tener práctica alguna en lo que llama *bon ton literary language* y quedar por eso obligado a escribir de otro modo que los escritores patentados.

«In my opinion, what will be troublesome for you in all this is chiefly that in childhood there was implanted in you—and has now become perfectly harmonized with your general psyche—an excellently working automatism for perceiving all kinds of new impressions, thanks to which “blessing” you have now, during your responsible life, no need to make any individual effort whatsoever.» — el autor sostiene que en el lector se implantó en la infancia un automatismo para percibir toda impresión nueva, gracias al cual ya no necesita esfuerzo individual alguno.

«To speak frankly, I personally see the central point of my confession not in my lack of experience in the rules and procedures of writers, but in my ignorance of what I have called “bon ton literary language, ” required in contemporary life not only of authors but even of all ordinary mortals.» — el autor sitúa el centro de su confesión no en su falta de experiencia de escritor sino en su ignorancia del *bon ton literary language*.

«This new “blessing” arose and is flourishing everywhere on Earth thanks to an extraordinary disease which, for the last twenty or thirty years, for some reason or other, has afflicted all those persons from among the three sexes who sleep with half-open eyes, and whose faces are fertile soil for the growth of every kind of pimple.» — el autor atribuye la difusión de ese lenguaje a una enfermedad extraordinaria de los últimos veinte o treinta años; el troceo imprime *three sexes*.

«although I too was taught this language in my childhood, and although some of my elders who prepared me for responsible life constantly forced me, without sparing any means of intimidation, to learn by rote the host of nuances that in their totality compose this contemporary “delight,” yet unfortunately, of course for you, of all that I learned by rote nothing stuck, and nothing whatever has survived for my present activities as a writer.» — el autor relata que de niño le hicieron aprender de memoria ese lenguaje bajo intimidación y que nada de aquello le quedó.

«However that may be, the fact remains, illuminated from every side like an American advertisement—which fact cannot now be changed by any forces, even with the know-how of the “experts in monkey business”—that I, who have in recent years been considered by many people a rather good teacher of temple dances, have today become a professional writer, and will of course write a great deal—as it has been proper to me since childhood whenever I do anything to do a great deal of it—nevertheless, not having, as you see, the automatically acquired and automatically manifested practice needed for this, I shall be obliged to write all I have thought out in the plain, simple everyday language established by life, without any “literary manipulations” or “grammatical wiseacrings.”» — el autor declara que escribirá en la lengua llana y cotidiana establecida por la vida, sin manipulaciones literarias ni sabihondeces gramaticales.

«But the pot is not yet full! ... I have still not decided the most important question of all: in which language to write.» — el autor deja abierta, ya empezado el libro, la cuestión de en qué lengua escribirlo.

«Although I have begun to write in Russian, nevertheless in that language, as the wisest of the wise, Mullah Nasr Eddin, would say, “you cannot go far.» — el autor cita a Mullah Nasr Eddin —a quien llama el más sabio de los sabios— sobre los límites del ruso.

«Both these languages are like the dish known in Moscow as “solianka,” into which goes anything and everything except you and me—in fact, everything you wish, even the after-dinner “cheshma”2 of Scheherazade.» — el autor compara el ruso y el armenio con el guiso moscovita de la *solianka*, donde entra todo.

«It must also be said that owing to all kinds of conditions accidentally, or perhaps not accidentally, formed in my youth, I have had to learn, very seriously and of course always with self-compulsion, to speak, read, and write a great many languages, and to such a degree of fluency that if in following this profession unexpectedly forced on me by fate I decided not to take advantage of the “automatism” acquired by practice, I could perhaps write in any one of them.» — el autor declara haber tenido que aprender muchas lenguas por autocompulsión, hasta poder escribir en cualquiera de ellas.

«In trying to understand the underlying thought and real meaning hidden in this strange formulation, any more or less sane-thinking man will, in my opinion, soon come to the conclusion that all the ideas contained in this saying are based on the truth, recognized by people for centuries, that every phenomenon in the life of man is due to two causes of opposite character, and divides into two exactly opposite results, which in their turn become the cause of new phenomena.» — el autor interpreta el refrán del palo de dos puntas: todo fenómeno de la vida del hombre se debe a dos causas de carácter opuesto y se divide en dos resultados exactamente opuestos, que a su vez son causa de fenómenos nuevos.

«For example, if “something” obtained from two opposing causes produces light, then this “something” must also inevitably produce the opposite phenomenon, that is, darkness; or again, if a factor engenders an impulse of palpable satisfaction in the organism of a living creature, it likewise inevitably engenders dissatisfaction, of course also palpable, and so on and so forth, always and in everything.» — el autor da los ejemplos de esa dualidad: lo que produce luz produce también tiniebla, y lo que engendra satisfacción engendra insatisfacción.

«In short, if I exercise my prerogative and take the good end of the stick, the bad end will inevitably fall “on the reader’s head.”» — el autor aplica el refrán a su propia elección de lengua: si toma el extremo bueno del palo, el malo caerá sobre la cabeza del lector.

«This may indeed happen, for in Russian it is impossible to express the so to say niceties of philosophical questions, which I intend to touch upon in my writings rather fully; whereas, although it is possible to do so in Armenian, this language, to the misfortune of all contemporary Armenians, has now become quite impractical for expressing contemporary notions.» — el autor declara los dos límites: el ruso no permite expresar las sutilezas de las cuestiones filosóficas que va a tocar, y el armenio, que sí, se ha vuelto impracticable para las nociones contemporáneas.

«In order to assuage the bitterness of my inner hurt owing to this, I must say that in my early youth, when I became interested in philological questions and was deeply absorbed in them, I preferred the Armenian language to all the others I then spoke, even including my native tongue.» — el autor consigna que en su primera juventud prefería el armenio a todas las lenguas que hablaba, incluida la materna.

«The Greek language whose spirit and essence were transmitted to me by heredity and the language now spoken by contemporary Greeks are as much alike as, according to the expression of Mullah Nasr Eddin, “a nail is like a requiem.”» — el autor cita a Mullah Nasr Eddin para medir la distancia entre el griego que recibió por herencia y el que hablan los griegos contemporáneos.

«But during the last thirty or forty years I have witnessed such a change in this language that although it has not completely lost the originality and independence it had possessed since the remote past, it has now become a sort of “clownish potpourri of languages” whose consonances, falling on the ear of a more or less attentive and conscious listener, sound like a collection of Turkish, Persian, French, Kurdish, and Russian tones, mixed with other “indigestible” and inarticulate noises.» — el autor describe lo que dice haber visto volverse el armenio en treinta o cuarenta años: un popurrí de tonos turcos, persas, franceses, kurdos y rusos con ruidos inarticulados.

«the conviction also began to arise in what is called my “mind” that these languages, or rather their “grammars,” are composed by people who with respect to knowledge of language are exactly like those biped animals whom the esteemed Mullah Nasr Eddin characterizes thus: “All they can do is wrangle with pigs about the quality of oranges.”» — el autor cita a Mullah Nasr Eddin sobre quienes componen las gramáticas.

«there is acquired in the brain functioning of every creature, and thus of man also, a definite property whose automatic manifestations proceed according to a certain law that the ancient Korkolans called the “law of associations,” and that the process of mentation of every creature, especially man, flows exclusively in accordance with this law.» — el autor atribuye a los antiguos korkolans la *law of associations*, según la cual discurre en exclusiva el proceso de mentación de toda criatura y del hombre.

«According to this information, it was customary in long-past centuries on Earth for every man bold enough to aspire to the right to be considered by others and to consider himself a “conscious thinker” to be instructed, while still in the early years of his responsible existence, that man has two kinds of mentation:» — el autor refiere que en siglos pasados se instruía a todo aspirante a pensador consciente en que el hombre tiene dos clases de mentación.

«The second kind of mentation, that is, “mentation by form”—through which, by the way, the exact meaning of all writing should be perceived and then assimilated after conscious confrontation with information previously acquired—is determined in people by the conditions of geographical locality, climate, time, and in general the whole environment in which they have arisen and in which their existence has flowed up to adulthood.» — el autor define la *mentation by form* y dice que por ella debe percibirse el sentido exacto de todo escrito; la determinan localidad geográfica, clima, tiempo y entorno.

«Thus, in the brains of people of different races living in different geographical localities under different conditions, there arise in regard to one and the same thing or idea quite different independent forms, which during the flow of associations evoke in their being a definite sensation giving rise to a definite picturing, and this picturing is expressed by some word or other that serves only for its outer subjective expression.» — el autor sostiene que en cerebros de razas distintas y localidades distintas surgen, ante una misma cosa o idea, formas independientes distintas, expresadas después por una palabra que solo es su expresión exterior subjetiva.

«but the hearer of that word—in whose being, owing to the different conditions of his arising and growth, a form with a different “inner content” has been fixed for the given word—will always perceive and infallibly understand that word in quite another sense.» — el autor sostiene que el oyente, en quien la misma palabra fijó una forma de contenido interior distinto, la entenderá siempre en otro sentido.

«And so, cheerful and swaggering candidate for a buyer of my “wiseacrings,” having warned you that I am going to write not as professional writers usually do but quite otherwise, I advise you to reflect seriously before you embark on reading my further expositions, and only then to undertake it.» — el autor aconseja al lector reflexionar en serio antes de emprender la lectura de lo que sigue.

«Yes ... I think I might as well tell you about an idea that has only just arisen in my madcap brain, which is specially to request the printer to whom I shall entrust my first book to print this initial chapter of my writings in such a way that anybody can read it without cutting the pages of the book itself;» — el autor declara su idea de pedir al impresor que este primer capítulo pueda leerse sin cortar las páginas del libro.

«And I shall do this without fail because I have just remembered the story of what happened to a certain Transcaucasian Kurd, a story I heard in my early youth and which in later years, whenever I recalled it in similar cases, aroused in me an enduring and inextinguishable impulse of tenderness.» — el autor introduce la historia del kurdo transcaucásico que oyó en su juventud.

«It will be useful chiefly because I have already decided to make the “salt” or, as contemporary “pure-blooded” Jewish businessmen would say, the “tzimmes” of this story one of the basic principles of that new literary form I intend to use for attaining the aim I am now pursuing in this new profession of mine.» — el autor declara que hará de la *salt* —o el *tzimmes*— de esa historia uno de los principios básicos de la nueva forma literaria con que persigue su fin.

«Finding that the price was not at all high for what in his opinion was such beautiful fruit, our Kurd decided to buy a whole pound.» — el relato del kurdo: le pareció barata la fruta hermosa y compró una libra entera.

«Yet in spite of this he kept on eating.» — el relato del kurdo: pese al ardor, siguió comiendo.

«And this hapless biped creature of our planet kept on eating, thanks only to that particular human inherency I mentioned, the principle of which I have decided to use as the basis of the new literary form I have created, and which will serve as a “guiding beacon” leading me to one of my aims.» — el autor adjudica esa insistencia a la inherencia humana cuyo principio dice haber puesto en la base de su nueva forma literaria.

«Whereupon our resolute Kurd—it must of course be assumed that he was such—did not stop, but went on eating the red peppers.» — el relato del kurdo, en su remate: no se detuvo y siguió comiendo los pimientos rojos.

«Otherwise the bookseller will, as is said, “cavil,” and behave without fail according to the basic principle of all booksellers, formulated in the following words: “You are more a fool than a fisherman if you let go the fish that has swallowed the bait,”» — el autor formula lo que llama el principio básico de todos los libreros.

«And so, to avoid any misunderstanding on account of this property, which arises from data formed in the “presence” of contemporary man thanks to his frequenting the cinema and never missing an opportunity of looking into the left eye of persons of the other sex, I wish to have this opening chapter of mine printed in the said manner, so that everyone can read it through without cutting the pages of the book itself.» — el autor repite su petición sobre el primer capítulo, imprimible sin cortar las páginas.

«I cannot help repeating, or rather I cannot help warning you again and even insistently advising you, before beginning to cut the pages of this first book of mine, to read very attentively, even more than once, this first chapter of my writings.» — el autor insiste en aconsejar que este primer capítulo se lea con mucha atención y más de una vez antes de cortar las páginas del libro.

«But if notwithstanding this warning of mine you still wish to become acquainted with the rest of my expositions, there is nothing left for me but to wish you with all my “genuine soul” a very, very good “appetite,”» — el autor despide al lector que decida seguir con un deseo de buen apetito.

«I have already composed in my head the plan and sequence of my intended expositions, but what form they will take on paper, speaking frankly, I do not yet know with my consciousness» — el autor declara tener ya compuestos en la cabeza el plan y la secuencia de sus exposiciones, y no saber aún qué forma tomarán sobre el papel.

«most people in their ignorance mistake for the real consciousness, but which I affirm and experimentally prove» — el autor distingue lo que la gente toma en su ignorancia por la conciencia real de lo que él afirma y dice probar experimentalmente.

«One consciousness is formed from the perception of all kinds of mechanical impressions, arising accidentally or deliberately produced by others, including almost all words, which are indeed only empty “sounds”» — el autor describe la primera de las dos conciencias que distingue: la formada por impresiones mecánicas, accidentales o producidas por otros, y por palabras que solo son sonidos vacíos.

«This second human consciousness, which in itself as well as in its manifestations is none other than what is called the “subconscious,” and which is formed, as I have just said, from the “materialized results” of heredity and the confrontations produced by a man’s own intention, is the one that in my opinion—based on many years of experimental investigations carried out under exceptionally favorable conditions—should predominate in his common presence.» — el autor define la segunda conciencia, que identifica con el subconsciente y forma de resultados materializados de la herencia y de confrontaciones producidas por intención propia; sostiene, sobre investigaciones experimentales de muchos años, que esa debe predominar en la presencia común del hombre.

«I decided to do this without fail so that this introductory chapter, intended as I have already said to awaken your consciousness, may fully justify its purpose» — el autor declara el fin de este capítulo introductorio: despertar la conciencia del lector.

«Never mind! I personally am very pleased to see this curiosity arise in you, even though only in your “false” consciousness, as I know from experience that this impulse unworthy of man can sometimes change its nature and become a worthy impulse called the “desire for knowledge,” which in its turn helps a contemporary man to perceive and even to understand more clearly the essence of any object on which his attention happens to be concentrated; and therefore I am willing and even glad to satisfy this curiosity that has arisen in you.» — el autor distingue la curiosidad del impulso que llama deseo de conocimiento, y dice por experiencia que la primera puede cambiar de naturaleza y volverse el segundo.

«The first of these three data, from the moment of its arising, became as it were the chief directing lever of my entire whole, while the other two became the “vivifying sources” for the nourishing and perfecting of the first.» — el autor anuncia los tres datos formados en su edad preparatoria: el primero, palanca directriz de su conjunto; los otros dos, fuentes vivificantes que lo nutren y perfeccionan.

«Having said this, she gazed at the bridge of my nose and, evidently noticing my perplexity and my obscure understanding of what she had said, added somewhat angrily and imperiously: “Either do nothing—just go to school—or do something nobody else does.”» — el autor cita la instrucción de su abuela en el lecho de muerte.

«Whereupon she immediately, without hesitation and with a perceptible impulse of disdain for all around her, and with commendable self-cognizance, gave up her soul directly into the hands of His Faithfulness, the Archangel Gabriel.» — el autor relata la muerte de la abuela, entregando su alma al Arcángel Gabriel.

«My first act that was obviously not in accord with the manifestations of others, though without the participation either of my consciousness or of my subconscious, occurred on exactly the fortieth day after my grandmother’s death, when our family, our relatives, and all those who had esteemed my dear grandmother, who was loved by everybody, were gathered in the cemetery, as was the custom, to perform over her mortal remains reposing in the grave what is called the “requiem service.”» — el autor fecha su primer acto abiertamente discorde con los demás a los cuarenta días de la muerte de la abuela, durante el responso en el cementerio.

«Suddenly, without rhyme or reason, instead of observing what was conventional among people of all degrees of tangible and intangible morality and of every station in life, that is, instead of standing quietly as if overwhelmed, with an expression of grief on one’s face and even if possible with tears in one’s eyes, I started skipping and dancing around the grave and sang:» — el autor relata que, en lugar de guardar la compostura convencional, se puso a brincar y a bailar alrededor de la tumba, cantando.

«I have only reached the logical supposition that it was because the room where this sacred scene occurred, which was to have tremendous significance for the whole of my future life, was permeated through and through with the scent of a special incense brought from a monastery of Mount Athos and very popular among followers of every shade of belief of the Christian religion.» — el autor solo alcanza a suponer que la escena con su abuela lo marcó porque la habitación estaba impregnada del incienso traído de un monasterio del Monte Athos.

«During the days following this event, nothing particular happened in my general state, unless it was that I walked more often than usual with my feet in the air, that is to say, on my hands.» — el autor consigna lo único particular de los días siguientes: caminaba más a menudo sobre las manos.

«I would try to do it, and moreover better and better each time, “backside first”;» — el autor da otro ejemplo de la misma tendencia: hacerlo todo al revés, y cada vez mejor.

«I would first sniff one on all sides and perhaps even put it to my ear and listen intently, and then, almost unconsciously, though very seriously, I would mutter to myself, “enough is enough, you don’t need to stuff!” and humming to an appropriate rhythm, would swallow it whole without savoring it; and so on and so forth.» — el autor describe cómo comía: olfateando primero, escuchando después, y tragando entero sin saborear.

«I think the horsehair noose ought to be set so that the pigeon’s big toe never gets caught in it because, as our zoology teacher recently explained to us, it is just in that toe that the pigeon’s reserve strength is concentrated, and of course if this big toe gets caught in the noose, the pigeon might easily break it.» — el autor relata el argumento del compañero sobre el lazo de crin y el dedo gordo de la paloma.

«I do not know or wish to know what results will be formed in your mentation on learning about the strange convergence of life circumstances I will now describe, but for my mentation, this coincidence provided material for reinforcing my belief that all the events that occurred in my youth, far from being simply the results of chance, were created intentionally by certain extraneous forces.» — el autor declara que la convergencia de circunstancias que va a narrar reforzó en él la creencia de que los sucesos de su juventud no fueron azar sino obra intencional de fuerzas ajenas.

«The point is that this dexterity had been taught me very thoroughly only a few days before this event by a Greek priest from Turkey, who, persecuted by the Turks for his political convictions, had been compelled to flee from there, and on arriving in our town had been engaged by my parents to teach me the modern Greek language.» — el autor atribuye la destreza a un sacerdote griego de Turquía, huido por sus convicciones políticas, contratado por sus padres para enseñarle griego moderno.

«Well then, on beholding the effect of my skill, I was, I must confess, extremely frightened, because knowing nothing about such a reaction to a blow in that place, I was quite sure I had killed him.» — el autor confiesa el susto: al ver el efecto de su destreza, creyó haber matado al agresor.

«The barber, after a casual glance, said it was simply a “wisdom tooth” and that all members of the male sex have one like it—that is, all those who up to the time when they can say “papa” and “mama” are fed exclusively on their own mother’s milk, and who are able at first sight to pick out from many others the face of their own father.» — el autor recoge el dictamen del barbero sobre el diente hallado: una muela del juicio.

«a “something” began to ooze chronically from this socket, which had the property—as was only recently explained to me by a famous meteorologist with whom I chanced to become bosom friends during frequent meetings in the all-night restaurants of Montmartre—of arousing an interest in and a tendency to seek out the causes of every suspicious “actual fact”;» — el autor atribuye a un exudado crónico del alveolo la propiedad de despertar interés y tendencia a buscar las causas de todo hecho sospechoso, según se lo explicó un meteorólogo célebre.

«And when, of course with the cooperation of our All-Common Master, the Merciless Heropass, that is, the “flow of time,” I was transformed into the young man I have already described, this new property became a real inextinguishable hearth, always burning, of consciousness.» — el autor dice que, con el concurso del *Heropass* —el flujo del tiempo—, esa propiedad se volvió un hogar inextinguible de conciencia.

«The second vivifying factor I mentioned, which brought about the complete fusion of my dear grandmother’s injunction with all the data making up my individuality, was the totality of impressions received from information I chanced to acquire concerning the origin here on Earth of a principle, which later became—as was demonstrated by Mr. Allan Kardec during an “absolutely secret” spiritualistic séance—one of the chief “life principles” among beings arising and existing on all the other planets of our Great Universe.» — el autor identifica el segundo factor vivificante con las impresiones sobre el origen terrestre de un principio que, según atribuye a Allan Kardec en una sesión espiritista, es uno de los principios de vida de los seres de todos los demás planetas.

«This all-universal principle of living is formulated in the following words: “If you go on a spree, then go the whole hog, including the postage.”» — el autor formula ese principio universal de vida.

«I arrived for the first time in the heart of Russia, in the city of Moscow, where, finding nothing else for the satisfaction of my psychic needs, I occupied myself with investigating Russian legends and sayings.» — el autor relata que llegó por primera vez a Moscú y allí se dedicó a investigar leyendas y dichos rusos.

«another renowned scholar of antiquity, the Arabian Mal el-Lel, defined as “the compound result of consciousness, the subconscious, and instinct”—a definition, by the way, which was later “borrowed”» — el autor cita la definición del *yo* que atribuye al erudito árabe Mal el-Lel.

«but arising in my common presence from the action of three external, accidental causes having nothing in common: first, from the injunction of a person who had become, without the slightest desire on my» — el autor declara que su *yo* surgió en su presencia común de la acción de tres causas externas y accidentales sin nada en común entre sí.

«If before my acquaintance with this “all-universal principle of living” I had manifested myself differently from other biped animals like myself, arising and vegetating on the same planet, I did so automatically and sometimes only half-consciously; but after this event I began to do so consciously» — el autor declara el cambio: antes de asimilar ese principio de vida se manifestaba distinto de los demás automáticamente y a medias, y después empezó a hacerlo conscientemente.

«Any writer can write on the scale of the Earth, but I am not any writer.» — el autor declara la escala que se propone.

«I shall put this psycho-organic principle of mine into practice by not following the custom of all writers, established from the remote past down to the present, of taking as the theme of their various writings the events that supposedly have occurred or are now occurring on Earth; but instead I shall take events on the» — el autor declara que no tomará por tema los sucesos ocurridos en la Tierra, como han hecho los escritores desde el pasado remoto, sino sucesos de otra escala.

«I shall, of course, also write of the Earth, but with such an impartial attitude» — el autor precisa que también escribirá de la Tierra, y con qué actitud.

«I did this not without cunning. My cunning lies simply in the logical supposition that if I pay him this attention he will infallibly—as up till now I have no reason to doubt—show his gratitude by helping me in my intended writings with all the means at his command.» — el autor declara la astucia con que elige a Beelzebub: si le presta esa atención, cuenta con que le mostrará su gratitud ayudándole en sus escritos con todos los medios a su alcance.

«Although Mr. Beelzebub is, as the saying goes, of “a different clay,” yet—as I learned long ago from the treatise of the famous Catholic monk, Brother Foolon—he has a curly tail;» — el autor atribuye al tratado del monje católico Brother Foolon el dato de que Beelzebub tiene cola rizada.

«It is not for nothing that our incomparable teacher, Mullah Nasr Eddin, frequently says:» — el autor cita a Mullah Nasr Eddin, a quien llama su maestro incomparable, sobre untar la mano.

«And another terrestrial sage, named Till Eulenspiegel, who also based his wisdom on the crass stupidity of people, has expressed the same idea in the following words:» — el autor pone el mismo dicho en boca de Till Eulenspiegel, otro sabio terrestre cuya sabiduría dice fundada en la estupidez de la gente.

«And I did this in spite of the fact that, from the very outset, this choice of mine might evoke in the mentation of most of my readers such associations as would engender in them all kinds of automatic contradictory impulses coming from the data infallibly formed in the psyche of people by all the established abnormal conditions of their external existence, and in general “crystallized” in them thanks to the famous “religious morality” rooted in their life—all of which must inevitably result in an inexplicable hostility toward me personally.» — el autor prevé que la elección de Beelzebub como héroe suscitará en la mayoría de sus lectores impulsos contradictorios y una hostilidad inexplicable hacia él, por la moralidad religiosa arraigada en su vida.

«“Never poke your stick into a hornets’ nest.”» — el autor se reprocha haber desobedecido el precepto de Mullah Nasr Eddin sobre el avispero.

«Since then, the agitation that arose from realizing my failure to obey the commandment of Mullah Nasr Eddin no longer troubles me in the least; nevertheless, a very strange process has begun in both of my recently acquired “souls,” taking the form of an unusual itching, which has increased progressively until it now produces an almost intolerable pain in the region a little below the right half of my already over-exercised “solar plexus.”» — el autor describe la comezón que dice haberle empezado en sus dos almas recién adquiridas, un poco debajo de la mitad derecha de su plexo solar.

«for I have just remembered another fragment of life wisdom, which leads me to understand that if indeed I acted against the advice of the highly esteemed Mullah Nasr Eddin, I nevertheless did so without premeditation according to the principle of that extremely engaging—not widely known on Earth, yet unforgettable by anyone who once met him —that precious nugget, Karapet of Tiflis.» — el autor presenta a Karapet de Tiflis como el otro fragmento de sabiduría de vida que lo tranquiliza.

«First of all I must state that twenty or twenty-five years ago the Tiflis railway station had a “steam whistle.”» — el autor sitúa el silbato de vapor de la estación de Tiflis veinte o veinticinco años atrás.

«The Tiflis local government, as I recall it, even entered into a lengthy correspondence with the railway authorities about the disturbance of the morning sleep of the peaceful citizens.» — el autor refiere que el gobierno local de Tiflis llegó a mantener correspondencia con la autoridad ferroviaria por el sueño interrumpido de los ciudadanos.

«Formerly I used to work in this station at night cleaning the boilers, but when they put in the steam whistle, the stationmaster, evidently considering my age and incapacity for the heavy work I was doing, gave me the one job of releasing the steam into the whistle, for which I had to arrive punctually every morning and evening.» — Karapet de Tiflis relata que, por su edad, el jefe de estación le dejó el único trabajo de soltar el vapor en el silbato, mañana y tarde.

«The very first week of my new service, I noticed that after performing this duty of mine I felt vaguely ill at ease for an hour or two.» — Karapet relata que desde la primera semana notaba, tras cumplir ese deber, un vago malestar de una o dos horas.

«Things went on like this for almost six months, and the palms of my hands had become calloused from the rope of the steam whistle when, quite suddenly and accidentally, I understood why I was experiencing this uneasiness.» — Karapet relata que la comprensión le llegó de golpe y por accidente, medio año después.

«One morning when I had not had enough sleep, since I spent the first half of the night at the christening of my neighbor’s ninth daughter, and the other half reading a rare and very interesting book I had come across entitled Dreams and Witchcraft, I was hurrying on my way to release the steam, when I suddenly saw at a street corner a barber-surgeon I knew, employed in the local government service, who beckoned me to stop.» — Karapet sitúa el hallazgo la mañana en que, mal dormido tras un bautizo y la lectura de un libro titulado *Dreams and Witchcraft*, se topó con un barbero-cirujano conocido.

«The function of this barber-surgeon friend of mine was to go through the town at certain hours, accompanied by an assistant pushing a specially constructed cart, and to seize all the stray dogs whose collars lacked the metal tags issued by the local authorities on payment of the tax.» — Karapet describe el oficio del barbero-cirujano: recorrer el pueblo recogiendo a los perros sin la placa metálica de la autoridad local.

«Shortly afterward, from the other end of this remarkable and salutary oven, there flowed, with a delightful gurgling sound, a certain quantity of pellucid and ideally clean fat, to the profit of the fathers of our town, for the manufacture of soap and also perhaps of something else, while, with a purling sound no less delightful to the ear, there poured out a fair quantity of useful substances for fertilizer.» — Karapet describe lo que salía del horno municipal: grasa limpia para jabón y sustancias útiles para abono, en provecho de los padres del pueblo.

«And indeed, everyone awakened from his sweet morning slumbers by the blast of my steam whistle must doubtless curse me by everything under the sun—just me, the cause of this infernal din—and thanks to this, there must surely flow from all directions toward my person vibrations of all kinds of malice.» — Karapet formula su conclusión: quien despierta con el silbato debe maldecirlo, y hacia él fluyen desde todas partes vibraciones de malicia.

«On that memorable morning, after performing my duties, while sitting in my usual mood of depression in a neighboring ‘dukhan’ and eating ‘hachi’ with garlic, I continued to ponder; and I came to the conclusion that if I should curse beforehand all those who are outraged by my service for the benefit of some of them, then according to the book I had read the night before, however much all those still lying in the ‘realm of idiocy’—that is, between sleep and drowsiness—might curse me, it would have no effect on me at all.» — Karapet expone el remedio que dedujo de su libro: maldecir de antemano a todos los que su servicio ultraja.

«And in fact, since I began to do this, I no longer feel that ‘instinctive uneasiness.’» — Karapet cierra su relato con el resultado: desde entonces no vuelve a sentir el malestar instintivo.

«Stop! Misconceived formulation! With a signature there must be no joking.» — el autor se interrumpe a sí mismo sobre las firmas.

«Otherwise the same thing will happen to you as happened once before in one of the countries of Central Europe, when you were forced to pay ten years’ rent for a house you occupied for only three months, simply because you had signed a paper obliging you to renew the lease for the house each year.» — el autor da su escarmiento: haber pagado diez años de renta por una casa ocupada tres meses, por haber firmado la renovación anual del contrato.

«IT WAS in the year 223 after the creation of the world by objective time calculation or, as would be said here on the Earth, in the year 1921 after the birth of Christ.» — el relato marco fecha su arranque en el año 223 de la creación del mundo por tiempo objetivo, o 1921 después del nacimiento de Cristo.

«Through the Universe flew the trans-space communication ship Karnak.» — el relato marco nombra la nave en que transcurre.

«But then, owing to his youthful and still unformed Reason, as well as to his callow and impetuous mentation with its unequally flowing associations, that is, a mentation based on a limited understanding—which is natural for beings who have not yet become fully responsible—Beelzebub once saw something in the government of the world that seemed to him “illogical” and, having found support among his comrades, unformed beings like himself, interfered in what was none of his business.» — el relato marco refiere la causa del destierro: por su Razón juvenil y no formada, Beelzebub halló ilógico algo del gobierno del mundo y se metió en lo que no le incumbía.

«Having learned of this, His Endlessness, notwithstanding His all-lovingness and all-forgivingness, was constrained to banish Beelzebub and his comrades to one of the remote corners of the Universe, to the solar system “Ors,” whose inhabitants call it simply “the solar system”; and He assigned as the place of their existence one of the planets of that solar system, namely the planet “Mars,” with the privilege of existing on other planets also, but only of that solar system.» — el relato marco refiere que Su Infinitud, pese a su omniamor y su omniperdón, se vio obligado a desterrar a Beelzebub y a sus camaradas al sistema solar Ors, y les asignó el planeta Marte.

«As the years rolled by, many of these exiles, either on their own initiative or in response to needs of a general character, gradually migrated from Mars to other planets; but Beelzebub himself with his close attendants remained on the planet Mars, where he organized his existence more or less tolerably.» — el relato marco refiere que muchos desterrados emigraron con los años a otros planetas, y que Beelzebub se quedó en Marte con sus allegados.

«Although the solar system Ors had been neglected because of its remoteness from the Center and for many other reasons, the Most Holy Cosmic Individuals surrounding our Common Father Endlessness had sent Messengers from time to time to the planets of this solar system, to regulate more or less the process of existence of the three-brained beings arising there, and to bring it into accord with the general world harmony.» — el relato marco refiere que los Individuos Cósmicos Santísimos mandaban Mensajeros de tanto en tanto a los planetas del sistema Ors para regular la existencia de los seres de tres cerebros y ponerla en acuerdo con la armonía general del mundo.

«And as Beelzebub had fulfilled a special task indispensable to his mission, this Messenger, upon his return to the Sun Absolute, earnestly besought His Endlessness to pardon the once young and fiery but now aged Beelzebub.» — el relato marco refiere que el perdón de Beelzebub lo pidió un Mensajero al volver al Sol Absoluto.

«His influence and authority, far from having declined during his exile, had on the contrary greatly increased, since all those around him clearly recognized that, thanks to the long years he had spent in unaccustomed conditions, his knowledge and experience had inevitably been broadened and deepened.» — el relato marco refiere que la influencia y la autoridad de Beelzebub crecieron durante el destierro, porque los años en condiciones desacostumbradas ampliaron y ahondaron su conocimiento y su experiencia.

«And that is why Beelzebub, with his kinsmen and attendants, was now making the long journey on the space ship Karnak from the planet Karatas to the planet Revozvradendr.» — el relato marco declara el motivo del viaje que enmarca el libro: la travesía de Karatas a Revozvradendr en la nave Karnak.

«Among the passengers one very handsome boy stood out; he was always near Beelzebub himself.» — el relato marco presenta al muchacho que va siempre junto a Beelzebub.

«this mad comet always leaves a great deal of ‘zilnotrago’4 in its track, which on entering the planetary body of a being disorganizes most of its functions until all the zilnotrago has been volatilized.» — el capitán de la nave describe el *zilnotrago* que el cometa deja en su estela y su efecto sobre el cuerpo planetario de un ser.

«this terrestrial sage, Mullah Nasr Eddin, had an apt and pithy saying.» — el relato marco atribuye a Mullah Nasr Eddin, a quien llama sabio terrestre, un dicho apto para la situación.

«If a detour would involve even the slightest damage to our ship, then in my opinion we ought to give preference to your second suggestion» — Beelzebub decide ante el capitán: si el rodeo dañara la nave, aunque fuera poco, prefiere esperar.

«In my time, for instance, these big trans-space ships were so complicated and cumbersome that it took almost half their power to carry the materials needed to elaborate the energy for their locomotion.» — el capitán compara las naves: en su tiempo casi la mitad de la potencia se iba en cargar los materiales para elaborar la energía de su desplazamiento.

«When faced with an event arising from forces immeasurably greater than one’s own, one must submit.» — Beelzebub formula la regla que da por el episodio del cometa.

«“Yes,” replied Beelzebub, “three-brained beings dwell on almost all planets of that solar system also, and higher being-bodies can be coated in almost all of them.» — Beelzebub responde a Hassein que hay seres de tres cerebros en casi todos los planetas de aquel sistema solar y que en casi todos pueden revestirse los cuerpos superiores.

«“Higher being-bodies or, as they are called on some planets of that solar system, ‘souls,’ are coated in three-brained beings inhabiting all the planets except those before reaching which the emanations of our Most Holy Sun Absolute, through repeated deflections, have gradually lost the fullness of their strength and no longer contain the vivifying power needed for coating higher being-bodies.» — Beelzebub define lo que en algunos planetas se llama *souls* y pone el límite: no se revisten donde las emanaciones del Sol Absoluto, desviadas repetidamente, ya perdieron la fuerza vivificante.

«“Of course, my boy, on each planet of that solar system the planetary bodies of the three-brained beings are coated and take on an exterior form corresponding to the nature of that planet, adapting to it in every detail.» — Beelzebub afirma que en cada planeta el cuerpo planetario de esos seres toma la forma exterior que corresponde a la naturaleza de ese planeta.

«“On the planet Mars, for instance, where we were exiled, the three-brained beings are coated with a planetary body having a form—how shall I tell you? —like a ‘karoona,’ that is to say, they have a long broad trunk, amply» — Beelzebub describe la forma del cuerpo planetario de los seres de Marte, donde estuvo desterrado.

«“Almost the entire strength of this huge planetary body is adapted by nature to generate energy for their eyes and their wings.» — Beelzebub describe otro planeta donde casi toda la fuerza del cuerpo planetario se destina a generar energía para los ojos y las alas.

«“As a result, the three-brained beings breeding on that planet can see freely everywhere, however great the ‘kldatsakhti,’ 5 and can move about not only on the planet but also in its atmosphere, and occasionally some of them even manage to travel beyond its limits.» — Beelzebub afirma que esos seres ven libremente en cualquier parte y se mueven por el planeta y por su atmósfera, y que alguno logra salir de sus límites.

«“On another planet not far from the planet Mars, owing to the intense cold there, the three-brained beings are covered with thick soft wool.» — Beelzebub describe a los seres de otro planeta cercano a Marte, cubiertos de lana espesa por el frío.

«“There is still another planet in that solar system, my dear boy, quite a small one, bearing the name ‘Moon.’ “» — Beelzebub nombra el planeta pequeño del mismo sistema.

«“Though the beings of this planet have very frail planetary bodies, they have an indomitable spirit, which gives them an extraordinary perseverance and capacity for work.» — Beelzebub atribuye a los seres de la Luna cuerpos planetarios muy frágiles y un espíritu indomable, con perseverancia y capacidad de trabajo extraordinarias.

«“Sometimes the cold is so intense on this Moon that everything is frozen through and through, and it becomes impossible for beings to breathe in the open atmosphere, and then suddenly it gets so hot that you could fry an egg in a jiffy.» — Beelzebub describe el clima de la Luna, que alterna congelación y calor.

«The Moon is actually a fragment of this Earth, which must now constantly maintain the Moon’s existence.» — Beelzebub afirma que la Luna es un fragmento de la Tierra y que la Tierra debe mantener ahora constantemente su existencia.

«On the planet Earth also, three-brained beings are formed; and they too contain all the data for higher being-bodies to be coated in them.» — Beelzebub afirma que en la Tierra también se forman seres de tres cerebros y que también contienen todos los datos para que en ellos se revistan cuerpos superiores.

«But in ‘strength of spirit’ they do not begin to compare with the beings breeding on the little planet I just mentioned.» — Beelzebub pone el límite: en fuerza de espíritu no admiten comparación con los seres de la Luna.

«It is true that for protection against external influences they have invented what they call ‘boots,’ but this invention does not do them much good.» — Beelzebub refiere el invento terrestre contra las influencias externas y su poca utilidad.

«Their ‘being-Reason,’ owing to many causes that I may tell you about sometime, has gradually degenerated and at present is very, very strange, and peculiar in the highest degree.» — Beelzebub afirma que la *being-Reason* de los terrestres ha degenerado poco a poco y es ahora extrañísima.

«‘The centers of all the suns and planets of our Universe are precisely such points of stability.» — el capitán expone el hallazgo de Saint Venoma: los centros de todos los soles y planetas del Universo son puntos de estabilidad.

«Saint Venoma stated further that when an object, wherever it may be, is dropped into space, it tends to fall on one or another sun or planet, depending on which sun or planet this part of space belongs to—that sun or planet being for the given region the stability, or bottom.» — el capitán expone la ley de caer según Saint Venoma: un objeto soltado en el espacio tiende a caer sobre el sol o el planeta a que pertenece esa región.

«His further saintly labors showed that, although in principle this was possible, in fact the law of falling alone could not be employed fully to achieve this purpose, for the simple reason that the atmospheres surrounding most of the cosmic concentrations would hinder the direct falling of the object dropped in space.» — el capitán refiere el límite que los trabajos de Saint Venoma mostraron: la ley de caer no bastaba, porque las atmósferas estorban la caída directa.

«And three ‘looniases’ later, Saint Venoma did find such a means and, as soon as a suitable vessel had been completed under his direction, he went on to practical trials.» — el capitán refiere que Saint Venoma halló el medio y pasó a las pruebas prácticas.

«The whole of this great invention consists of a single ‘cylinder’ shaped like an ordinary barrel.» — el capitán describe la invención del Arcángel Hariton: un solo cilindro con forma de barril corriente.

«These materials are isolated from each other by means of ‘amber’ and, owing to their arrangement in a certain order, have the property of acting on any cosmic gaseous substance entering the space they enclose—whether ‘atmosphere,’ ’air,’ ‘ether,’ or any other combination of homogeneous cosmic elements—causing it immediately to expand within the cylinder.» — el capitán describe los materiales del cilindro, aislados con ámbar, y su propiedad de hacer que cualquier sustancia gaseosa que entre se expanda de inmediato.

«Since in general Nature abhors a vacuum, as soon as the expanded gaseous substances are released, the cylinder-barrel is again filled up with fresh substances from outside, and they in their turn undergo the same process, and so on without end.» — el capitán expone el ciclo: como la Naturaleza aborrece el vacío, al soltarse los gases expandidos el cilindro vuelve a llenarse desde fuera, y así sin fin.

«Thus, Your Right Reverence, in spaces where there is no resistance, contemporary ships like ours simply fall toward the nearest stability; but» — el capitán describe cómo se desplazan las naves donde no hay resistencia.

«It is interesting to note that the denser the substance in any given part of the Universe, the better the charging and discharging of the cylinder-barrel proceed, and in consequence, of course, the rate of movement of the levers is accelerated.» — el capitán relaciona la densidad de la sustancia de cada región del Universo con la carga y descarga del cilindro y con la velocidad de las palancas.

«Nevertheless, I repeat, a region without atmosphere, that is, a space containing only ‘world ethernokrilno,’ is the best for contemporary ships as it was for earlier ones, because it offers no resistance at all, and the law of falling can therefore be employed to the full with no need for the work of the cylinder.» — el capitán declara cuál es la mejor región para las naves: la que solo contiene *world ethernokrilno*, porque no ofrece resistencia alguna.

«What you have just been describing must surely be that ephemeral idea that the strange three-brained beings breeding on the planet Earth called ‘perpetual motion,’ for the sake of which at one time great numbers of them went quite ‘mad’ or even perished.» — Beelzebub identifica lo descrito por el capitán con la idea que los terrestres llamaron *perpetual motion*, por la cual muchos enloquecieron o perecieron.

«It once happened on that ill-fated planet that somebody got the ‘crazy notion’ into his head that he could invent a ‘mechanism’ that would run forever without requiring any material from the outside.» — Beelzebub refiere el origen de esa idea en la Tierra: alguien se metió en la cabeza inventar un mecanismo que anduviera para siempre sin material de fuera.

«In short, to invent perpetual motion became the 3‘rage’ there, and every crank felt obliged to be interested in this question.» — Beelzebub refiere hasta dónde llegó allí esa moda.

«Indeed it can safely be said that, given atmosphere alone, this cylinder will work perpetually and without requiring any other outside materials.» — el capitán acota su propia invención: dada solo atmósfera, el cilindro trabajará perpetuamente sin necesitar otros materiales de fuera.

«Although the cylinder-barrel does not last forever, it can certainly last a very long time.» — el capitán acota la duración del cilindro-barril.

«But the other parts,” the captain continued, “both the exterior levers and the cogwheels, must certainly be renewed from time to time, for though they are made of the strongest ‘metal,’ long use will wear them out.» — el capitán declara qué partes sí hay que renovar de tanto en tanto, porque el uso las desgasta pese al metal más fuerte.

«I don’t know what is the matter with me, dear Grandfather, but your talk with the captain has brought me to some exceedingly melancholy thoughts.» — Hassein confiesa a su abuelo que la conversación con el capitán lo dejó en pensamientos melancólicos.

«It seems that in the past certain beings must have labored hard and suffered very much for all this, and endured a great deal that perhaps they could have spared themselves.» — Hassein formula lo que le pesa: que en el pasado ciertos seres trabajaron y sufrieron mucho por todo esto.

«And now not only do we not thank them, but we do not even know anything about them, and take it all as a matter of course, and neither ponder this question nor trouble ourselves in the slightest about it.» — Hassein completa el reproche: que ni se les agradece ni se sabe nada de ellos, y que todo se toma por descontado.

«It is just because of this that there now arises in me a ‘process of remorse.’» — Hassein nombra lo que surge en él por eso.

«I advise you, my dear Hassein, not to put such questions to yourself yet.» — Beelzebub aconseja a Hassein no plantearse todavía esas preguntas.

«At your age, you are not yet obliged to pay for your existence.» — Beelzebub declara la razón de esa espera.

«No,” objected Beelzebub, “you yourself must ask what interests you most of all. It will give me much pleasure to tell you whatever you particularly wish to know about.» — Beelzebub deja a Hassein la elección del tema.

«I could tell you a great deal about them, for I often visited that planet and existed among those terrestrial three-brained beings for long periods, and even made friends with many of them.» — Beelzebub declara su trato con los terrestres: visitó a menudo el planeta, existió allí largos periodos y trabó amistad con muchos de ellos.

«I know them well, because the whole course of their arising, their development, and their existence during many, many centuries—by their time calculation—has unfolded before my eyes.» — Beelzebub declara la base de su conocimiento: todo el curso del surgimiento, el desarrollo y la existencia de esos seres se desplegó ante sus ojos.

«If you wish, I will begin by telling you about the events of a general cosmic character connected with this planet that led to the grave concern of our Endlessness.» — Beelzebub ofrece empezar por los sucesos de carácter cósmico general que llevaron a la grave preocupación de Su Infinitud.

«For reasons we could not yet grasp, this planet, it transpired, had ‘burst’ and two fragments broken off from it had flown into space.» — Beelzebub relata la causa del suceso: el planeta había reventado y dos fragmentos se habían desprendido al espacio.

«And the Arch-Engineer Archangel Algamatant was good enough to explain to us personally that in all probability what had happened was this:» — Beelzebub refiere que fue el Arcángel Archi-ingeniero Algamatant quien explicó lo ocurrido.

«‘But they could not actually fall upon their fundamental mass, because in the meantime they had come under the cosmic law called the “law of catching up,” and were inevitably subject to its influence.» — el Arcángel Algamatant explica por qué los fragmentos no pudieron caer sobre su masa fundamental: quedaron bajo la ley cósmica del alcanzarse.

«Nevertheless, my boy, this Most High Commission, having considered all the available facts and also all the possible consequences, came to the conclusion that, although the fragments of the planet Earth might maintain themselves for the time being in their existing positions, yet in view of certain ‘tastartoonarnian displacements’ envisaged by the commission, they might some day stray from their positions and bring about many irreparable calamities, both for the system Ors and for neighboring solar systems.» — Beelzebub refiere la conclusión de la Comisión Altísima: los fragmentos podían con el tiempo salirse de sus posiciones y traer calamidades irreparables al sistema Ors y a los sistemas vecinos.

«They decided that the best solution would be for the fundamental mass, that is, the planet Earth, to maintain its detached fragments by constantly sending them the sacred vibrations called ‘askokin.’» — Beelzebub refiere la medida resuelta: que la Tierra mantenga sus fragmentos desprendidos enviándoles constantemente las vibraciones sagradas *askokin*.

«The sacred substance askokin can be formed on planets only when both the fundamental cosmic laws operating in them, the sacred ‘Heptaparaparshinokh’ and the sacred ‘Triamazikamno,’ act in the ‘ilnosoparnian’ manner, that is to say, when these two sacred laws in a given cosmic concentration are deflected independently, and also manifest themselves on its surface independently—of course only within certain limits.» — Beelzebub declara la condición para que se forme el *askokin*: que las dos leyes fundamentales, *Heptaparaparshinokh* y *Triamazikamno*, actúen de manera *ilnosoparnian*, desviándose y manifestándose de modo independiente.

«And so, my boy, since a cosmic actualization of this kind was possible only with the sanction of His Endlessness, the Great Archangel Sakaki, accompanied by several other sacred members of that Most High Commission,» — Beelzebub subraya que una actualización cósmica así solo era posible con la sanción de Su Infinitud, y nombra al Gran Arcángel Sakaki.

«It is interesting to note that the beings of a continent on that planet called ‘Atlantis,’ which later disappeared, still knew of this second fragment of their planet and also called it ‘Anulios.’» — Beelzebub refiere que los seres de Atlántida conocían el segundo fragmento y lo llamaban *Anulios*.

«And if one of them should by chance catch sight of it through that excellent yet childish toy of theirs called a ‘telescope,’ he would pay no attention to it, simply mistaking it for a big ‘aerolite.’» — Beelzebub refiere qué haría hoy un terrestre que lo viera por el telescopio.

«Contemporary beings will probably never see it again, since it has become proper to their nature to see only unreality.» — Beelzebub cierra ese punto sobre los seres contemporáneos.

«So, my boy, in due course there began to appear on the planet Earth ‘similitudes of the Whole’ or, as they are also called, ‘microcosmoses,’ and from these microcosmoses were formed ‘oduristolnian’ and ‘polormedekhtic’ vegetation.» — Beelzebub refiere lo que empezó a aparecer en la Tierra: similitudes del Todo, o *microcosmoses*, y de ellos la vegetación *oduristolnian* y *polormedekhtic*.

«And of course there gradually began to be crystallized in the three-brained beings there the corresponding data for the acquisition of Objective Reason.» — Beelzebub relata que en los seres de tres cerebros de la Tierra empezaron a cristalizarse los datos correspondientes para adquirir la Razón Objetiva.

«This second descent of the Most High Commission to the Earth took place because, in spite of the measures they had taken, most of its sacred members were not fully assured of the impossibility of undesirable surprises in the future, and they now wished to verify on the spot the results of their earlier measures.» — Beelzebub explica el motivo del segundo descenso de la Comisión Altísima: verificar en el sitio los resultados de sus medidas anteriores.

«The Most High Commission decided in any event, if only to reassure themselves, to take certain additional precautions, including one measure, the consequences of which have not only gradually become a stupendous horror for the three-brained beings of that ill-fated planet, but have even become, so to say, a ‘festering sore’ for the whole of the Great Universe.» — Beelzebub anuncia la medida cuyas consecuencias, dice, se volvieron un horror para los seres de ese planeta y una llaga para el Gran Universo entero.

«The sacred members of the Most High Commission then reasoned that if this mechanical instinct in the biped three-brained beings of that planet were to develop toward the attainment of Objective Reason, as usually occurs everywhere among three-brained beings, it might possibly happen that they would prematurely comprehend the reason for their presence on that planet and would then make a good deal of trouble; it might happen that once they understood the reason for their arising, namely, that by their existence they should maintain the detached fragments of their planet, and became convinced of their slavery to circumstances utterly foreign to them, they would refuse to continue this existence of theirs and on principle destroy themselves.» — Beelzebub expone el razonamiento de la Comisión: si el instinto mecánico de esos seres se desarrollara hacia la Razón Objetiva, comprenderían antes de tiempo la razón de su presencia allí —mantener con su existencia los fragmentos desprendidos de su planeta— y, convencidos de su esclavitud a circunstancias ajenas, se negarían a seguir existiendo y se destruirían por principio.

«Having made this organ grow in the presence of the three-brained beings and having made sure that it would work, the Most High Commission of Sacred Individuals, headed by the Archangel Sakaki, returned to the Center, reassured and with clear conscience, while on the planet Earth, which has taken your fancy, the action of this ingenious and astonishing invention began to flourish from the very first day, as the wise Mullah Nasr Eddin would say, like ‘the trumpets of Jericho.’» — Beelzebub refiere el regreso de la Comisión al Centro con la conciencia tranquila, una vez plantado el órgano y comprobado que funcionaría, y cita a Mullah Nasr Eddin sobre cómo empezó a florecer.

«Now, if you wish to understand even approximately the results of the properties of the organ devised and brought into existence by the incomparable Angel Looisos—blessed be his name to all eternity—you must know about the various manifestations of the three-brained beings of that planet, not only while this ‘organ kundabuffer’ actually existed in their presence but also later, after its destruction; for, although this astonishing organ and its properties were destroyed in them, the consequences ofits properties, for many reasons, began to be crystallized in their presences.» — Beelzebub advierte a Hassein que, destruidos el órgano y sus propiedades, las consecuencias de esas propiedades empezaron a cristalizarse en las presencias de esos seres; el troceo une la palabra y devuelve *ofits* donde la fuente imprime *of its*.

«During this third descent the sacred members of the Most High Commission satisfied themselves by thorough investigation that the precautionary measures they had taken to maintain the existence of the detached fragments of the planet Earth were no longer needed.» — Beelzebub refiere lo que la Comisión comprobó en su tercer descenso: las medidas de precaución ya no hacían falta.

«And so, among other things, again with the help of the Arch-Chemist-Physicist, the Angel Looisos, they destroyed in the presence of three-brained beings there the ‘organ kundabuffer’ with all its astonishing properties.» — Beelzebub refiere la destrucción del órgano *kundabuffer* con todas sus propiedades asombrosas, otra vez con ayuda del Ángel Looisos.

«By this time my first ‘teskooano’ had been set up in the observatory I had constructed there, and I was devoting myself entirely to the organization and development of this observatory of mine, in order to make a more detailed study of the remote concentrations of our Great Universe and of the planets of that solar system.» — Beelzebub relata que ya tenía instalado su primer *teskooano* en el observatorio construido en Marte y se dedicaba entero a desarrollarlo.

«Furthermore, sometimes very strange manifestations of theirs could be observed; they did something from time to time that was never done by three-brained beings on other planets, that is, they would suddenly, without rhyme or reason, begin destroying one another’s existence.» — Beelzebub describe la manifestación de los terrestres que no se da en los seres de tres cerebros de otros planetas: destruirse mutuamente la existencia de repente y sin motivo.

«It was also noticeable at times that, owing to this horrible process of theirs, their numbers rapidly diminished; but at other periods, when there was a lull, their numbers noticeably increased.» — Beelzebub relata el efecto de ese proceso sobre su número: disminuía rápido y volvía a crecer en las treguas.

«We gradually got used to this last peculiarity of theirs, telling ourselves that obviously, for certain higher considerations, this property must have been given to the organ kundabuffer intentionally by the Most High Commission, because seeing the fecundity of these biped beings, we assumed that large numbers of them would be needed to maintain the ‘common-cosmic harmonious movement.’» — Beelzebub refiere qué se decían entre ellos los desterrados para explicarse esa fecundidad: que la Comisión la habría dado al órgano *kundabuffer* a propósito, por altas consideraciones.

«Personally I liked best of all the three-centered beings dwelling on the planet ‘Saturn.’» — Beelzebub declara su preferencia entre los seres de aquel sistema solar.

«The verbal intercourse of these raven-beings of the planet Saturn is somewhat like our own.» — Beelzebub compara el trato verbal de los seres-cuervo de Saturno con el de los suyos.

«All that can be said is that these bird-beings have hearts exactly like those of the angels nearest our Endless Maker and Creator.» — Beelzebub declara lo que dice de esos seres-ave.

«They exist strictly according to the ninth commandment of our Creator: ‘Consider everything belonging to another as if it were your own, and so treat it.’» — Beelzebub cita el noveno mandamiento del Creador, según el cual existen esos seres.

«Later, I must certainly tell you in more detail about those three-brained beings who arise and exist on the planet Saturn, since one of my real friends during the whole period of my exile in that solar system was a being of that planet, who had the exterior coating of a raven and whose name was Harharkh.» — Beelzebub anuncia que hablará más de los seres de Saturno, y nombra a su amigo de todo el destierro, revestido de cuervo.

«NOW LET us return to those three-brained beings arising on the planet Earth who have interested you most of all and whom you called ‘slugs.’» — Beelzebub vuelve al tema de los terrestres y recoge el nombre con que Hassein los llamó.

«At the very least they would give you such a thrashing that, as our Mullah Nasr Eddin puts it: ‘You wouldn’t recover your senses before the next crop of birches.’» — Beelzebub cita a Mullah Nasr Eddin sobre la paliza que le darían a Hassein por ese insulto.

«If everything was rather dull for them just then, in the absence of any other absurd interest, the moment they were provoked by your insult they would immediately arrange, somewhere in a previously chosen place, with specially selected people, dressed of course in costumes specially designed for such occasions, what is called a ‘solemn council.’» — Beelzebub describe el primer paso de la reacción terrestre a una ofensa: un consejo solemne en lugar elegido, con gente escogida y trajes hechos para la ocasión.

«To begin with, they would, as they say, ‘pick you to pieces,’ and not only you but your father, your grandfather, and so on, perhaps all the way back to Adam.» — Beelzebub describe cómo procederían: despedazando al acusado y también a su padre y a su abuelo, quizá hasta Adán.

«Further, if they decide—of course, as always by a ‘majority of votes’—that you are ‘guilty,’ they would sentence you according to a code of laws based on former puppet plays of the same kind and collated by beings known as ‘old fossils.’» — Beelzebub describe la sentencia por mayoría de votos, según un código de leyes recopilado por los que allí llaman viejos fósiles.

«Not at all—to the appropriate specialists, in this case, to what is called there the ‘Holy Synod,’ where the same procedure would be repeated, but this time you would be tried by ‘important’ beings.» — Beelzebub describe el paso siguiente: la repetición del mismo procedimiento en el Santo Sínodo, ahora a cargo de seres importantes.

«Only after this lengthy ‘pouring from the empty into the void’ would they finally come to the main point, namely, that the accused is out of reach.» — Beelzebub declara a qué llegan tras esa demora: a que el acusado está fuera de su alcance.

«For when they are certain beyond the shadow of a doubt that they cannot get hold of you, then, as I have already said, they will unanimously decide to do nothing more nor less than ‘anathematize’ you.» — Beelzebub declara la resolución final: anatematizarlo.

«The most ‘important’ beings will proclaim to all the other beings that in all their appointed establishments, called ‘churches,’ ‘chapels,’ ‘synagogues,’ ‘town halls,’ and so on, special officials on special occasions, with appropriate ceremonies, shall mentally wish you something like the following:» — Beelzebub describe cómo se proclama el anatema en iglesias, capillas, sinagogas y ayuntamientos, por funcionarios especiales con ceremonias apropiadas.

«In one of their large ‘communities,’ there existed quite peaceably an ordinary being who was by profession a ‘writer.’» — Beelzebub abre la historia del escritor.

«Here you must know that in long-past ages one could occasionally run across beings of that profession who still invented and wrote something really by themselves, but in later epochs, and especially in recent times, writers have been of the kind that only copy out all sorts of ideas from many books already in existence, and fit them together to make a ‘new’ book.» — Beelzebub distingue las épocas del oficio: antes se hallaba de vez en cuando un escritor que inventaba y escribía algo por sí mismo; después, y sobre todo en tiempos recientes, copian ideas de libros ya existentes y las juntan para hacer un libro nuevo.

«I must point out that the books fabricated by contemporary writers, taken all together, are the principal factor in diluting the Reason of all the other three-brained beings there until it has become, as the venerable Mullah Nasr Eddin says, ‘thinner than air.’» — Beelzebub afirma que los libros fabricados por los escritores contemporáneos son el factor principal de la dilución de la Razón de los demás seres de tres cerebros, y cita a Mullah Nasr Eddin sobre a qué quedó reducida.

«And so, my boy, it was there that the strangeness of the psyche of the contemporary three-brained beings of that peculiar planet showed itself; in the case of this writer, when he and his ‘gospel’ had been publicly anathematized, the result was, as the highly esteemed Mullah Nasr Eddin says, ‘just roses, roses.’» — Beelzebub declara el resultado del anatema público contra ese escritor y su evangelio, con la frase de Mullah Nasr Eddin.

«Whereupon, as is usual with the three-centered beings breeding on this peculiar planet, they gradually neglected all their other interests, and talked of nothing but this writer, some praising him to the skies while others denounced him.» — Beelzebub describe lo que hicieron entonces los seres comunes: descuidaron todo otro interés y no hablaron de otra cosa, unos alabándolo y otros denunciándolo.

«The upshot of all this discussion and controversy was simply to increase the number of those interested in him, not only in his own community but in others as well.» — Beelzebub declara el saldo de la controversia: creció el número de interesados en él, dentro y fuera de su comunidad.

«In short, owing to the strangeness of their psyche, it has gradually come about that even today, when this ‘gospel’ has long since been forgotten, the name of its author is known almost everywhere as that of an excellent writer.» — Beelzebub declara el estado final: olvidado hace mucho el evangelio, el nombre de su autor se conoce casi en todas partes como el de un escritor excelente.

«But if you went on to ask what he had written, it would turn out that most of them, if of course they confessed the truth, had never read a single one of his books.» — Beelzebub añade el dato: si se pregunta qué escribió, la mayoría, si dijera la verdad, no ha leído ninguno de sus libros.

«All the same they would talk about him and discuss him, and splutteringly insist that he was a being with an unparalleled mind and a phenomenal knowledge of the psyche of the beings dwelling on the planet Earth.» — Beelzebub completa: aun así hablan de él y sostienen que fue un ser de mente sin par y conocimiento fenomenal de la psique de los terrestres.

«In general, a new conception is crystallized in the presences of these strange beings only if Mr. Smith speaks of somebody or something in a certain way; then if Mr. Brown says the same, the hearer is quite convinced that it is just so and could not possibly be otherwise.» — Beelzebub describe cómo se cristaliza una concepción nueva en esos seres: basta que el señor Smith diga algo de cierto modo y el señor Brown repita lo mismo para que el oyente quede convencido de que no puede ser de otra manera.

«As a matter of fact, when I was on that planet for the last time and, having heard of this writer, once went to see him myself on quite another matter, I found him, according to my understanding, just like all the other contemporary writers there, that is, extremely limited or, as our dear Mullah Nasr Eddin would say, ‘unable to see further than his nose.’» — Beelzebub relata su propia visita a ese escritor y su dictamen, con el dicho de Mullah Nasr Eddin.

«I repeat, the story of this writer shows in a very characteristic way to what extent the three-brained beings who have taken your fancy, particularly the contemporary ones, fail to fulfill ‘being-partkdolgduty,’ and how there are never crystallized in them any subjective being-convictions formed by their own logical deliberations—as in general is proper to three-brained beings— but instead, only those convictions are crystallized that depend exclusively upon the opinions of others.» — Beelzebub declara qué muestra la historia del escritor: hasta qué punto esos seres no cumplen el *being-partkdolgduty* y no cristalizan convicciones formadas por deliberación propia, sino solo las que dependen de la opinión ajena.

«It must be said here that the blame for this lies neither in the organ kundabuffer, which was implanted in their ancestors, nor in its consequences, which were crystallized in them because of a mistake on the part of certain Sacred Individuals, and which later began to pass by heredity from generation to generation.» — Beelzebub retira la culpa del órgano *kundabuffer* implantado en los antepasados y de las consecuencias cristalizadas por un error de ciertos Individuos Sagrados.

«No, they themselves are to blame for it, on account of the abnormal conditions of external ordinary being-existence they gradually established, and which have progressively fostered in their common presence what has now become their ‘inner evil god,’ called ‘self-calming.’» — Beelzebub adjudica la culpa a ellos mismos, por las condiciones anormales de existencia que fueron estableciendo, y nombra lo que se volvió su dios interior maligno.

«There is no harm in recalling here another wise saying of our dear Mullah Nasr Eddin: “‘What on earth will happen next? A flea might swallow an elephant!’» — Beelzebub cierra el punto con otro dicho de Mullah Nasr Eddin.

«I MUST TELL you that in the beginning the beings on that planet had the same presence as those of all the ‘keschapmartnian’ three-brained beings arising on all the corresponding planets of the whole of our Great Universe, and that they also had the same duration of existence as all other three-brained beings.» — Beelzebub afirma que al principio los seres de la Tierra tenían la misma presencia y la misma duración de existencia que todos los seres *keschapmartnian* de tres cerebros del Gran Universo.

«The various changes in their presence began for the most part after the second misfortune had occurred to this ill-fated planet, during which its chief continent, existing under the name of ‘Atlantis,’ entered within the planet.» — Beelzebub fecha el comienzo de los cambios: después de la segunda desgracia del planeta, cuando su continente principal, Atlántida, entró dentro del planeta.

«From that time on, they created all sorts of conditions of external being-existence that caused the quality of their radiations to go steadily from bad to worse.» — Beelzebub afirma que desde entonces crearon condiciones de existencia que empeoraron sin pausa la calidad de sus radiaciones.

«And Great Nature was thus compelled gradually to transform their common presence through various compromises and changes, in order to regulate the quality of the vibrations they radiated, which were required chiefly to preserve the being-welfare of the former fragments of their planet.» — Beelzebub afirma que la Gran Naturaleza se vio obligada a transformar su presencia común mediante compromisos y cambios, para regular la calidad de las vibraciones que radiaban.

«For the same reason, Great Nature gradually increased the number of beings there to such an extent that they are now breeding on all the lands of that planet.» — Beelzebub afirma que por la misma razón la Gran Naturaleza aumentó su número hasta que se reprodujeron en todas las tierras del planeta.

«They also differ among themselves in the color of their skin and in the type of hair they have, and these characteristics of their presence are determined, as everywhere else, by the effects of that part of the surface of their planet where they arise and are formed until they reach responsible age or, as they say, become ‘adult.’» — Beelzebub atribuye las diferencias de color de piel y tipo de pelo al efecto de la parte de la superficie del planeta donde surgen y se forman hasta la edad responsable.

«As for their psyche, its fundamental traits have precisely the same peculiarities in all of them, no matter where they arise.» — Beelzebub afirma que los rasgos fundamentales de su psique tienen las mismas particularidades en todos, surjan donde surjan.

«And among these is that special property thanks to which only on that strange planet in the whole of the Universe does there occur the horrible process called the ‘process of the destruction of each other’s existence’ or, as they call it on that ill-fated planet, ‘war.’» — Beelzebub nombra la propiedad por la cual solo en ese planeta se da el proceso de la destrucción recíproca de la existencia.

«Besides this chief particularity of their common psyche, certain properties in each of them, regardless of where they arise and exist, are completely crystallized and become an integral part of their common presence, properties that exist under the names of ‘egoism,’ ‘self-love,’ ‘vanity,’ ‘pride,’ ‘conceit,’ ‘credulity,’ ‘suggestibility,’ and many others no less abnormal and unbecoming to the essence of any three-brained being whatsoever.» — Beelzebub enumera las propiedades que se cristalizan en cada uno de ellos y se vuelven parte integrante de su presencia común.

«“Of these abnormal properties the most terrible one for them is ‘suggestibility.’ “» — Beelzebub señala cuál de esas propiedades anormales considera la más terrible para ellos.

«I personally visited the surface of the planet Earth six times, and each of these visits was brought about by a different set of circumstances.» — Beelzebub declara cuántas veces bajó él mismo a la superficie de la Tierra y que cada visita obedeció a circunstancias distintas.

«Samlios was at that time a very big city and the capital of the largest community on the planet Earth. “» — Beelzebub sitúa Samlios como la ciudad grande y capital de la comunidad mayor de la Tierra en aquel tiempo.

«For the upkeep of all this wealth and grandeur, King Appolis naturally needed a great deal of what is called ‘money,’ and for this exacted a great deal of labor from the ordinary beings of that community. “» — Beelzebub explica de dónde salía la riqueza del rey Appolis: mucho dinero, y para eso mucho trabajo exigido a los seres comunes de su comunidad.

«The king did not fly into a temper, as usually happens on the planet Earth when somebody pokes his nose into what is none of his business, nor did he have him thrown out by the scruff of his neck.» — Beelzebub relata la reacción del rey ante el joven que se metió en lo que no le incumbía, contrastándola con lo que suele pasar en la Tierra.

«The results of this sort of government, however, very soon proved to be quite the opposite of those anticipated by our simpleton.» — Beelzebub declara el resultado de aquel modo de gobierno: lo contrario de lo que el ingenuo esperaba.

«‘Impartial friends! Personally, I am deeply sorry for what has happened and for all the trouble it has brought to those assembled here; and I am distressed in all my being that it is beyond my power to extricate you from the difficulties ahead.» — el rey Appolis declara ante los reunidos que le duele lo ocurrido y que no está en su poder sacarlos de las dificultades que vienen.

«‘You must know,’ the king continued, ‘that the machinery of government of my community, set in motion and established for centuries, is now radically changed.» — el rey Appolis declara qué cambió: la maquinaria de gobierno de su comunidad, puesta en marcha y establecida durante siglos.

«‘To tell the truth, it was unpardonable of me to take such a risk with a being who, though perhaps of much higher Reason than myself, is certainly less practiced than I am in affairs of this kind.» — el rey Appolis se reprocha haber corrido el riesgo con un ser de Razón acaso más alta que la suya pero menos ejercitado en estos asuntos.

«‘Further, we are all in agreement that a return to the former order would unquestionably set off a revolt among the citizens of the community, and that this revolt would certainly be followed by all those consequences that have become inevitable on Earth in such circumstances.» — el informe de los ancianos concluye que volver al orden anterior desataría sin duda una revuelta de los ciudadanos, con todas las consecuencias que en la Tierra ya son inevitables en tal caso.

«‘And of course many of the “power-possessing beings“ of this community would suffer terribly, and could even be completely destroyed; and above all it seems impossible that King Appolis could escape such a fate.» — el informe de los ancianos prevé que muchos de los seres poseedores de poder sufrirían terriblemente y que el rey no podría escapar a ese destino.

«After much deliberation, we finally concluded that the king could be saved only if, during the expected revolt, the fury of his rebellious subjects could be diverted from his own person to those around him, that is, the members of his “government.”» — el informe de los ancianos declara la única salvación del rey: desviar la furia de los sublevados de su persona a los miembros de su gobierno.

«But then the question arose: would those near the king be willing to take upon themselves the consequences of all this? And we came to the categorical conclusion that they would not consent to this, for they would surely be convinced that the king alone had been to blame, and that therefore he should be the one to pay for it.» — el informe de los ancianos declara por qué los allegados no lo aceptarían: estarían convencidos de que la culpa fue solo del rey y de que él debía pagarla.

«After all this, and again unanimously, we came to the following decision: “‘To save at least King Appolis from such a disaster, we must, with his consent, replace all the beings now holding responsible posts with beings of our own tribe, and while this “mass psychosis” is at its climax, each of them will have to take upon himself his share of the anticipated consequences.» — el informe de los ancianos declara la decisión: reemplazar, con el consentimiento del rey, a todos los que ocupaban puestos de responsabilidad por seres de su propia tribu, cada uno cargando con su parte de las consecuencias.

«But after two days it turned out that there were not enough beings of our tribe dwelling on the planet Earth to replace all the officials of that community, so we at once sent the ship Occasion to bring some more of our beings from the planet Mars.» — Beelzebub relata que los seres de su tribu en la Tierra no bastaban para reemplazar a todos los funcionarios y que mandaron la nave Occasion a traer más de Marte.

«When all these changes had been made, King Appolis, still under the guidance of our elders, began to restore the former code of laws for the administration of the community.» — Beelzebub relata que el rey, guiado por los ancianos, empezó a restaurar el código de leyes anterior.

«Almost from the first days, the restoration of the old order, as had been foreseen, began to have its effect upon the general psyche of the beings in whom the mentioned consequences of the properties of the maleficent organ kundabuffer had been thoroughly crystallized.» — Beelzebub relata el efecto previsto de esa restauración sobre la psique de aquellos en quienes las consecuencias del órgano *kundabuffer* estaban bien cristalizadas.

«During this ‘revolution’ they destroyed—as has also become proper to those three-brained phenomena of our Great Universe—a great deal of the wealth they had accumulated over the centuries, as well as much hard-won ‘knowledge,’ which was lost forever.» — Beelzebub relata lo destruido en aquella revolución: mucha riqueza acumulada por siglos y mucho conocimiento ganado con trabajo, perdido para siempre.

«Nobody laid a finger on him, because our beings had prepared their propaganda so that the whole blame should be placed not upon the king but upon those around him, that is, the members of his government.» — Beelzebub relata que nadie tocó al rey porque los suyos habían preparado la propaganda para que la culpa cayera sobre los miembros de su gobierno.

«First of all, you must know that in calculating Time the three-brained beings of that planet take the ‘year’ as the basic unit, just as we do, and they define the duration of their year as the time it takes for their planet to make a certain movement in relation to another cosmic concentration—that is to say, the period during which their planet, in the process of ‘falling’ and ‘catching up,’ describes what is called a ‘krentonalnian revolution’ around its sun.» — Beelzebub expone cómo calculan el tiempo los terrestres: toman el año por unidad básica y lo definen por la revolución *krentonalnian* de su planeta alrededor de su sol.

«It must be remarked that twelve krentonalnian revolutions of the Moon do not correspond exactly to a single krentonalnian revolution of their planet around its sun, and they have therefore made some compromise or other in calculating these months of theirs, so that the total corresponds more or less to reality.» — Beelzebub señala que doce revoluciones de la Luna no corresponden exactamente a una del planeta, y que por eso hicieron un arreglo para calcular sus meses.

«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.» — Beelzebub declara qué es el Tiempo: no existe en sí, y solo hay la totalidad de los resultados que salen de todos los fenómenos cósmicos presentes en un lugar dado.

«It is possible to evaluate Time only by comparing different cosmic phenomena occurring under the same conditions and in the same place where Time is being considered.» — Beelzebub declara el único modo de evaluarlo: comparando fenómenos cósmicos distintos ocurridos en las mismas condiciones y en el mismo lugar.

«It should be noted that in the Great Universe all phenomena, without exception, wherever they arise and are manifest, are simply successive, lawful ‘fractions’ of some whole phenomenon which has its prime arising on the Most Holy Sun Absolute.» — Beelzebub afirma que todos los fenómenos del Gran Universo son fracciones sucesivas y conformes a ley de un fenómeno entero cuyo surgimiento primero está en el Santísimo Sol Absoluto.

«Time alone has no objective significance, since it is not the result of the fractioning of any definite cosmic phenomenon.» — Beelzebub pone la excepción: el Tiempo carece de significación objetiva porque no es resultado del fraccionamiento de ningún fenómeno cósmico definido.

«Thus, my boy, Time or, as it is sometimes called, the ‘Heropass,’ is unique in having no source on which its origin depends, and it alone, 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.» — Beelzebub declara la unicidad del Tiempo, o *Heropass*: no tiene fuente de la que dependa su origen y fluye siempre independiente, como el amor divino, mezclándose con todos los fenómenos.

«And these successive, lawful fractions are actualized in every respect, even in the sense of their involution and evolution, according to the fundamental cosmic law, the sacred Heptaparaparshinokh.» — Beelzebub afirma que esas fracciones sucesivas se actualizan, incluso en su involución y su evolución, según la ley cósmica fundamental *Heptaparaparshinokh*.

«The chief particularity of the process of the flow of Time consists in this: it is perceived in the same way and in the same sequence by the presences of all cosmic formations of different scales.» — Beelzebub declara la particularidad principal del flujo del Tiempo: lo perciben del mismo modo y en la misma secuencia las presencias de todas las formaciones cósmicas de escalas distintas.

«However, my boy, it must be pointed out that although, for separate individuals existing in independent cosmic units, the definition of the flow of Time is not objective in the full sense of the word, their experience acquires a sense of objectivity for them, since they perceive the flow of Time according to the completeness of their own presence.» — Beelzebub acota: para individuos separados en unidades cósmicas independientes la definición del flujo del Tiempo no es objetiva en pleno sentido, aunque la experiencia adquiera para ellos sentido de objetividad, porque lo perciben según la completud de su propia presencia.

«Although, from the standpoint of universal objectivity, the period of the process of the flow of Time in that drop of water is, for the whole of it, entirely subjective, yet for the beings existing within the drop of water itself, this same period of the flow of Time is perceived as objective.» — Beelzebub aplica esa acotación a la gota de agua: subjetivo desde la objetividad universal, objetivo para los seres que existen dentro de la gota.

«It often seems to these terrestrial hypochondriacs that time passes infinitely slowly or, as they would say, it ‘drags phenomenally tediously.’» — Beelzebub describe la sensación de los hipocondríacos terrestres sobre el paso del tiempo.

«But in fact, according to the sensation of the duration of Time of your terrestrial favorites, the whole existence of these ‘microcosmoses’ lasts only a few of their ‘minutes,’ and sometimes only a few of their ‘seconds.’» — Beelzebub contrasta esa sensación con la duración de la existencia entera de esos *microcosmoses*, que para los terrestres son unos minutos o unos segundos.

«Bear in mind, first of all, that Objective Science has established—according to data about which you will learn later when I have specially explained to you the fundamental laws of world-creation and world-existence-that all normal three-brained beings, and among them of course those arising on our planet Karatas, sense the sacred ‘egokoolnats narnian’ action, by which they define Time, forty-nine times more slowly than it is sensed by the Sacred Individuals dwelling on the Most Holy Sun Absolute.» — Beelzebub cita a la Ciencia Objetiva sobre la acción sagrada *egokoolnats narnian*: todos los seres normales de tres cerebros la sienten cuarenta y nueve veces más lentamente que los Individuos Sagrados del Santísimo Sol Absoluto.

«Moreover, it is calculated that, during the period of time in which the sun Samos completes its movement of closest approach to the sun Selos—the period considered as one ‘year’ on our Karatas—the planet Earth completes 389 krentonalnian revolutions around its sun Ors.» — Beelzebub da la equivalencia: mientras el sol Samos completa su acercamiento máximo al sol Selos —un año en Karatas—, la Tierra completa 389 revoluciones alrededor de su sol Ors.

«It follows from this that our year, according to the conventionally objective calculation of Time, is 389 times longer than the period which your favorites consider a year.» — Beelzebub deduce que su año es 389 veces más largo que el que los terrestres tienen por año.

«Now you should note that you, as a three-brained being who arose on the planet Karatas, are at present only a twelve-year-old boy and, with regard to Being and Reason, exactly like a boy of twelve on the planet Earth who is still unformed and not yet aware of himself, an age all three-brained beings there live through in the process of growing up to the Being of a responsible being.» — Beelzebub sitúa a Hassein en doce años de Karatas y lo equipara, en Ser y Razón, a un muchacho terrestre de doce años, aún no formado ni consciente de sí.

«And so, from all I have just said it follows that although, according to our calculation of Time, you are only a boy of twelve, not yet formed and not yet aware of himself, like any boy of that age on the planet Earth, nevertheless, according to the calculation based upon the subjective understanding of your favorites and their being-sensations of the flow of Time, you have already existed not twelve but all of 4,668 years.» — Beelzebub aplica la conversión a Hassein: por el cálculo subjetivo de sus favoritos, no doce años sino 4 668.

«Strictly speaking, this gradual diminution, which has finally reduced the average length of existence of the three-brained beings of that ill-fated planet to ‘almost nothing,’ had not one but many and varied causes.» — Beelzebub declara que la disminución de la duración de la existencia de los terrestres no tuvo una causa sino muchas y variadas.

«Among these, the first and principal cause was, of course, that Nature had to adapt herself correspondingly in order to change their presence little by little into what it is now.» — Beelzebub declara la primera y principal de esas causas: que la Naturaleza tuvo que adaptarse para ir cambiando la presencia de esos seres hasta lo que es hoy.

«To begin with, you should know that throughout the Universe there exist two ‘kinds,’ or two ‘principles,’ of duration of being-existence.» — Beelzebub anuncia que en el Universo existen dos principios de duración de la existencia del ser.

«The first principle of being-existence, called ‘fulasnitamnian,’ is proper to all three-brained beings arising on any planet of our Great Universe.» — Beelzebub nombra el primero, *fulasnitamnian*, propio de todos los seres de tres cerebros que surgen en cualquier planeta del Gran Universo.

«In any event, to make clearer the strangeness of the psyche of those three-brained beings who have taken your fancy, you must know that, in the beginning, after the organ kundabuffer with all its properties had been removed from their presence, the duration of their existence conformed to the ‘fulasnitamnian’ principle, that is to say, they were obliged to exist until there was coated in them, and completely perfected in Reason, what is called the ‘kesdjan body’—or, as they themselves later named it, the ‘astral body’— which, by the way, contemporary beings know of only by hearsay.» — Beelzebub afirma que al principio, quitado el órgano *kundabuffer*, la duración de la existencia de los terrestres se ajustaba al principio *fulasnitamnian*: debían existir hasta que se revistiera en ellos y se perfeccionara en Razón el *kesdjan body*, que después llamaron cuerpo astral y del que hoy solo saben de oídas.

«Meanwhile remember that although in the beginning the reasons for the dwindling of the duration of existence of the three-brained beings of that planet were not dependent on them, yet later the main grounds for all the sad results were—and are even more so today—the abnormal conditions of external ordinary being-existence established by them themselves.» — Beelzebub acota la culpa: las razones iniciales del acortamiento no dependían de ellos, pero después el fundamento principal fueron —y hoy más— las condiciones anormales de existencia que ellos mismos establecieron.

«You will understand very well that although the primary cause of the general chaos reigning on that ill-fated planet Earth was certain ‘unforeseeingnesses’ from Above on the part of various Sacred Individuals, nevertheless the chief cause of all the evils that followed is to be found in the abnormal conditions of ordinary being-existence they themselves gradually established, and continue to establish, down to the present time.» — Beelzebub reparte las causas: la primera del caos fueron ciertas faltas de previsión de lo Alto por parte de varios Individuos Sagrados, y la principal de los males que siguieron está en las condiciones anormales que ellos mismos siguen estableciendo.

«Although, according to the conventionally objective reckoning of Time, the beings of that ill-fated planet had their arising several decades ago, they have not as yet any being-sensation of cosmic phenomena, as is proper to all three-centered beings of the whole Universe, nor have these unfortunates even the least representation in their Reason of the true causes of these phenomena.» — Beelzebub afirma que esos seres aún no tienen la sensación-de-ser de los fenómenos cósmicos propia de todo ser de tres centros, ni la menor representación en su Razón de las causas verdaderas.

«All the three-brained beings of that planet who have reached responsible age, under the influence of the many and various wiseacrings they call ‘sciences,’ are without exception categorically convinced that these phenomena arrive on their planet completely ready-made, as it were, di-rect-ly from their own sun and, as Mullah Nasr Eddin would say in such cases, ‘no more hokey-pokey about it.’» — Beelzebub afirma que todos los terrestres de edad responsable están convencidos, bajo el influjo de lo que llaman ciencias, de que esos fenómenos llegan al planeta ya hechos directamente de su propio sol, y cita a Mullah Nasr Eddin.

«You, for instance, have the normal presence of a three-brained being and an ‘oskiano’—or, as they say on the Earth, ‘education’—intentionally implanted from outside in your presence, and founded upon a morality based solely on the commandments and indications of the Uni-Being Himself and the Most Holy Individuals near Him.» — Beelzebub define el *oskiano* —lo que en la Tierra llaman educación— implantado en la presencia de Hassein, fundado en una moralidad basada solo en los mandamientos del Uni-Ser y de los Individuos Santísimos.

«In reality, the surface of their ‘source of heat,’ like that of all the ordinary suns of our Great Universe, is perhaps more covered with ice than the surface of what they call the ‘North Pole.’» — Beelzebub afirma que la superficie de la que los terrestres llaman su fuente de calor está quizá más cubierta de hielo que su Polo Norte.

«This most great common-cosmic trogoautoegocratic process was actualized by our Endless Uni-Being when there already existed the Most Great and Most Holy Sun Absolute, on which our All-Gracious Endless Creator had and still has the chief place of His existence.» — Beelzebub sitúa el proceso trogoautoegocrático cósmico común, actualizado por el Uni-Ser Infinito cuando ya existía el Santísimo Sol Absoluto, sede principal de su existencia.

«This system, which maintains everything that arises and exists, was established by our Endless Creator to permit the ‘exchange of substances,’ or ‘reciprocal feeding’ of everything existing, to proceed in the Universe, so that the merciless Heropass would no longer have its maleficent effect on the Sun Absolute.» — Beelzebub declara para qué se estableció ese sistema: para que procediera en el Universo el intercambio de sustancias, o alimentación recíproca de todo lo existente, y el Heropass dejara de tener efecto maléfico sobre el Sol Absoluto.

«Owing to the action of these two sacred cosmic laws, there first arise from the substance called ‘ethernokrilno,’ under certain conditions, various what are called ‘crystallizations’; and from these crystallizations there later arise, also under certain conditions, various large and small, more or less independent, definite cosmic ‘formations.’» — Beelzebub describe la cadena: de la sustancia *ethernokrilno* surgen cristalizaciones, y de ellas formaciones cósmicas grandes y pequeñas, más o menos independientes.

«‘Ethernokrilno’ is the primordial substance with which the whole Universe is filled, and which is the basis for the arising and maintenance of everything that exists.» — Beelzebub define *ethernokrilno* como la sustancia primordial que llena el Universo entero y base del surgimiento y el mantenimiento de todo lo que existe.

«You should also know that only one cosmic crystallization, known as the ‘Omnipresent Okidanokh,’ although also crystallized from ethernokrilno, has its prime arising from the three holy sources of the sacred ‘Theomertmalogos,’ that is, from the emanations of the Most Holy Sun Absolute.» — Beelzebub declara la excepción: solo una cristalización cósmica, el *Omnipresent Okidanokh*, aun cristalizada de *ethernokrilno*, tiene su surgimiento primero en las tres fuentes santas del *Theomertmalogos*, las emanaciones del Santísimo Sol Absoluto.

«So that you may have at least some understanding of this Omnipresent Okidanokh, let me tell you that the second fundamental cosmic law—the sacred Triamazikamno—consists of three independent forces; that is to say, this sacred law manifests itself everywhere and in everything in the Universe, without exception, in three separate and independent aspects.» — Beelzebub declara que la segunda ley cósmica fundamental, el *Triamazikamno*, consta de tres fuerzas independientes y se manifiesta en todo el Universo en tres aspectos separados.

«This is why Objective Science, among other statements about this sacred law and its three independent forces, has the following formulation: ‘A law whose consequences always become the cause of further consequences, and which always functions by means of three independent and quite opposite manifestations, latent within it as properties neither seen nor sensed.’» — Beelzebub cita la formulación de la Ciencia Objetiva sobre esa ley sagrada y sus tres fuerzas.

«Our sacred Theomertmalogos, that is, the prime emanation of our Most Holy Sun Absolute, is subject at its very arising to this same law; and in its further actualizations gives results in conformity with it.» — Beelzebub afirma que el *Theomertmalogos*, emanación primera del Sol Absoluto, está sujeto en su surgimiento mismo a esa ley.

«I repeat: the Omnipresent Okidanokh, among other definite cosmic crystallizations, unfailingly participates in all cosmic formations, both large and small, wherever they arise in the Universe and whatever the external surrounding conditions.» — Beelzebub repite que el *Omnipresent Okidanokh* participa sin falta en toda formación cósmica, grande o pequeña, dondequiera que surja y sean cuales sean las condiciones externas.

«only after the given cosmic unit has been completely destroyed do these holy sources of the sacred Triamazikamno, localized in the ‘omnipresent active element’ Okidanokh, reblend, to be again transformed into Okidanokh, but now with vibrations having a new quality of vivifyingness.» — Beelzebub declara cuándo vuelven a mezclarse esas fuentes santas localizadas en el elemento activo omnipresente: solo tras la destrucción completa de la unidad cósmica, y entonces el Okidanokh se rehace con vibraciones de nueva cualidad vivificante.

«As regards the second particularity of the Omnipresent Okidanokh, also proper to it alone, and which it is now essential to elucidate for our talk on this subject, you will be able to understand this only if you know something about a fundamental second-order cosmic law existing in the Universe under the name of the sacred ‘Aieioiuoa.’» — Beelzebub anuncia la segunda particularidad del Okidanokh y la ley cósmica de segundo orden con que se entiende, el sagrado *Aieioiuoa*.

«The ‘omnipresent active element’ Okidanokh itself is also subject to this sacred process of Aieioiuoa, or ‘remorse.’» — Beelzebub declara que el propio elemento activo omnipresente está sujeto a ese proceso sagrado de *Aieioiuoa*, o remordimiento.

«as long as the action of the sacred Theomertmalogos or the emanation of any ordinary sun is directly affecting the whole of its presence, the ‘active element’ separates into its three primordial parts, which then exist almost independently; but when the direct action ceases these parts blend again to exist once more as a whole.» — Beelzebub describe ese proceso: bajo la acción directa del *Theomertmalogos* o de la emanación de un sol común el elemento activo se separa en sus tres partes primordiales, y cesada la acción vuelven a mezclarse.

«Not one of these ‘sorry scientists’ has ever realized that the difference between these two cosmic processes is comparable to that which our highly esteemed Mullah Nasr Eddin once expressed in these words: ‘They are as much alike as the beard of the famous English Shakespeare and the no less famous French armagnac.’» — Beelzebub cita a Mullah Nasr Eddin sobre la diferencia entre emanación y radiación, que dice que ningún científico terrestre distinguió.

«To understand more about the phenomena taking place in the atmospheres and about the ‘omnipresent active element’ in general, you must also know and remember that during the periods when, owing to the action of the sacred Aieioiuoa, the process of ‘djartklom’ takes place in the Okidanokh, there is temporarily released the portion of pure—namely ‘totally unblended’— ethernokrilno that unfailingly enters into all cosmic formations and serves, as it were, to connect all the active elements of any given formation; and afterward, when the three principal parts of Okidanokh reblend, this portion of pure ethernokrilno is restored.» — Beelzebub explica qué se libera durante el *djartklom* del Okidanokh: la porción de *ethernokrilno* puro que entra sin falta en toda formación cósmica y que después se restituye al remezclarse las tres partes.

«First of all, you should know that every cosmic localization known as a ‘brain’ takes its form from crystallizations for whose arising the affirming source is one or another of the corresponding holy forces of the fundamental sacred Triamazikamno contained in the Omnipresent Okidanokh.» — Beelzebub afirma que toda localización cósmica llamada cerebro toma su forma de cristalizaciones cuya fuente afirmante es una de las fuerzas santas del *Triamazikamno* contenido en el Okidanokh.

«Well, my boy, the essential peculiarity of the Omnipresent Okidanokh is that, in this case, it undergoes the process of ‘djartklom’ in the presence of beings independently of any contact with the emanations of a large cosmic concentration; and the factors for this process are either the results of ‘partkdolgduty’ consciously actualized by the beings themselves—which I will later explain to you in detail—or the process of Great Nature existing in the Universe under the name of ‘kerkoolnonarnian actualization,’ which consists in ‘obtaining the required totality of vibrations by adaptation.’» — Beelzebub declara la peculiaridad esencial del Okidanokh dentro de los seres: sufre el *djartklom* sin contacto con emanaciones de una concentración cósmica grande, y sus factores son el *partkdolgduty* actualizado conscientemente o el proceso natural de *kerkoolnonarnian actualization*.

«In both cases when Okidanokh enters the presence of a being and undergoes the process of ‘djartklom,’ each of its fundamental parts blends with those perceptions present in the being at the moment which correspond to it according to what are called ‘kindred vibrations,’ and it is then concentrated upon the corresponding localization, that is, upon the corresponding brain.» — Beelzebub describe qué ocurre cuando el Okidanokh entra en la presencia de un ser y sufre el *djartklom*: cada parte fundamental se mezcla con las percepciones que le corresponden por vibraciones afines y se concentra en el cerebro correspondiente.

«Note well, my boy, that these localizations, or brains, not only serve as apparatuses for the transformation of corresponding cosmic substances for the purposes of the most great common-cosmic Trogoautoegocrat but are also the means whereby the conscious self-perfecting of beings is possible.» — Beelzebub declara la doble función de esas localizaciones o cerebros: aparatos de transformación de sustancias cósmicas para el Trogoautoegocrat, y medio por el cual es posible el autoperfeccionamiento consciente de los seres.

«Concerning the quality of the ‘being-impulsakri,’ there is one special commandment, among the direct commandments of our All-Embracing Endlessness, which is strictly observed by all normal three-brained beings of our Great Universe, and is expressed in the words: ‘Always guard against such perceptions as may soil the purity of your brains.’» — Beelzebub cita el mandamiento de la Infinitud Omniabarcante sobre la cualidad de los *being-impulsakri*, observado estrictamente por todos los seres normales de tres cerebros.

«The point is that beings having this three-brained system can, by the conscious and intentional fulfilling of being-partkdolgduty, utilize for their own presence the three holy forces liberated from the Omnipresent Okidanokh by the process of ‘djartklom,’ and so bring their presence to what is called the ‘sekronoolantsaknian’ state; that is to say, they can become Individuals who have their own sacred law of Triamazikamno,» — Beelzebub declara qué pueden hacer los seres de sistema tricerebral cumpliendo consciente e intencionadamente el *being-partkdolgduty*: llevar su presencia al estado *sekronoolantsaknian* y volverse Individuos con su propia ley sagrada de *Triamazikamno*.

«It is interesting to note that in the three-brained beings of the planet Earth these being-brains are found in the same parts of the planetary body as in us.» — Beelzebub señala que en los terrestres esos cerebros-de-ser están en las mismas partes del cuerpo planetario que en los suyos.

«The brain predetermined by Great Nature for the concentration and further actualizing of the first holy force of the sacred Triamazikamno, called the ‘Holy Affirming,’ is localized in the head.» — Beelzebub sitúa el cerebro destinado a la primera fuerza santa del *Triamazikamno*, el *Holy Affirming*.

«You must know that in the earliest three-brained beings there, this being-brain was localized in the same part of the planetary body as in us, and had exactly the same exterior form; but for many reasons you yourself will come to understand in the course of my talks,» — Beelzebub afirma que en los primeros seres de tres cerebros de la Tierra el tercer cerebro estaba en la misma parte del cuerpo planetario que en los suyos y tenía la misma forma exterior.

«They call these separate localizations in their common presence ‘nerve nodes.’» — Beelzebub recoge el nombre que los terrestres dan a esas localizaciones separadas.

«It is interesting to note that most of these places of concentration are located in the very region of the planetary body where this being-brain would normally be, that is, in the region of the chest, and the totality of these nerve nodes they call the ‘solar plexus.’» — Beelzebub sitúa la mayoría de esas concentraciones en la región del pecho, donde ese cerebro estaría normalmente, y recoge el nombre que dan al conjunto.

«And so, my boy, in the presence of each one of your favorites, the Omnipresent Okidanokh undergoes the process of ‘djartklom,’ and in them also, each of its three holy forces blends independently with other cosmic crystallizations for a corresponding actualization.» — Beelzebub afirma que en cada uno de los terrestres el Okidanokh sufre el *djartklom* y cada una de sus tres fuerzas santas se mezcla independientemente con otras cristalizaciones cósmicas.

«But since they have entirely ceased to fulfill being-partkdolgduty, chiefly because of the abnormal conditions of being-existence gradually established by them themselves, none of these holy sources of everything existing is transubstantiated for their own presences, except the denying source alone.» — Beelzebub declara el límite: como han dejado de cumplir el *being-partkdolgduty*, ninguna de esas fuentes santas se transustancia para su propia presencia salvo la fuente negadora.

«The crystallizations that arise in their presence from the first and third holy forces are utilized almost entirely by the common-cosmic trogoautoegocratic process, and only the crystallizations of the second part of the Omnipresent Okidanokh, the Holy Denying, serve for the coating of their own presence.» — Beelzebub precisa el reparto: las cristalizaciones de la primera y la tercera fuerzas santas las usa casi enteras el proceso trogoautoegocrático, y solo las del *Holy Denying* sirven para revestir su propia presencia.

«Hence most of them remain with a presence consisting of the planetary body alone, and are thus, for themselves, destroyed forever.» — Beelzebub declara la consecuencia: la mayoría queda con una presencia hecha solo del cuerpo planetario y así, para sí mismos, destruidos para siempre.

«The only difference is that while everywhere else, even on the other planets of the same system, there is only one ‘king’ for the whole planet, on your peculiar planet Earth, for each accidentally separated group of your favorites there is a separate ‘king,’ sometimes even several of them.» — Beelzebub compara la realeza: en los demás planetas hay un solo rey por planeta, y en la Tierra hay uno separado —a veces varios— por cada grupo accidentalmente separado.

«Saturn mentioned that one of his learned subjects by the name of Harharkh, in order to study certain previously unexplained properties of that cosmic substance, had recently devised an exceedingly interesting apparatus, the chief demonstrating part of which he called ‘khrkhakharkhtsakha.’» — Beelzebub refiere el aparato ideado por Harharkh para estudiar propiedades no explicadas de esa sustancia cósmica, cuya parte demostradora principal llamó *khrkhakharkhtsakha*.

«Here it will do no harm to remark that I owe it entirely to his knowledge that I was later able to install in my observatory on the planet Mars that ‘teskooano’ which enhanced the power of my sight and, as is said, increased the visibility of remote cosmic concentrations» — Beelzebub atribuye enteramente al saber de Harharkh el *teskooano* que después instaló en su observatorio de Marte.

«Before going into this, perhaps I should warn you once and for all that my conversations with three-centered beings dwelling on the various planets of that solar system where I was obliged to exist for the ‘sins of my youth’—as for instance the conversation with Gornahoor Harharkh—were all held in languages still unknown to you, whose consonances were sometimes quite ‘indigestible’ by the normal being-functions meant for this purpose.» — Beelzebub advierte a Hassein que sus conversaciones con los seres de aquellos planetas se sostuvieron en lenguas que él aún no conoce.

«Ah yes ... it should be added here that the word ‘gornahoor’ is used by the three-brained beings of the planet Saturn as a matter of courtesy; they put it in front of the name of the one they are addressing.» — Beelzebub explica el uso de la palabra *gornahoor* entre los seres de Saturno, antepuesta por cortesía al nombre del interlocutor.

«‘This special appliance is the chief part of my whole invention; and it is just in this part that the results of almost all the particularities of the omnipresent substance Okidanokh are found and manifested.» — Gornahoor Harharkh declara ante Beelzebub qué es su aparato principal y qué se manifiesta en él.

«All these special appliances that I invented have enabled me to obtain certain extremely important clarifications about the omnipresent and everywhere-penetrating Okidanokh, because they made it possible for me first to collect all three fundamental parts of Okidanokh from every kind of surplanetary and intraplanetary process and then to blend them artificially into a whole; and finally to dissociate them, also artificially, and to study the specific properties of each part separately in its manifestations.’» — Gornahoor Harharkh declara qué le permiten sus aparatos: recoger las tres partes fundamentales del Okidanokh de todo proceso surplanetario e intraplanetario, mezclarlas artificialmente en un todo, disociarlas y estudiar por separado las propiedades de cada parte.

«any ordinary being could become categorically convinced that no results normally obtained from the processes through which this omnipresent world-substance passes can ever be perceived or sensed by beings.» — Gornahoor Harharkh sostiene que ningún resultado normalmente obtenido de los procesos por los que pasa esa sustancia mundial omnipresente puede ser percibido ni sentido por los seres.

«The only results of these processes that can be perceived by certain being-functions are those that for some reason or other occur abnormally on account of causes coming from without, either from conscious sources or from accidental mechanical results.» — Gornahoor Harharkh acota la excepción: solo se perciben los resultados que ocurren anormalmente por causas venidas de fuera, de fuentes conscientes o de resultados mecánicos accidentales.

«As I later learned, the chief particularity of this transparent material was that, although with the organ of sight a being could perceive every kind of cosmic concentration through it, it did not permit any rays, whatever their source, to penetrate it, either from within or from without.» — Beelzebub describe la particularidad del material transparente del aparato: deja ver a través de él toda concentración cósmica y no permite pasar rayo alguno, ni de dentro ni de fuera.

«Meanwhile bear in mind that in the enormous ‘khrkh,’ or workshop, of Gornahoor Harharkh, besides the ‘khrkhakharkhtsakha’ there were several other large independent apparatuses, and among them two quite special ‘life chakhans,’ which Gornahoor Harharkh called ‘khrikhirkhis.’» — Beelzebub describe los dos *life chakhans* del taller de Gornahoor Harharkh, que su inventor llamaba *khrikhirkhis*.

«It is interesting to note that your favorites also have something like this ‘life-chakhan,’ or ‘khrikhirkhi,’ which they call a ‘dynamo.’» — Beelzebub compara ese *life-chakhan* con lo que los terrestres llaman una dinamo.

«This particular appliance first sucks in separately all the three independent parts of the omnipresent active element Okidanokh present in the atmosphere or in any intraplanetary or surplanetary formation, and only when these separate parts have been artificially reblended into a single whole in the “khrikhirkhi” does Okidanokh, now in its usual state, flow into that “container,” where it is concentrated.’» — Gornahoor Harharkh describe el aparato que succiona por separado las tres partes independientes del Okidanokh y las remezcla en el *khrikhirkhi* antes de concentrarlas.

«Consequently, instead of the law-conformable results that would issue from the blending of the three parts, a non-law-conformable result is now being actualized ensuing from ”the reciprocal blending of two opposite forces,” and ordinary beings call this result “the cause of artificial light.”» — Gornahoor Harharkh declara qué se actualiza al excluir una parte: un resultado no conforme a la ley que sale de la mezcla recíproca de dos fuerzas opuestas, y que los seres comunes llaman causa de la luz artificial.

«One of the advantages of my new invention for the demonstration of this phenomenon is that in spite of the extraordinary power of the “force of striving” now proceeding there, the “salnichitsinooarnian momentum-vibrations,” which should issue from this process, and which most beings regard as “rays,” do not issue from the place of their arising, that is, the interior of this apparatus, where the particularities of the Omnipresent Okidanokh are being studied. “» — Gornahoor Harharkh declara la ventaja de su invención: las vibraciones *salnichitsinooarnian*, que la mayoría de los seres tienen por rayos, no salen del sitio donde surgen.

«You see, although the process of conflict between the two opposing component parts of the Omnipresent Okidanokh still persists with the same “force of striving,” and the part of the wall of this apparatus that can let the “rays” through is still open, the phenomenon that ordinary beings call “artificial light“ has ceased.» — Gornahoor Harharkh declara el resultado de reintroducir la tercera parte: persiste el conflicto entre las dos opuestas y cesa el fenómeno que los seres comunes llaman luz artificial.

«Later it became obvious to me that this was necessary to prevent our planetary bodies from undergoing what is called ‘taranooranoora’ or, in other words, from falling to pieces, as usually occurs to all intraplanetary and surplanetary formations when they happen to come into an entirely atmosphereless space.» — Beelzebub explica para qué eran los preparativos: impedir que sus cuerpos planetarios sufrieran el *taranooranoora*, es decir, que se deshicieran en pedazos, como ocurre a toda formación que entra en un espacio sin atmósfera.

«One of these connectors, called ‘khakhrinkhrarkh’ meaning ‘sustainer of the pulsation,’ was a sort of long rubber tube, one end of which was hermetically attached by means of complicated appliances to the place on the helmet corresponding to the breathing organs, while the other end, after we had entered this strange ‘khrkhakharkhtsakha,’ was screwed into an apparatus connected in its turn with the space whose presence corresponded with the ‘second being-food.’» — Beelzebub describe el conector *khakhrinkhrarkh*, sustentador de la pulsación, que unía el casco al aparato conectado con el espacio del segundo alimento del ser.

«Thus a sort of ‘telephone,’ as your favorites call it, was set up between my future essence-friend and myself.» — Beelzebub compara el enlace con el inventor con lo que sus favoritos llaman un teléfono.

«But the most curious, cunning, and subtly ingenious of all the connectors attached for various purposes to these strange diving suits and helmets was the one invented by the great scientist Gornahoor Harharkh to enable the organ of ‘sight’ of ordinary beings to perceive surrounding objects in ‘absolutely empty space.’» — Beelzebub describe el conector más ingenioso: el que permite al órgano de la vista de los seres comunes percibir objetos en el espacio absolutamente vacío.

«As it was afterward explained to me in detail, these connectors had been invented by that truly great scientist, Gornahoor Harharkh, so that by virtue of a certain property of these ‘magnetic currents,’ also discovered by him, the presence of learned three-centered beings—even those not perfected up to the sacred ‘Inkotsarno’—might be ‘reflected’ in their essence, and thanks to another property of these currents, the presence of the objects mentioned above might also be ‘reflected.’» — Beelzebub explica el fundamento de esos conectores: una propiedad de las corrientes magnéticas descubierta por Gornahoor Harharkh, gracias a la cual se reflejan en la esencia tanto la presencia de los seres como la de los objetos.

«‘Now the work of the pump has begun, and soon it will have pumped out of here all the results, without exception, of those cosmic processes whose totality is the basis and significance, and process itself of the maintenance of existence of “all that represents a world.”’» — Gornahoor Harharkh anuncia lo que va a hacer la bomba: extraer de allí todos los resultados de los procesos cósmicos cuya totalidad es el mantenimiento de la existencia de todo lo que representa un mundo.

«And he added in a somewhat sarcastic tone: ‘Soon we shall be absolutely isolated from everything that exists and functions in the whole Universe. Yet thanks to my new invention and to the knowledge we have already attained, we now have the possibility not only of returning to the world, to become once again particles of all that exists, but also of being worthy to be» — Gornahoor Harharkh declara, en tono sarcástico, que quedarán aislados de todo lo que existe y funciona en el Universo entero, y que su invención les permite volver.

«‘Each of these outwardly similar apparatuses has a direct connection with the secondary containers I showed you while we were still outside the “khrkhakharkhtsakha,” and in which all three active parts of Okidanokh, after the occurrence of the artificial “djartklom,” reblend into a single mass.» — Gornahoor Harharkh describe la conexión de cada aparato con los contenedores secundarios donde las tres partes activas del Okidanokh se remezclan tras el *djartklom* artificial.

«‘I have constructed these three independent apparatuses in such a way that in this absolutely empty space we can obtain from those secondary containers as much of each of the active parts of Okidanokh, in a pure state, as we need for our experiment; and we can also change at will the force of the “striving to reblend into a whole” that is acquired by them and becomes proper to them, according to the density of concentration of their mass.» — Gornahoor Harharkh declara qué permiten esos tres aparatos independientes: obtener cada parte activa del Okidanokh en estado puro y cambiar a voluntad la fuerza del afán de remezclarse en un todo, según la densidad de concentración de su masa.

«‘I have just now admitted the current of the two parts of Okidanokh called “anodnatius” and “cathodnatius,” giving them the same force of striving to reblend.’» — Gornahoor Harharkh nombra las dos partes del Okidanokh cuya corriente admite con igual fuerza de afán.

«I was greatly surprised, for in spite of the indications of the needles and Gornahoor Harharkh’s warning, I had neither noticed nor sensed any change in the degree of visibility of the objects around us.» — Beelzebub confiesa su sorpresa: pese a las agujas y a la advertencia, no notó ni sintió cambio alguno en la visibilidad de los objetos.

«‘I have already told you that the material used for the walls of the construction we are in right now has the property of not allowing any vibrations from any source whatsoever to pass through it, with the exception of certain vibrations arising from nearby concentrations; and these vibrations can be perceived by the organs of sight of three-brained beings—provided, of course, that these beings are normal.» — Gornahoor Harharkh recuerda la propiedad del material de las paredes y su excepción: ciertas vibraciones de concentraciones cercanas, perceptibles por el órgano de la vista de los seres de tres cerebros normales.

«‘Furthermore, according to the law called “Heterato getar,” the “salnichitsinooarnian momentum-vibrations,” or “rays,” acquire the property of acting on the organs of perception of beings only after having passed the limit defined by science in the following terms: “the result of the manifestation is in exact proportion to the force of striving received from the shock.”» — Gornahoor Harharkh cita la ley *Heterato getar* y la fórmula con que la ciencia define cuándo esas vibraciones actúan sobre los órganos de percepción.

«‘And so, since the process of the conflict of these two parts of Okidanokh has a force of great intensity, the result is manifested at some distance from the place of its origin.» — Gornahoor Harharkh deduce que, siendo grande la intensidad del conflicto de esas dos partes del Okidanokh, el resultado se manifiesta a cierta distancia del lugar de su origen.

«He explained further that the light was a consequence of the ‘striving to reblend into a whole’ of the parts of Okidanokh, which was proceeding in the absolutely empty space inside the ‘khrkhakharkhtsakha’; and it was manifested there owing to what is called ‘reflection from outside,’ that is to say, to the return of the rays to the place of their origin.» — Beelzebub recoge la explicación de la luz: consecuencia del afán de remezclarse en un todo de las partes del Okidanokh en el espacio vacío, manifestada por reflexión desde fuera, es decir, por el retorno de los rayos a su lugar de origen.

«‘I am now going to demonstrate how and by what combinations of the processes of “djartklom” and the “striving to reblend into a whole” of the active parts of Okidanokh there arise in planets from the “minerals“ composing their interior presence certain definite formations of varying densities, such as “mineraloids,” “gases,” “metalloids,” “metals,” and so on.» — Gornahoor Harharkh anuncia lo que va a demostrar: cómo surgen en los planetas, a partir de los minerales de su presencia interior, formaciones de densidades distintas como mineraloides, gases, metaloides y metales.

«It is interesting to remark that while Gornahoor Harharkh was speaking, he was tapping with his left foot on ‘something’ very much like the transmission apparatus of the celebrated Morse—celebrated, be it said, only on the planet Earth.» — Beelzebub compara el aparato que Gornahoor Harharkh golpeaba con el pie con el transmisor del célebre Morse, célebre —acota— solo en el planeta Tierra.

«This metal is a definite planetary crystallization, representing one of the densities required for the said “stability” in the process of the “common harmonious movement of all systems.”» — Gornahoor Harharkh declara qué es ese metal: una cristalización planetaria definida, una de las densidades requeridas para la estabilidad en el movimiento armónico común de todos los sistemas.

«To begin with, from every non-law-conformable ”djartklom“ the separate parts of the Omnipresent Okidanokh become localized in the medium of that part of the presence of the planet where the “djartklom” has taken place, that is to say, in whatever corresponding mineral is there at that moment.» — Gornahoor Harharkh expone el primer paso: en todo *djartklom* no conforme a la ley las partes del Okidanokh se localizan en el mineral que esté allí en ese momento.

«Now if the density of the elements of that medium has an “affinity of vibrations” with one of the active parts of the Omnipresent Okidanokh, then, according to the world law called “symmetrical interpenetration,” this active part blends with the presence of the medium, to become an inseparable part of it.» — Gornahoor Harharkh expone la condición: si la densidad de los elementos de ese medio tiene afinidad de vibraciones con una de las partes activas del Okidanokh, esa parte se mezcla con la presencia del medio por la ley de la interpenetración simétrica.

«And from that moment, the separate parts of Okidanokh, combined with the elements of the given medium, begin to represent the corresponding densities required in planets, that is to say, various kinds of “metalloids“ or even “metals,” as for instance the metal existing under the name of “red copper,” which I have just placed in this medium and where, at my wish, the “striving to reblend into a whole” of the parts of Okidanokh will now proceed artificially.» — Gornahoor Harharkh declara el resultado: esas partes combinadas pasan a representar las densidades requeridas en los planetas, metaloides o metales, como el cobre rojo que acaba de colocar.

«When these masses of different densities, which have thus arisen in planets under normal surrounding conditions, radiate the vibrations required for this universal law of the ”reciprocal feeding of everything existing,” then, among these vibrations having various properties, there is established, according to the fundamental world law of “Troemedekhfe,” a reciprocally acting contact.» — Gornahoor Harharkh declara qué se establece entre las vibraciones de esas masas de densidades distintas por la ley mundial de *Troemedekhfe*.

«And it is the result of this contact which is the chief factor in the gradual change of the various densities in planets.» — Gornahoor Harharkh declara qué es ese contacto: el factor principal del cambio gradual de las densidades en los planetas.

«My observations over many years have almost fully convinced me that it is only this contact and its results that assure the “stability of the harmonious equilibrium” of planets.» — Gornahoor Harharkh declara de qué lo convencieron sus observaciones de muchos años.

«The metal, red copper, which I have just placed in this sphere where I propose to set in motion in an artificial way the active parts of Okidanokh, has at this moment a specific density of 444, reckoning from the unit of density of the sacred element Theomertmalogos; that is to say, an atom of this metal is 444 times denser and as many times less vivifying than an atom of the sacred Theomertmalogos.» — Gornahoor Harharkh da la densidad específica del cobre rojo, contada desde la unidad de densidad del sagrado *Theomertmalogos*.

«A rough parallel can be drawn between what occasionally happens on your planet and what took place then in the small fragment of copper, if you imagine yourself high up, looking down upon a large public square where thousands of your favorites, seized with the most acute form of their chief psychosis, are destroying one another’s existence by every means they have invented, and then suddenly in their place you see their ‘corpses,’ as they call them, which change color perceptibly owing to the outrages done them by the beings not yet destroyed, and this gradually alters the general appearance of the surface of that large square.» — Beelzebub traza el paralelo entre lo que ocurrió en el fragmento de cobre y lo que a veces pasa en la Tierra, con la plaza pública y los millares de seres destruyéndose.

«Now, my boy, by switching on and off the flow of the three active parts of Okidanokh, thus changing their ‘force of striving,’ this future essence-friend of mine, Gornahoor Harharkh, also changed the density of the elements of the ‘red copper,’ and thereby transformed this metal into all kinds of other intraplanetary metals of lower or higher degree of vivifyingness.» — Beelzebub relata que, al abrir y cerrar el flujo de las tres partes activas del Okidanokh, Gornahoor Harharkh cambió la densidad de los elementos del cobre rojo y lo transformó en otros metales intraplanetarios.

«‘Gold’ is no other than the metal we call ‘prtzathalavr,’ whose specific gravity, reckoning as always from the sacred Theomertmalogos, is 1,439; that is to say, an atom of ‘gold’ is three and a fraction times less vivifying than an atom of ‘red copper.’» — Beelzebub da el nombre y la gravedad específica del oro en el sistema de Gornahoor Harharkh.

«The reason I decided not to try to explain in words everything that took place in that fragment of ‘red copper’ was because I suddenly remembered the all-gracious promise given me by our All-Quarters Maintainer, the Most Great Arch-Cherub Peshtvogner, which will make it possible for you to see with your own eyes, in definite intraplanetary formations, the processes of the manifestations of the active parts of Okidanokh.» — Beelzebub declara por qué no explica en palabras el proceso del cobre: la promesa del Arch-Querubín Peshtvogner de que Hassein lo vea con sus propios ojos.

«I was obliged to do this on account of the sins of my youth.» — Beelzebub declara el motivo de la ceremonia a que se sometió al volver del destierro.

«Later I will explain that to you in detail, but meanwhile, I shall simply turn once more to our dear Mullah Nasr Eddin, who describes this process as ‘giving one’s word of honor not to poke one’s nose into the affairs of the authorities.’» — Beelzebub remite a Mullah Nasr Eddin para describir qué es el sagrado *aliami zoornakalu*.

«I descended to your planet Earth for the second time only eleven of their centuries after my first descent.» — Beelzebub fecha su segundo descenso a la Tierra once siglos terrestres después del primero.

«‘And we descended,’ His Conformity continued, ‘because, although we had taken every possible precaution and had assured everyone that everything would be quite all right, we ourselves were not totally convinced that some unforeseen unpleasantness might not await us in the future.» — el Arcángel Looisos declara el motivo del descenso: no estaban del todo convencidos de que no aguardara alguna sorpresa desagradable.

«‘Moreover it turned out that our apprehensions were partly justified though, thanks to chance, not in a serious form, that is to say, not on a general cosmic scale, since this new catastrophe affected only the planet Earth.» — el Arcángel Looisos declara que sus aprensiones quedaron en parte justificadas, aunque la nueva catástrofe afectó solo al planeta Tierra.

«Among these Most High Sacred Individuals was again His Conformity, the Angel—now already Archangel—Looisos who, during the first great catastrophe to the planet Earth, as you remember I recently told you, had been one of the chief administrators in charge of averting the possible consequences of that general cosmic misfortune.» — Beelzebub identifica entre los Individuos Sagrados al Ángel —ya Arcángel— Looisos, uno de los administradores principales durante la primera catástrofe.

«His Conformity condescended to reply to certain inquiries of mine about the Great Center, and then told me that after the collision of the comet Kondoor with the planet Earth, he and other responsible cosmic Individuals administering the affairs of ‘harmonious world-existence’ had frequently descended to this solar system to observe the effect of the measures they had taken to ward off the consequences of that cosmic miscalculation.» — Beelzebub refiere que Looisos y otros Individuos cósmicos responsables bajaron a menudo a ese sistema solar a observar el efecto de las medidas tomadas contra las consecuencias de aquel error de cálculo cósmico.

«During this second great disaster to that planet, thanks to diverse circumstances, many of the three-brained beings who have taken your fancy nevertheless survived, and by the time of my second descent in person their posterity had already multiplied so much that they were now breeding on almost all the newly formed land masses.» — Beelzebub refiere que muchos terrestres sobrevivieron a la segunda catástrofe y que para su segundo descenso su posteridad ya se reproducía en casi todas las nuevas masas de tierra.

«Here, my boy, it will do no harm for you to take note that the beings of our tribe existing on that planet at the time of this catastrophe all escaped that ‘apocalyptic end.’» — Beelzebub consigna que todos los seres de su tribu en aquel planeta escaparon de aquel fin apocalíptico.

«It appears that a year before this catastrophe our ‘tribal pythoness’ made a prophecy in which she called upon all our tribe to leave the continent of Atlantis and migrate to a smaller continent not far away, where they were to exist on a definite part of its surface that she indicated.» — Beelzebub relata la profecía de la pitonisa tribal, un año antes de la catástrofe, llamando a los suyos a dejar Atlántida y migrar a un continente menor.

«Not only has this planet once more acquired a normal movement in the general cosmic equilibrium, but its two detached fragments, now called “Moon” and “Anulios,” have also acquired a normal movement and have become independent, though small, “kofenshars,” that is, additional planets, of the solar system Ors.» — el Arcángel Looisos declara el estado alcanzado: el planeta recobró un movimiento normal en el equilibrio cósmico general, y sus dos fragmentos, Moon y Anulios, se volvieron *kofenshars*, planetas adicionales del sistema Ors.

«‘Not only,’ His Conformity continued, ‘has this fragment become an independent planet, but there is already proceeding on it the formation of an atmosphere, as is necessary for every planet serving the actualization of the Most Great Common-Cosmic Trogoautoegocrat.» — el Arcángel Looisos declara que en ese fragmento ya procede la formación de una atmósfera, necesaria en todo planeta que sirva a la actualización del Trogoautoegocrat.

«‘In the psyche of the beings belonging to all three of these independent groups,’ His Conformity went on to say, ‘various peculiar “havatvernonis” have been formed, that is, certain psychic strivings, the total process of which they themselves call “religion.”» — el Arcángel Looisos define los *havatvernonis* formados en la psique de los tres grupos: afanes psíquicos cuyo proceso total ellos mismos llaman religión.

«‘Although these havatvernonis, or religions, have nothing in common, there is widely spread among all three groups a religious custom called “sacrificial offerings.”» — el Arcángel Looisos señala la costumbre religiosa extendida en los tres grupos pese a no tener nada en común.

«‘This surplus of the sacred “askokin” is already seriously hindering the correct exchange of substances between the Moon and its atmosphere, with the danger that the atmosphere may in consequence be formed abnormally, and later become an obstacle to the harmonious movement of the whole system Ors, and perhaps again give rise to yet another catastrophe on a great cosmic scale.» — el Arcángel Looisos declara el daño de ese excedente de *askokin*: estorba el intercambio de sustancias entre la Luna y su atmósfera y amenaza con formarla anormalmente.

«‘So, Your Reverence, my request consists in this, that since you are in the habit of often visiting various planets of this solar system, you should undertake the task of descending specially to the planet Earth and of trying to instill into the consciousness of these strange three-brained beings some idea of the senselessness of this notion of theirs.’» — el Arcángel Looisos formula su petición a Beelzebub: descender a la Tierra e inculcar a esos seres la idea del sinsentido de esa noción suya.

«‘And this is why I decided to appeal to you, Your Reverence, to consent to undertake, in the name of our Uni-Being Creator, a task that would spare us the necessity of resorting to some extreme sacred process, unbecoming for any three-centered beings, and would, in some simpler way, remove this undesirable phenomenon by making use of the being-Reason they have in their presence.’» — el Arcángel Looisos declara qué evitaría esa tarea: tener que recurrir a algún proceso sagrado extremo, impropio de seres de tres centros.

«the ‘Oxoseria,’ still exists today, it no longer flows into the Caspian Sea because, as a result of a minor planetary tremor, it was diverted to the north about halfway down its course and flowed into one of the hollows on the surface of the continent of Ashhark, where it gradually formed a small sea still known as the ‘Aral Sea.’» — Beelzebub refiere el desvío del río *Oxoseria*, que por un temblor planetario dejó de desembocar en el Caspio y formó el mar que aún llaman Aral.

«But when a third great catastrophe occurred to that ill-fated planet, this flourishing country, along with other more or less fertile regions, was covered by ‘kashmanoonoms,’ or, as they say, by ‘sands.’» — Beelzebub refiere que la tercera gran catástrofe cubrió aquel país próspero de *kashmanoonoms*, o arenas.

«but nowadays the different parts have different names, and what was once its principal part is called ‘Karakum,’ which means ‘black sands.’» — Beelzebub da el nombre actual de la parte principal de aquella región y lo traduce.

«It must be noted here without fail that at the time of my second descent in person to the surface of your planet, there was present in all the three-brained beings of these three independent groups, instead of the impulse called ‘needful striving for self-perfection,’ which should be in every three-brained being, an also needful but very strange striving, already thoroughly crystallized, to have all the other beings of their planet consider their country the ‘center of culture’ of the whole Earth.» — Beelzebub declara qué halló cristalizado en los seres de los tres grupos en lugar del afán necesario de autoperfeccionamiento: el afán de que los demás tuvieran su país por centro de cultura de toda la Tierra.

«This very strange needful striving had become for each of the three-centered beings of your planet the principal meaning and aim of existence and, in consequence, bitter struggles, both material and psychic, were constantly proceeding among the beings of the three independent groups for the attainment of this aim.» — Beelzebub declara la consecuencia: ese afán se volvió el sentido y el fin principal de su existencia, y por él había luchas materiales y psíquicas constantes entre los tres grupos.

«As soon as we were settled in the city of Koorkalai I began visiting the ‘kaltaani’ there, that is, those establishments which were later called on the continent of Ashhark ’chaikhanas,’ ‘ashkhanas,’ ‘caravanserais,’ and so on, and which contemporary beings on that planet, especially those breeding on the continent of ‘Europe,’ call ‘cafés,’ ‘restaurants,’ ’clubs,’ ‘dance halls,’ ‘meeting places,’ and so on.» — Beelzebub describe los *kaltaani* de Koorkalai y su descendencia de nombres, hasta los cafés y clubes de la Europa contemporánea.

«I began with these establishments because on the planet Earth, in those days just as now, there was no place where one could observe and study so well the specific peculiarities of the psyche of the beings of a country.» — Beelzebub declara por qué empezó por esos establecimientos: no había en la Tierra otro lugar donde observar y estudiar tan bien las peculiaridades de la psique de los seres de un país.

«Although this terrestrial being, who afterward became as dear to me as one of my own kin, was not a priest of the highest rank, he was well versed in the teaching of the religion then dominant in Tikliamish, and also knew well the psyche of the followers of that religion, particularly of course of the members of what is called his ‘flock.’» — Beelzebub presenta al sacerdote Abdil, versado en la religión entonces dominante en Tikliamish y conocedor de la psique de sus fieles.

«So, when he recognized with his Reason certain cosmic truths I explained to him, he at once acquired in his presence almost that attitude toward other beings that is proper to all normal three-brained beings of the whole universe; in other words he became ‘compassionate’ and ‘sensitive’ to the beings around him.» — Beelzebub relata el efecto de las verdades cósmicas que le explicó: Abdil adquirió casi la actitud propia de todo ser normal de tres cerebros, y se volvió compasivo y sensible a los seres de alrededor.

«Before I tell you more about this priest Abdil, you must know that on the continent of Ashhark the terrible custom of sacrificial offerings was then at its height, and that the destruction of various weak ‘one-brained’ and ‘two-brained’ beings was proceeding everywhere in incalculable numbers.» — Beelzebub sitúa el estado de la costumbre en Ashhark en aquel tiempo: la ofrenda sacrificial en su apogeo y la destrucción de seres de uno y dos cerebros por todas partes.

«These sacrifices were offered not only privately by individual beings in their own houses, but also by large groups and sometimes by the whole populace.» — Beelzebub describe el alcance de esos sacrificios: privados en las casas, y también por grupos grandes y a veces por la población entera.

«But for the most part the victims were ‘slaves,’ who were usually what are called ‘captives,’ in other words, beings of a conquered community which had lost its importance through the action of the law of ‘Solioonensius’; that is, in a period when the tendency to reciprocal destruction was intensified in the presence of your favorites.» — Beelzebub declara quiénes eran las víctimas en su mayoría: esclavos, cautivos de una comunidad conquistada que había perdido su importancia por la acción de la ley del *Solioonensius*.

«This custom of ‘pleasing their gods’ by destroying the existence of other beings is still followed on your planet, though not on the same scale as when these abominations were perpetrated on the continent of Ashhark.» — Beelzebub declara que la costumbre de complacer a sus dioses destruyendo la existencia de otros seres sigue en pie en ese planeta, aunque no en la escala de entonces.

«Like almost all the three-brained beings I met on each of my descents, he took me for a being of his own planet, but considered me very learned and an authority on the psyche of his fellow beings.» — Beelzebub refiere cómo lo tomaban casi todos los seres de tres cerebros que trataba en sus descensos: por un ser de su propio planeta, muy sabio y autoridad sobre la psique de sus semejantes.

«I wish to repeat that particular talk, which was the last I had with him, because it served as the starting point of all the events which, though they brought the planetary existence of my terrestrial friend to a painful end, nevertheless opened to him the possibility of continuing the task of self-perfecting.» — Beelzebub declara por qué repite aquella última conversación: fue el punto de partida de los sucesos que dieron fin doloroso a la existencia planetaria de su amigo y le abrieron la posibilidad de seguir perfeccionándose.

«‘But what has the destruction of the existence of another being to do with this faith—above all when you destroy it in the name of its Creator? Does not that “life,” which He created as He created yours, have the same value as your own?» — Beelzebub plantea a Abdil la pregunta con que abre el argumento.

«‘This is only an invention of men—men who say they are “in the image and likeness of God”; it does not come from Him who created men and these other beings of different forms which they destroy, as they fancy, for His pleasure and satisfaction.» — Beelzebub sostiene ante Abdil que el sacrificio es invención de hombres que se dicen a imagen y semejanza de Dios, y no viene de quien creó a los hombres y a los demás seres.

«For Him there is no difference between the life of men and the life of beings of any other form.» — Beelzebub sostiene que para el Creador no hay diferencia entre la vida de los hombres y la vida de seres de cualquier otra forma.

«‘In His wisdom He has foreseen that Nature should adapt different exterior forms of beings to the conditions and circumstances in which the process of their existence is destined to flow.» — Beelzebub sostiene que el Creador previó en su sabiduría que la Naturaleza adaptara las formas exteriores de los seres a las condiciones en que su existencia debía transcurrir.

«‘It was created for the water, and its internal and external organs are adapted to that element, which is the only one where it can manifest itself effectively, and fulfill the purpose of its existence preordained by the Creator.» — Beelzebub aplica el argumento al pez: fue creado para el agua y sus órganos están adaptados a ese elemento, el único donde puede manifestarse y cumplir el fin de su existencia.

«‘In short, our Common Creator has given Nature the corresponding principle that enables her to coat and adapt all your internal and external organs in accordance with that sphere in which the process of existence of beings with such a brain-system as yours is destined to flow.» — Beelzebub declara el principio que el Creador dio a la Naturaleza: revestir y adaptar los órganos internos y externos conforme a la esfera donde debe transcurrir la existencia de seres de tal sistema cerebral.

«‘As for yourself, although you were created for this same purpose of cosmic existence on planets, you were created also as a “field of hope” for our Common All-Gracious Creator,» — Beelzebub declara para qué fue creado además el ser de tres cerebros: como *field of hope* para el Creador.

«Yet in spite of the possibilities given you, that is, in spite of your having been created three-brained and thus capable of logical mentation, you do not use this sacred property for its preordained purpose, but manifest it as “cunning” toward His other creatures such as, for example, your own donkey.» — Beelzebub reprocha que, siendo capaces de mentación lógica, no usan esa propiedad sagrada para su fin sino como astucia hacia las demás criaturas, incluido el propio asno.

«‘The only difference between you and your donkey lies in the form and quality of functioning of the internal and external organization of your common presence.» — Beelzebub sitúa la única diferencia entre el hombre y su asno: la forma y la calidad del funcionamiento de la organización interna y externa de su presencia común.

«but instead of this Great Nature herself transforms this surplus of cosmic substance in the donkey’s presence—without, of course, the donkey being aware of it—into the power and strength of certain of its organs for its present existence alone, thus enabling it to manifest that power incomparably better than you.» — Beelzebub explica qué hace la Gran Naturaleza con el excedente de sustancia cósmica en la presencia del asno, sin que el asno lo sepa.

«‘I repeat: all beings, large and small, of all brain systems without exception, existing on the Earth, within the Earth, in the air, or beneath the waters—all are equally necessary to our Common Creator for the common harmony of» — Beelzebub sostiene que todos los seres, grandes y pequeños y de todo sistema cerebral, en la tierra, en el aire o bajo las aguas, son igualmente necesarios al Creador para la armonía común.

«And since all these forms of beings, taken as a whole, constitute the form of the process of universal existence required by our Creator, the essence of each being is equally dear and equally valuable to Him.» — Beelzebub concluye que la esencia de cada ser es igualmente cara y valiosa para el Creador, porque el conjunto de esas formas constituye la forma del proceso de existencia universal que él requiere.

«But what do we see around us here now? One of the forms of beings created by Him, the very form in whose presence He has placed all His hopes for the future welfare of everything existing, taking advantage of its superiority to lord it over other forms, destroying their existence right and left and, what is more, allegedly “in His Name.”» — Beelzebub describe lo que ve en cambio: una de las formas creadas, aquella en cuya presencia el Creador puso sus esperanzas, se aprovecha de su superioridad para destruir a las otras y encima en su nombre.

«And the most deplorable thing is that every man who destroys the existence of other beings in honor of his revered idols does so with all his heart, convinced beyond any doubt that he is doing a “good deed.”» — Beelzebub señala lo más deplorable: que cada hombre que destruye la existencia de otros seres en honor de sus ídolos lo hace de todo corazón, convencido de hacer una buena obra.

«Then perhaps on the Earth also there would be observed the eighteenth commandment of our Common Creator: “‘“Love everything that breathes.”» — Beelzebub cita el decimoctavo mandamiento del Creador común, que dice que entonces quizá se observaría también en la Tierra.

«Destroying the existence of His other creatures as an offering to God is just like some vandal breaking into your house and wantonly destroying all the “goods” there that have taken you years to collect and cost you so much labor and suffering.» — Beelzebub compara la destrucción de las criaturas del Creador como ofrenda con un vándalo que entra en tu casa y destruye por gusto lo que te costó años reunir.

«Yet here on Earth men have even divided beings of all other forms into “clean” and “unclean.”» — Beelzebub señala la división terrestre de los seres de otras formas en limpios e inmundos.

«But men call the lion “unclean” only because they dare not do what they like with it.» — Beelzebub declara por qué llaman inmundo al león: solo porque no se atreven a hacer con él lo que quieren.

«No, the cat will stand up for itself, it knows its own value, it is proud; and this is simply because it is a cat, and its nature is at that gradation of Reason which belongs to it according to the merits of its ancestors.» — Beelzebub declara por qué el gato no se humilla: sabe su propio valor y es orgulloso, porque su naturaleza está en la gradación de Razón que le corresponde según los méritos de sus antepasados.

«A cat must not be despised for this, nor beaten, nor humiliated; on the contrary it should be given its due, as occupying a higher rung on the ladder of evolution of “self-consciousness.”» — Beelzebub declara qué se le debe al gato por eso: no desprecio ni golpes, sino lo suyo, por ocupar un peldaño más alto en la escala de evolución de la autoconciencia.

«If a being is higher than you in Reason, you should bow before him and try to imitate him in everything; but if he is lower than you, you should be just toward him, for you once occupied the same place, according to the Sacred Scale of Reason of our Creator and All-Maintainer.» — Beelzebub formula la regla de trato según la Escala Sagrada de la Razón del Creador.

«His words produced such a strong impression on the whole congregation that although his sermon lasted into the next day, instead of the customary half hour or so, nobody wished to leave; and when it was over, everyone remained standing for a long time as if spellbound.» — Beelzebub relata el efecto del sermón de Abdil: duró hasta el día siguiente y nadie quiso irse.

«And not only was the temple where he officiated always crammed with the citizens of the town, but he was also in great demand to preach in other temples.» — Beelzebub relata la demanda que tuvo Abdil: su templo lleno y él solicitado para predicar en otros templos.

«In spite of all this, the number of sincere admirers of his preaching grew daily.» — Beelzebub relata que el número de admiradores sinceros de su prédica crecía a diario.

«I do not know how it would all have ended had not the whole priesthood— that is, men-beings of the same profession as my friend—become alarmed by his popularity and begun to oppose everything he preached.» — Beelzebub relata la reacción del sacerdocio entero, alarmado por su popularidad, oponiéndose a todo lo que predicaba.

«Day by day the number of the priest Abdil’s enemies increased, and they spread new slanders and innuendoes about him in order to lessen his popularity and destroy his authority.» — Beelzebub relata el aumento diario de los enemigos de Abdil y las calumnias con que buscaban restarle popularidad y destruir su autoridad.

«Finally the whole corporation of the priesthood could stand it no longer and one sad day my friend was brought to trial before the ecclesiastical high court, which sat for four days.» — Beelzebub relata el juicio de su amigo ante el alto tribunal eclesiástico, que sesionó cuatro días.

«But even this would hardly have mattered, if in a crowning act of treachery his colleagues, aided by other ‘godlike’ terrestrial beings, had not brought all this to an end; that is to say, they killed him.» — Beelzebub relata el desenlace: sus colegas, con ayuda de otros seres terrestres, lo mataron.

«But later that same day I became afraid that some unconscionable being might commit further outrages on my friend’s planetary body and I decided to ward off at least that danger.» — Beelzebub relata su temor de que algún ser sin conciencia ultrajara el cuerpo planetario de su amigo.

«And indeed the quantity of sacrificial slaughterings began to diminish perceptibly and it became evident that, even if this custom were not abolished, it would at least be considerably mitigated.» — Beelzebub relata el efecto de la prédica sobre los sacrificios: la cantidad de matanzas empezó a disminuir de manera perceptible.

«Thanks to this etherogram a very strange idea came into my head, namely, that instead of disposing of my friend’s planetary body on the Earth, I might take it with me and give it to the presence of the planet Mars.» — Beelzebub relata la idea que le vino: en vez de disponer allí del cuerpo planetario de su amigo, llevárselo y darlo a la presencia del planeta Marte.

«In any case this was the first and will surely be the last ‘grave,’ as your favorites call it, for a being of the Earth on this at once so near yet so far and, for terrestrial beings, quite inaccessible planet Mars.» — Beelzebub declara la singularidad de ese acto: la primera y con seguridad la última tumba de un ser de la Tierra en Marte.

«I learned afterward that this story came to the attention of the Most Great Archangel Setrenotsinarco, the All-Quarters Maintainer of that part of the Universe to which the system Ors belongs, and that he manifested his approval by giving to the appropriate being a command concerning the soul of this terrestrial friend of mine.» — Beelzebub refiere que el Arcángel Setrenotsinarco supo la historia y manifestó su aprobación dando una orden sobre el alma de su amigo terrestre.

«Once these obligations were taken care of, I descended again to your planet with the intention of pursuing my aim, that is, to uproot from those strange three-centered beings their horrible custom, which they considered a sacred duty, of destroying the existence of beings of other brain-systems.» — Beelzebub declara el fin con que volvió a descender: arrancar de esos seres la costumbre horrible, que ellos tenían por deber sagrado, de destruir la existencia de seres de otros sistemas cerebrales.

«On my third descent to the planet Earth our ship Occasion did not alight on the Colhidius Sea, now called the ‘Caspian,’ but on the sea known at that period as the ‘Sea of Beneficence.’» — Beelzebub sitúa el amaraje de la nave Occasion en su tercer descenso, en el mar llamado entonces *Sea of Beneficence*.

«The city of Gob was then a large city, and was renowned over the whole planet for its production of fine ‘fabrics’ and what are called ‘precious ornaments.’» — Beelzebub describe la ciudad de Gob de entonces, renombrada en todo el planeta por sus telas finas y sus ornamentos preciosos.

«A long, long time before the period of my present tale, and even long before the second great catastrophe to that ill-fated planet, while the continent of Atlantis was still at the height of its splendor, one of the ordinary three-centered beings of that continent ‘discovered’—as later became clear through my investigations—that the powdered horn of a being of a particular exterior form then called ‘pirmaral’ was a very effective remedy for all sorts of ‘diseases,’ and this ‘discovery’ was afterward circulated far and wide by various ‘freaks’ on your planet.» — Beelzebub fecha y refiere el descubrimiento atlante: que el cuerno en polvo del *pirmaral* era remedio eficaz para toda clase de enfermedades.

«Owing to this factor, crystallized in the presence of the three-brained beings of that period, it became the custom that anyone who ‘fell ill,’ as they say, of some disease or other had to be given a dose of this powdered horn to swallow.» — Beelzebub declara en qué se volvió costumbre ese factor cristalizado: dar una dosis de ese cuerno en polvo a quien caía enfermo.

«You might be interested to know that pirmarals still breed on your planet, but the contemporary beings take them merely for one of the species they call ‘deer’ and have no special name for them.» — Beelzebub afirma que los *pirmarals* aún se reproducen en la Tierra y que los seres contemporáneos los toman por una especie de ciervo, sin nombre propio.

«Not only did great herds of the two-brained beings called ‘pirmarals’ exist there, but the shores of this water space situated in the middle of that country were covered with luxuriant vegetation, including vast numbers of fruit trees of many kinds, whose fruit then still served your favorites as the principal product for their ‘first being-food.’» — Beelzebub describe aquel país: grandes manadas de *pirmarals* y orillas cubiertas de vegetación lujuriosa con árboles frutales, cuyo fruto era el producto principal del primer alimento del ser.

«The waters of the Sea of Beneficence so abounded with fish that you could almost catch them with your bare hands.» — Beelzebub describe la abundancia de pesca del *Sea of Beneficence*.

«As for the soil along the shores of the sea and in the valleys of the two great rivers flowing into it, every inch was so fertile that it could be used to grow anything you like.» — Beelzebub describe la fertilidad del suelo de las orillas y de los valles de los dos grandes ríos.

«Just before the second catastrophe those genuinely learned beings then existing on the continent of Atlantis who had founded that truly great society became aware that something very serious was about to happen on their planet. So they set themselves to observe very carefully all the natural phenomena on their continent, but in spite of all their efforts they could not find out precisely what was impending.» — Beelzebub relata que, antes de la segunda catástrofe, los sabios de Atlántida que fundaron aquella gran sociedad advirtieron que algo muy serio iba a ocurrir y no lograron precisar qué.

«It seems that when the hunters from the continent of Atlantis decided to settle by the Sea of Beneficence, there already existed on the shores of that sea a being from their own continent who was very important at that time and who was an ‘astrosovor,’ that is, a member of a section of a ‘learned society,’ the like of which has never again appeared on the planet Earth and probably never will.» — Beelzebub refiere que en la orilla ya existía un *astrosovor*, miembro de una sección de una sociedad de sabios como nunca volvió a haber en la Tierra.

«Later, the group of hunters chose this learned being, as the most intelligent, to be their chief.» — Beelzebub relata que los cazadores eligieron por jefe a ese sabio, por ser el más inteligente.

«Still later, this member of the great Society of Akhldanns married one of the hunters’ daughters, named Rimala, thus becoming the founder of the second group on the continent of Ashhark or, as it is now called, ‘Asia.’» — Beelzebub relata su matrimonio con Rimala, hija de un cazador, y su condición de fundador del segundo grupo del continente de Ashhark.

«At the time to which my present tale refers, the king of the beings of this second group was the grandson of the great-grandson of that learned being; his name was Koniutsion.» — Beelzebub sitúa al rey de aquel segundo grupo en el tiempo de su relato: Koniutsion, biznieto del nieto de aquel sabio.

«One day King Koniutsion observed that the beings of his community were becoming less and less capable of work, while scandals, robberies, and acts of violence were on the increase among them, as well as many other unpleasant incidents, which had never occurred before or only in quite exceptional cases.» — Beelzebub relata lo que el rey Koniutsion observó: que sus súbditos eran cada vez menos capaces de trabajar y que crecían escándalos, robos y actos de violencia.

«After lengthy observation he finally came to the conclusion that the cause lay in a new habit of the beings of his community, namely, the habit of chewing the seeds of a plant then called ‘gulgulian.’» — Beelzebub relata la conclusión a que llegó el rey tras larga observación: la causa estaba en el hábito nuevo de masticar las semillas de la planta llamada entonces *gulgulian*.

«In the course of further observation and impartial reflection, the king realized that these seeds contained a certain ‘something’ which, when introduced into these beings, had the power to change completely, for the time being, all the established habits of their psyche, so that they saw, understood, sensed, and acted quite otherwise than they were accustomed to do.» — Beelzebub relata lo que el rey comprendió de esas semillas: contenían algo que cambiaba por un tiempo todos los hábitos establecidos de su psique, de modo que veían, entendían, sentían y obraban de otro modo.

«As soon as King Koniutsion became thoroughly convinced of all this, he dispatched some of his closest and most trustworthy subjects throughout the land to issue strict orders in his name forbidding all beings of his community to chew these poppy seeds; he also arranged that those who disobeyed his orders should be punished and fined.» — Beelzebub relata la medida: órdenes estrictas en su nombre por toda la tierra prohibiendo masticar esas semillas, con castigos y multas para los desobedientes.

«At first, thanks to these measures the use of these seeds appeared to diminish in the country of Maralpleicie. Very soon, however, it was discovered that this was not so; in reality the number of those who chewed the seeds was even greater than before.» — Beelzebub relata el resultado real de esas medidas: los que masticaban las semillas eran aún más que antes.

«In spite of all this the desired result was not obtained. The number of those who chewed poppy seeds rose steadily in the city of Gob, and reports from other territories subject to him showed a daily increase.» — Beelzebub relata que las prohibiciones no dieron el resultado deseado y que el número de masticadores de semillas de adormidera subía sin pausa en Gob y en los territorios sujetos al rey.

«According to my most recent investigations, the king was particularly anxious to find some means of uprooting this evil because by that time all the affairs of his community were going from bad to worse.» — Beelzebub declara por qué el rey buscaba con tanta ansia un remedio: los asuntos de su comunidad iban de mal en peor.

«Well, it was asserted in that ingenious doctrine of the astute King Koniutsion that Mister God had intentionally attached to our ‘souls’ the organs and limbs we now have, in order to protect us against our environment and enable us to serve Him effectively and profitably, and not Him alone but also the ‘souls’ already taken to that island of His.» — Beelzebub expone la doctrina del rey Koniutsion: que Mister God adjuntó a nuestras almas los órganos y miembros que tenemos para protegernos y para servirle a él y a las almas ya llevadas a su isla.

«If the ‘soul’ has fulfilled its duties honestly and conscientiously, Mister God leaves it to continue its existence on His island; but the ‘soul’ that here on the continent of Ashhark has been idle or discharged its duties indolently or negligently, existing only for the gratification of the desires of its attached parts, or finally, has not kept His commandments, such a soul our Mister God sends to a smaller neighboring island for its further existence.» — Beelzebub expone el juicio de esa doctrina: el alma que cumplió con honradez queda en la isla, y la ociosa o negligente es enviada a una isla vecina menor.

«Here on the continent of Ashhark exist many ‘spirits’ attendant upon Him, who walk among us wearing ‘caps of invisibility,’ thanks to which they can constantly watch us unnoticed and report all our doings to Mister God, or inform Him on the ‘Day of Judgment.’ We can conceal nothing from them, neither our actions nor our thoughts.» — Beelzebub expone los espíritus de esa doctrina, que andan entre los hombres con gorros de invisibilidad y le informan de todo, sin que se les pueda ocultar acto ni pensamiento.

«This doctrine also said that our continent of Ashhark and all the other continents and islands of the world were created by our Mister God only to serve Him and the meritorious ‘souls’ already dwelling on His island.» — Beelzebub expone el fin que esa doctrina da a los continentes y a las islas del mundo.

«This island where Mister God Himself exists with the meritorious ‘souls’ is called ‘Paradise,’ and existence there is just ‘roses, roses.’» — Beelzebub da el nombre de la isla donde Mister God existe con las almas meritorias, y cómo es allí la existencia.

«The other, smaller island, where for the rest of their existence our Mister God sends the souls whose temporary physical parts have been lazy here and have not existed according to His commandments, is called ‘Hell.’» — Beelzebub da el nombre de la isla menor a donde son enviadas las demás.

«One very salty biscuit is given to each ‘soul’ once a day, and there is not a single drop of drinking water on the island.» — Beelzebub describe el tormento de esa isla en la doctrina del rey.

«The inventor of this ingenious doctrine, the wise King Koniutsion, had undergone the sacred ‘rascooarno’ long before this; that is to say, he had ‘died’ many years earlier.» — Beelzebub sitúa la muerte del inventor de esa doctrina mucho antes, con el proceso sagrado *rascooarno*.

«But his invention, owing as always to the strangeness of the psyche of your favorites, had taken such a strong hold that not a single being in the whole country of Maralpleicie doubted the truth of its very original tenets.» — Beelzebub declara el arraigo de aquella invención: ni un solo ser de todo Maralpleicie dudaba de sus tesis originalísimas.

«It must be noted that although the custom of sacrificial offerings was also flourishing at that period in Maralpleicie, it was not being practiced on so large a scale as it had been in Tikliamish.» — Beelzebub acota que la costumbre del sacrificio florecía también entonces en Maralpleicie, aunque no en la escala de Tikliamish.

«In my explanations I particularly emphasized that not only should we cease destroying the existence of the beings of other forms in honor of Mister God but, what is more, we should try to win their favor and beseech them at least not to report to Mister God all those little evil acts that we commit involuntarily.» — Beelzebub relata qué añadió él a esa doctrina: no solo dejar de destruir la existencia de otros seres en honor de Mister God, sino ganarse su favor y rogarles que no informen de los pequeños males involuntarios.

«My new friend, the proprietor of the ‘chaikhana,’ believed so firmly in my invention that he was beside himself with remorse.» — Beelzebub relata el efecto sobre el dueño de la *chaikhana*, que creyó tan firmemente en su invención que quedó fuera de sí de remordimiento.

«It is interesting to remark here that on the planet Earth, the stories that give rise to the establishment of holy places usually come from certain terrestrial beings called ‘humbugs.’» — Beelzebub declara de dónde salen en la Tierra las historias que dan origen a los lugares santos.

«This disease of ‘humbugging,’ or lying, is very widespread there.» — Beelzebub declara la extensión de esa enfermedad de mentir en aquel planeta.

«And they lie consciously when there is some personal material advantage to be gained; and unconsciously when they fall ill of the disease known as ‘hysteria.’» — Beelzebub distingue las dos maneras de mentir de esos seres: conscientemente cuando hay ventaja material, e inconscientemente cuando caen enfermos de histeria.

«The result of it all was that, in the country of Maralpleicie, not only did sacrificial offerings diminish but the beings of other forms even began to be treated with unprecedented attention.» — Beelzebub declara el resultado en Maralpleicie: no solo disminuyeron las ofrendas sacrificiales, sino que los seres de otras formas empezaron a ser tratados con atención sin precedente.

«Such comical scenes were enacted there that although I myself was the author of the invention, I found it difficult to refrain from laughter.» — Beelzebub confiesa que, aun siendo él el autor de la invención, le costaba contener la risa ante las escenas que se representaban.

«If someone does not share their views or agree to do as they do or criticizes their manifestations, they are very offended and their indignation knows no bounds.» — Beelzebub describe la irritabilidad de esos seres ante quien no comparte sus opiniones o critica sus manifestaciones.

«And if one of them should happen to have some power, he would order anyone rash enough to criticize his conduct or to behave differently from himself to be shut up in the sort of place usually crawling with ‘rats’ and ‘lice.’» — Beelzebub describe qué hace con el crítico el que tiene algún poder.

«Furthermore, as I was profoundly aware that to outrage anybody’s religious feeling is contrary to all morality, I tried when existing among them always to do as they did, so as not to be conspicuous and draw attention to myself.» — Beelzebub declara su propia regla de conducta entre ellos: como ultrajar el sentimiento religioso de nadie va contra toda moral, hacía siempre lo que ellos hacían para no llamar la atención.

«Here it will do no harm to point out that, owing to the abnormal conditions of ordinary existence there, the only beings of that strange planet, especially during recent centuries, who become notable and are therefore honored by the rest, are those who manifest themselves somehow or other more absurdly than the majority.» — Beelzebub declara quiénes llegan allí a ser notables y honrados: los que se manifiestan de manera más absurda que la mayoría.

«And the more absurd their manifestations, the more stupid, mean, and insolent the tricks they play, the more celebrated they become, and the greater is the number of beings on their own continent, or even on other continents, who know them personally, or at least by name.» — Beelzebub declara la proporción: cuanto más absurdas sus manifestaciones y más estúpidas, mezquinas e insolentes sus tretas, más célebres se vuelven.

«On the other hand, an honest being who does not behave absurdly has no chance at all of becoming famous, or even of being noticed, however kind and sensible he may be.» — Beelzebub declara la contraparte: un ser honesto que no se comporta absurdamente no tiene posibilidad de hacerse famoso ni de ser notado, por bondadoso y sensato que sea.

«but donkeys bray whenever it enters their heads to do so and, in consequence, you may hear the voice of that silly being at any hour of the day or night.» — Beelzebub explica el efecto del rebuzno del asno a cualquier hora del día o de la noche.

«I must add that Nature has given the donkey a very loud voice, and its braying can be heard a long way off.» — Beelzebub añade el dato de la voz que la Naturaleza dio al asno.

«Needless to say, in this second center of culture on the continent of Ashhark the destruction of beings of other forms for sacrificial offerings entirely ceased; and if isolated instances did occur, the other beings of that group settled accounts with the offenders without compunction.» — Beelzebub declara el resultado en aquel segundo centro de cultura: la destrucción de seres de otras formas para ofrendas cesó por completo.

«We finally arrived at a small town called ‘Arguenia,’ which in those days was considered the most remote point of the country of Maralpleicie.» — Beelzebub sitúa Arguenia, el punto entonces tenido por el más remoto de Maralpleicie.

«In this small town of Arguenia, in accordance with my usual procedure, I began to visit various ‘chaikhanas,’ pursuing there, as always, the fulfillment of my principal aim.» — Beelzebub declara su procedimiento habitual al llegar: visitar las *chaikhanas* para cumplir allí su fin principal.

«It cannot be helped, my dear Hassein! Now that I have told you the history of the arising of the second group of beings on the continent of Ashhark, I shall also have to tell you about the arising of the third group.”» — Beelzebub anuncia a Hassein que le contará ahora el surgimiento del tercer grupo del continente de Ashhark.

«May my dear and kind grandfather become worthy of perfecting himself to the degree of Reason of the sacred Anklad!”» — Hassein formula su deseo para su abuelo: que se haga digno de perfeccionarse hasta el grado de Razón del sagrado *Anklad*.

«For the first few days, these terrestrial professionals gave free rein to the inclination, already inherent in their presences, wantonly to destroy these one-brained beings of their planet; but later, after they found out, also by chance, that almost everything required for ordinary existence grew in abundance on the neighboring land mass, they decided not to return to Atlantis but to settle permanently in Pearl-land. “» — Beelzebub relata que aquellos cazadores dieron rienda suelta a su inclinación a destruir seres de un cerebro y que, al hallar de todo en la tierra vecina, decidieron quedarse en Pearl-land.

«Thus, many beings from Atlantis were already existing on this part of the continent of Ashhark before the second great catastrophe occurred to the planet Earth; and when the continent of Atlantis was engulfed within your planet many of its inhabitants who happened to be saved, chiefly those who had relatives by blood or marriage in Pearl-land, gradually collected there.» — Beelzebub relata que muchos atlantes ya vivían en esa parte de Ashhark antes de la segunda catástrofe, y que al hundirse Atlántida los salvados con parientes allí se fueron juntando.

«Well then, my boy, when I first arrived in Pearl-land, I decided to attain my aim as before by means of the ‘hav atvernoni’ existing there, that is, through their ‘religion.’» — Beelzebub declara el medio que eligió al llegar a Pearl-land: el *havatvernoni* de allí, es decir, su religión.

«In view of this I began to make a serious study of these ‘religious teachings’ and, having ascertained that the one founded on the teaching of a genuine Messenger of our Common Endless Creator—afterward called Saint Buddha — had the most followers, I devoted all my attention to its study.» — Beelzebub declara a cuál de esas enseñanzas dedicó su atención: la fundada en la enseñanza de un Mensajero genuino, llamado después Saint Buddha, por ser la de más seguidores.

«Before telling you more about the three-brained beings breeding on that part of the surface of the planet Earth, I think it necessary to remark, however briefly, that ever since the custom arose of having independent ‘havatvernonis,’ or ‘religions,’ there have existed and still exist among your favorites two basic kinds of ‘religious teachings.’» — Beelzebub declara que desde que hay *havatvernonis* han existido entre sus favoritos dos clases básicas de enseñanzas religiosas.

«One kind is invented by certain three-brained beings in whom, for some reason or other, the psychic functioning proper to a ‘hasnamuss’ has been developed, and the other kind of religious teaching is founded upon detailed instructions revealed as it were by genuine Messengers from Above, who are indeed sent from time to time by certain of the closest assistants of our Common Father to help the three-brained beings of your planet destroy in their presence the crystallized consequences of the properties of the organ kundabuffer.» — Beelzebub distingue esas dos clases: la inventada por seres en quienes se desarrolló el funcionamiento psíquico propio de un *hasnamuss*, y la fundada en instrucciones reveladas por Mensajeros genuinos de lo Alto.

«As the three-brained beings of that third group multiplied, many of them were formed with ‘hasnamussian’ properties and began spreading ideas more maleficent than usual among the other beings around them, so that a special psychic property began to be crystallized in the presences of most of them, engendering a factor that greatly hindered the normal ‘exchange of substances’ actualized by the Most Great Common-Cosmic Trogoautoegocrat.» — Beelzebub explica el origen de la enseñanza de Pearl-land: al multiplicarse aquel tercer grupo, muchos se formaron con propiedades *hasnamussian* y difundieron ideas más maléficas que de costumbre.

«Well then, as soon as that lamentable result—again issuing from this same planet—became known to certain Most Sacred Individuals, they graciously vouchsafed that a corresponding Sacred Individual be sent especially to that group of beings to regulate their being-existence in a more or less tolerable manner, in accordance with the existence of the whole of that solar system.» — Beelzebub relata la respuesta de lo Alto: enviar un Individuo Sagrado a ese grupo para regular su existencia de modo tolerable.

«The Sacred Individual who was sent to them was coated with the planetary body of a terrestrial three-brained being and was called, as I have said, Saint Buddha.» — Beelzebub declara cómo fue enviado ese Individuo Sagrado: revestido del cuerpo planetario de un ser terrestre de tres cerebros.

«Dear Grandfather, more than once in your talks you have used the expression ‘hasnamuss.’ Until now I have understood, merely from the intonation of your voice and the consonance of the word itself, that by this expression you designated certain three-brained beings you always set apart from others as if they deserved ‘objective contempt.’» — Hassein pregunta a su abuelo por la palabra *hasnamuss*, que hasta entonces solo había entendido por la entonación de su voz y la consonancia del término.

«As regards the ‘type’ of three-brained being for whom I have adopted this expression, I will tell you at the proper time; but meanwhile know that this word designates the already defined common presence of any three-brained being—whether consisting of the planetary body alone or already coated with higher being-bodies-in whom for some reason or other data have not been crystallized for the divine impulse of Objective Conscience.» — Beelzebub define a quién designa esa palabra: a todo ser de tres cerebros, revestido o no de cuerpos superiores, en quien no se cristalizaron los datos del impulso divino de la Conciencia Objetiva.

«Here it must be noted without fail that at that time there had already been crystallized in the presence of Saint Buddha, as my detailed investigations made evident, a very clear understanding that during the process of its abnormal formation, the Reason of the beings of the planet Earth becomes ‘instincto-titillarian,’ that is, it functions only under the action of corresponding shocks from without.» — Beelzebub refiere lo que Saint Buddha ya entendía con claridad: que la Razón de los seres de la Tierra se vuelve *instincto-titillarian* y solo funciona bajo choques de fuera.

«In spite of this, Saint Buddha decided to carry out his task by means of their ‘Reason’—so peculiar for three-brained beings—and he began informing that Reason of theirs with objective truths of every kind.» — Beelzebub refiere que aun así Saint Buddha decidió cumplir su tarea por medio de esa Razón y empezó a informarla de verdades objetivas de toda clase.

«‘My essence has been sent to you by certain Enlightened and Most Sacred Final Results, who guide in perfect justice the actualization of everything existing in the Universe, to serve as a helping factor for each of you in the striving to free yourselves from the consequences of those abnormal being-properties which, because of important common-cosmic needs, were implanted in the presence of your ancestors and, passing by heredity from generation to generation, have reached you also.’» — Saint Buddha declara ante ellos quién lo envía y a qué: a servir de factor de ayuda en el afán de liberarse de las consecuencias de las propiedades anormales implantadas en sus antepasados.

«In order to avert universal disaster it was then considered necessary, according to the calculations of certain Most High Most Sacred Individuals, among other measures to make a change in the functioning of the common presence of your ancestors, namely, to implant in them a certain organ with special properties, owing to which everything external perceived by their presence and transformed in them for their own coating would be manifested not in accordance with reality.» — Saint Buddha relata la medida tomada para evitar el desastre universal: implantar en sus antepasados un órgano cuyas propiedades harían que lo percibido se manifestara no conforme a la realidad.

«although all the properties of that organ had indeed been removed from the presence of your ancestors by these Most Sacred Individuals, nevertheless a certain cosmic result flowing lawfully from these properties, namely, the “predisposition” that arises in every more or less independent cosmic presence from the repeated action of any function, had not been foreseen and destroyed.» — Saint Buddha declara lo que no se previó ni se destruyó: la predisposición que surge en toda presencia cósmica por la acción repetida de una función.

«A little later, when the normal existence of your solar system had been stabilized and there was no further need for various intentionally created measures, our Most All-Gracious Common Father did not fail to give the command to annul certain artificial measures, and among other things to remove from the common presence of your ancestors the now superfluous “organ kundabuffer, ” with all its special properties.» — Saint Buddha relata la orden del Padre Común de anular las medidas artificiales y retirar de sus antepasados el órgano *kundabuffer* con todas sus propiedades.

«But even before this Sacred Individual’s appearance here, owing to the many abnormal conditions of ordinary existence created by you, the duration of your existence had become unnaturally short, and consequently the process of the sacred “rascooarno” had to occur very early to this Sacred Individual also—that is to say, he too, like yourselves, had to die prematurely, without having time to accomplish the task assigned to him.» — Saint Buddha declara por qué el proceso del *rascooarno* alcanzó tan pronto también a aquel Individuo Sagrado: por las condiciones anormales que ellos crearon, la duración de su existencia se había vuelto antinaturalmente corta.

«And now, in this present period of the flow of time, when the abnormal existence of the three-brained beings of the Earth, particularly of those on that part of its surface called “Pearl-land,” is becoming a serious hindrance to the normal harmonious existence of the whole of this solar system, my essence is manifested among you from Above in order that here on the spot, together with your own essences and in the already established conditions, it may look for some way to uproot from your common presences those consequences still existing in you owing to the “lack of foresight on the part of certain Most Saintly Cosmic Final Results.”» — Saint Buddha declara a qué se manifiesta entre ellos: a buscar allí mismo, con sus propias esencias, algún modo de arrancar de sus presencias las consecuencias que aún quedan por la falta de previsión de ciertos Resultados Cósmicos Santísimos.

«Thanks to this property in your psyche the beings here, even of the second generation after the contemporaries of this Sacred Individual sent from Above, gradually began to change everything he had explained and indicated, until ultimately the whole of his teaching was completely destroyed.» — Beelzebub declara el efecto de esa propiedad de la psique: ya la segunda generación cambió cuanto el Individuo Sagrado había explicado, hasta destruir por completo su enseñanza.

«Again and again the same action was taken by the Most High Common-Cosmic Final Results—and each time with the same fruitless outcome.» — Beelzebub declara que lo mismo se intentó una y otra vez, siempre con el mismo resultado infructuoso.

«And indeed, as my detailed research made clear to me, during the period when the inner psyche of the beings on that part of the surface of the Earth was guided by this genuine Messenger from Above, Saint Buddha, those consequences so maleficent for them once more began to disappear from the presences of many of them.» — Beelzebub declara lo que su investigación mostró: mientras la psique de aquellos seres estuvo guiada por Saint Buddha, esas consecuencias maléficas volvieron a desaparecer de muchas de sus presencias.

«But to the sorrow of every Individual with Pure Reason of any gradation whatever and to the misfortune of the three-brained beings of all succeeding generations who arise on that planet, the first descendants of the contemporaries of this genuine Messenger from Above, Saint Buddha, fell victim to that evil property of their psyche, namely ‘wiseacring’—still one of the chief results of the abnormally established conditions of ordinary being-existence there—and began to wiseacre about all his indications and counsels, and this time to ‘superwiseacre’ so thoroughly that all that reached the beings of the third and fourth generations who arise on that planet was what our honorable Mullah Nasr Eddin defines by the words:» — Beelzebub declara la causa de la pérdida: los primeros descendientes cayeron en la propiedad maléfica del *wiseacring* y sabihondearon sobre las indicaciones del Mensajero hasta el sobresabihondeo, y remite a Mullah Nasr Eddin para lo que llegó a la tercera y cuarta generaciones.

«Here I cannot refrain from expressing my essence-grief at that strange practice of your favorites, which in the course of many of their centuries has gradually become, as it were, lawful in the process of their ordinary existence.» — Beelzebub expresa su duelo de esencia por esa práctica que en muchos siglos se volvió casi lícita en la existencia ordinaria de sus favoritos.

«As it turned out, the source of the lamentable misunderstanding was, unfortunately, certain authentic words spoken by Saint Buddha himself.» — Beelzebub declara la fuente del malentendido: ciertas palabras auténticas del propio Saint Buddha.

«so, for the sake of this famous ‘suffering’ of theirs, many of the three-centered beings of that planet, either singly or in groups—that is, with others who thought as they did—began to withdraw from the society of their fellow beings.» — Beelzebub relata qué hicieron por ese famoso sufrimiento: retirarse de la sociedad de sus semejantes, solos o en grupos que pensaban igual.

«They even founded special colonies for this purpose where, although existing together, they nevertheless arranged everything so as to produce this ‘endurance’ of theirs in solitude.» — Beelzebub relata que fundaron colonias donde, existiendo juntos, lo dispusieron todo para producir esa resistencia en soledad.

«It was then that their famous ‘monasteries’ first came into existence, which continue down to the present day, and where certain of your favorites go, as they say, ‘to save their souls.’» — Beelzebub fecha allí el origen de los monasterios, que siguen hasta hoy, adonde algunos de sus favoritos van a salvar el alma.

«explanations of cosmic truths Saint Buddha had told them, among other things: ‘Each of the three-centered beings existing on the various planets of our Great Universe, and of course on the Earth also, must in reality be nothing other than a particle of that Most Great Greatness which is the All-Embracing of all that exists; and the foundation of this Most Great Greatness is there Above, the better to embrace the essence of everything existing.» — Beelzebub cita lo que Saint Buddha les dijo entre sus explicaciones de verdades cósmicas: que cada ser de tres centros no es en realidad sino una partícula de aquella Grandeza Máxima que abarca todo lo que existe.

«Yet of course, as the divine teacher Buddha had foreseen, it was in those conditions alone that this ‘endurance’ of the manifestations of others displeasing to themselves could crystallize in their presence those actualizations of ‘partkdolgduty’ required from all three-centered beings in general, without which ‘self-perfecting’ is impossible.» — Beelzebub declara la condición que Saint Buddha había previsto: solo en esas condiciones podía cristalizar la resistencia a las manifestaciones ajenas las actualizaciones del *partkdolgduty* sin las cuales el autoperfeccionamiento es imposible.

«But when the beings of the second and third generations following Saint Buddha began wiseacring with their peculiar Reason about his explanations of cosmic truths, they introduced for future transmission the definite notion that this ‘Mister Prana’ is already in them when they first see the light of day.» — Beelzebub declara qué introdujeron las generaciones segunda y tercera al sabihondear sobre esas explicaciones: la noción de que *Mister Prana* ya está en ellos al nacer.

«Before saying more, I must not fail to point out that although Saint Buddha had supposedly said that a being already has within himself at his arising a particle of the Most Great Greatness, my detailed investigations quite clearly showed me that he could never possibly have said that.» — Beelzebub declara el resultado de su propia investigación sobre esa atribución a Saint Buddha.

«‘If this most sacred Prana is crystallized in you, with the conscious or unconscious participation of your “I,” you must without fail bring the perfecting of the individual Reason of this totality of most sacred atoms to the» — Beelzebub cita la obligación que, según su investigación, iba unida a esa partícula: llevar hasta el fin el perfeccionamiento de la Razón individual de esa totalidad de átomos santísimos.

«‘Blessed is he that hath a soul; blessed also is he that hath none; but grief and sorrow are the lot of him who hath in himself only its conception.’» — Beelzebub cita el dicho de Saint Buddha sobre el alma, su ausencia y su mera concepción.

«If only they had stopped at this point, all would have been well; but here, just as in the country of Maralpleicie, they soon fell into their habit of wiseacring and began to manifest many comical aspects of their havatviernoni.» — Beelzebub declara qué pasó después: cayeron en su hábito de sabihondear y su *havatviernoni* tomó muchos aspectos cómicos.

«I spread the idea that the most sacred Prana, of which our divine teacher Saint Buddha had spoken, is already present not only in us men but in all beings that arise and exist on our planet Earth.» — Beelzebub declara la idea que difundió él mismo: que el santísimo *Prana* del que habló Saint Buddha ya está no solo en los hombres sino en todos los seres que surgen y existen en la Tierra.

«Owing simply to my invention, your favorites so changed their essencerelations with beings of other forms that they not only ceased to destroy their existence for their famous ‘sacrificial offerings,’ but even began very sincerely, with the whole of their being, to regard them as beings like themselves.» — Beelzebub declara el efecto de su invención: dejaron de destruir la existencia de seres de otras formas para sus ofrendas y llegaron a considerarlos seres como ellos; el troceo devuelve *essencerelations* donde la fuente imprime *essence-relations*.

«Saint Buddha added, as I also made clear, that, although the properties of this organ had been entirely destroyed in their ancestors, its material formation had remained at the lower extremity of this brain and having been transmitted from generation to generation had also reached them.» — Beelzebub refiere lo que añadió Saint Buddha: destruidas las propiedades del órgano en sus antepasados, su formación material quedó en el extremo inferior de ese cerebro y llegó a ellos por transmisión.

«‘But this material formation,’ he said, ‘now has no significance whatsoever and can be completely destroyed in the course of time, if your being-existence proceeds as is becoming to three-centered beings.’» — Beelzebub cita a Saint Buddha sobre esa formación material: sin significación alguna y destructible con el tiempo si su existencia procede como corresponde a seres de tres centros.

«However, when they began wiseacring and inventing all sorts of forms of their famous ‘suffering,’ they also played one of their usual tricks with the name of this organ.» — Beelzebub declara qué hicieron al inventar sus formas de sufrimiento: una de sus tretas habituales con el nombre de ese órgano.

«To begin with, as the root of the second half of this name happened to coincide with a word that in the language of that time meant ‘reflection,’ and as they had thought up a means for destroying this material formation rapidly —and not in the course of time, as Saint Buddha had advised them—they also wiseacred about this word with their bob-tailed Reason, ruminating as follows:» — Beelzebub explica la treta: la raíz de la segunda mitad del nombre coincidía con la palabra que entonces significaba reflexión, y sabihondearon sobre ella con su Razón rabona.

«When I was quite convinced that I had succeeded so easily in destroying, perhaps for a long time, that terrible practice of sacrificial offerings among the beings of this group, I decided to stay in Pearl-land no longer, but to return to the Sea of Beneficence and rejoin our ship Occasion.» — Beelzebub declara por qué decidió dejar Pearl-land: se convenció de haber destruido, quizá por mucho tiempo, la práctica terrible de las ofrendas sacrificiales entre ese grupo.

«That is to say, I decided to return through the region later called ‘Tibet.’» — Beelzebub declara la ruta poco usada que eligió para volver.

«These wild beings were then particularly dangerous, not only for the three-brained beings but also for the quadruped beings that your favorites, with the cunning proper to them, had already made their slaves, compelling them to work solely for the satisfaction of their egoistic needs.» — Beelzebub declara el peligro de aquellos seres salvajes, no solo para los de tres cerebros sino para los cuadrúpedos que sus favoritos ya habían hecho esclavos para satisfacer sus necesidades egoístas.

«They could travel by day because during this time of the ‘krentonalnian’ position of their planet in relation to their sun, almost all the wild beings were in the being-state called ‘sleep,’ that is, in the state in which the energy necessary for their ordinary existence is automatically elaborated in their presences, and this takes place in them during just this time, whereas in three-centered beings, on the contrary, energy is elaborated only when that same sacred process is not occurring in the atmosphere, that is to say, during what they call ‘night.’» — Beelzebub explica por qué se podía viajar de día: casi todos los seres salvajes estaban entonces en el estado llamado sueño, en que se elabora automáticamente la energía de su existencia ordinaria, mientras que en los seres de tres centros esa elaboración ocurre de noche.

«It was possible for them to pass through these places only, as they say, ‘by day,’ that is, when in the atmosphere of their planet the process of Aieioiuoa takes place in the active element Okidanokh.» — Beelzebub declara la condición para pasar por aquellos lugares: cuando en la atmósfera del planeta se da el proceso de *Aieioiuoa* en el elemento activo Okidanokh.

«I procured some scores of the quadruped beings called ‘horses,’ ‘mules,’ ‘donkeys,’ ‘Chamianian goats,’ and so forth, and hired a number of your biped favorites to look after them and to carry out the semiconscious work required for this mode of travel.» — Beelzebub describe la caravana que reunió: caballos, mulas, asnos, cabras chamianianas y bípedos contratados para el trabajo semiconsciente del viaje.

«our biped workers, although forbidden to do so, destroyed with poisoned ‘kilnapara’ arrows the ones that came too near our camp.» — Beelzebub refiere que sus trabajadores bípedos, aunque tenían prohibido hacerlo, destruían con flechas envenenadas *kilnapara* a los que se acercaban al campamento.

«In the course of the conversation that evening, it transpired that all the beings of this settlement belonged to a sect, well known in Pearl-land under the name of the ‘Self-Tamers,’ formed by followers of that very religion which, as I have already told you, purported to be based on the direct instructions of Saint Buddha.» — Beelzebub refiere que los seres de aquel asentamiento pertenecían a la secta de los *Self-Tamers*, formada por seguidores de la religión que se decía basada en las instrucciones directas de Saint Buddha.

«In this connection I might mention that the beings of your planet have yet another particularity that long ago became proper to them alone, which consists in this, that no sooner does some new ‘havatvernoni,’ or ‘religion,’ arise among them than its followers begin to split up into different camps, and each of these soon forms what is called a ‘sect’ of its own.» — Beelzebub declara otra particularidad de sus favoritos: apenas surge entre ellos un *havatvernoni* nuevo, sus seguidores se dividen en campos y cada uno forma su propia secta.

«The strangest thing about this particularity of theirs is that those who belong to such a sect never call themselves ‘sectarians,’ as the name is considered offensive; they are called this only by those who do not belong to their sect.» — Beelzebub señala lo más extraño de esa particularidad: los que pertenecen a una secta nunca se llaman sectarios, y solo los llaman así los de fuera.

«And the adherents of a sect are ‘sectarians’ for others only as long as they have no ‘guns’ and ‘ships’ at their disposal; but as soon as they get hold of enough guns and ships, what had been a particular sectarian doctrine at once becomes the dominant religion.» — Beelzebub declara la condición de ese nombre: son sectarios para los otros solo mientras no tienen cañones ni barcos, y en cuanto los consiguen la doctrina sectaria pasa a ser la religión dominante.

«This sect of the Self-Tamers arose owing to that distorted understanding of one of the principles of the Buddhist religion which, as I have already told you, they called ‘suffering in solitude.’» — Beelzebub declara el origen de la secta de los *Self-Tamers*: la comprensión distorsionada del principio budista que llamaban sufrimiento en soledad.

«Now, my boy, everything I learned that night and saw the next day of the devotees of that sect made such a painful impression upon me that for many of their ‘centuries’ I could never recall it without ‘shuddering.’» — Beelzebub declara la impresión que le dejó lo visto allí, que por muchos siglos no pudo recordar sin estremecerse.

«They had decided to withdraw to some inaccessible place where other beings, not belonging to their sect and not ‘initiated’ into its ‘arcana,’ would be unable to prevent them from inflicting upon themselves this particular form of ‘suffering’ they had invented.» — Beelzebub relata la decisión de los jefes de la secta: retirarse a un lugar inaccesible donde nadie ajeno ni no iniciado en sus arcanos pudiera impedirles infligirse la forma de sufrimiento inventada.

«At first, while they were settling down in this new place, they existed more or less in harmony; but when they began actually putting into practice the special form of ‘suffering’ they had invented, their families, and particularly their wives, having discovered what that form of suffering really was, rebelled and made a great outcry, which resulted in a schism.» — Beelzebub relata el cisma: al ponerse en práctica esa forma de sufrimiento, las familias y sobre todo las esposas descubrieron en qué consistía, se rebelaron y clamaron.

«It turned out that the leaders of the sect, while they were still in Pearl-land, had pledged themselves to withdraw completely from beings like themselves, and to stop at nothing in order to attain liberation from the consequences of the properties of that organ of which the divine teacher, Saint Buddha, had spoken.» — Beelzebub declara el compromiso de los jefes: retirarse por completo de los seres como ellos y no detenerse ante nada para liberarse de las consecuencias de las propiedades de aquel órgano.

«Their pledge committed them to exist in a certain way until their planetary bodies were completely destroyed, in other words, until their death; and the purpose of this special form of existence was to ‘purify’ what they called their ‘souls’ of all the alien deposits due to that organ kundabuSer which, as Saint Buddha had told them, their ancestors had once possessed.» — Beelzebub declara el fin de esa forma de existencia hasta la muerte: purificar lo que llamaban sus almas de los depósitos ajenos debidos al órgano; el troceo imprime *kundabuSer* donde la fuente lee *kundabuffer*.

«Those who remained faithful to the obligations they had taken upon themselves were called ‘Orthodoxhaidooraki,’ while those who had renounced certain of the obligations assumed in their native land were called ‘Katoshkihaidooraki.’» — Beelzebub da los nombres de los dos partidos: *Orthodoxhaidooraki* los fieles a sus obligaciones y *Katoshkihaidooraki* los que renunciaron a algunas.

«Strange and unusual as it may seem, these beings who bore the name of ‘monk’ did not refuse our objectively just request, but admitted us at once, without any of the swaggering that has become proper there throughout the centuries to monks of all doctrines.» — Beelzebub consigna que aquellos monjes atendieron su petición justa sin la fanfarronería que después se hizo propia de los monjes de toda doctrina.

«In other words, they become so skillful at wiseacring and making a ‘mystery’ of something, and then so thoroughly concealing this ‘mystery’ by all sorts of means, that even beings with Pure Reason cannot penetrate to the heart of it.» — Beelzebub declara la destreza que atribuye a esos seres: sabihondear y hacer misterio de algo, y ocultarlo tan bien que ni los seres de Razón Pura llegan a su fondo.

«These sentry-box structures were entirely walled in on all sides, except for a small opening near the bottom, through which, with great difficulty, a hand could be thrust.» — Beelzebub describe las celdas: cerradas por todos lados salvo una abertura baja por donde apenas cabía una mano.

«It was within these ‘cells’ that the ‘deserving’ members of the sect were to be perpetually immured, and there they were to occupy themselves with certain manipulations of what they call their ‘emotions’ and ‘thoughts’ until the total destruction of their planetary existence.» — Beelzebub declara para qué eran esas celdas: emparedar a perpetuidad a los miembros meritorios de la secta hasta la destrucción total de su existencia planetaria.

«In the religious teaching of this sect there was a full explanation of just what manipulations had to be practiced on oneself, and for how long, in order ultimately to merit being immured in one of these ‘cells,’ there to receive once every twenty-four hours a piece of bread and a small jug of water.» — Beelzebub declara qué recibían allí una vez cada veinticuatro horas.

«As soon as the companions of the immured learned that one of them had ceased to exist, his planetary body was removed from the improvised sepulcher and at once, in place of the being who had thus destroyed himself, another unfortunate fanatic of that maleficent religious teaching was walled up.» — Beelzebub relata el relevo: retirado el cuerpo planetario del que dejaba de existir, otro fanático de esa enseñanza era emparedado en su lugar.

«In Pearl-land itself all the adherents of that sect already knew of the existence of this specially convenient place for accomplishing the ‘crowning act’ of their religious doctrine, which was supposedly based on the exact instructions of Saint Buddha; and in every large center they even had what are called ‘agents’ to help them get there.» — Beelzebub relata que en Pearl-land había hasta agentes en cada centro grande para ayudar a los adeptos a llegar a ese lugar conveniente.

«But during my sixth and last personal sojourn on the planet Earth, when my way took me once more through those memorable regions, I observed that in no more than a few score of their centuries the whole of this region had projected so far above the rest of the planet that no heights on any of the other continents could even be compared with it.» — Beelzebub relata lo que observó en su sexto viaje: en unas decenas de siglos la región se había proyectado sobre el resto del planeta como ninguna altura de otro continente.

«When I first observed that strange phenomenon taking place on your highly original planet, I at once thought that it very likely contained the germ for the arising of some future misfortune on a great cosmic scale.» — Beelzebub declara lo que pensó al observar ese fenómeno: que muy probablemente contenía el germen de una desgracia futura a gran escala cósmica.

«Although planetary tremors, or earthquakes, are often provoked in that planet of yours by other intraplanetary disharmonies resulting from the two great transapalnian perturbations, whose causes I will some day explain to you, nevertheless most of the planetary tremors there, especially in recent centuries, have taken place solely on account of those excessive elevations.» — Beelzebub adjudica la causa de la mayoría de los temblores planetarios de siglos recientes a esas elevaciones excesivas, y no a las desarmonías intraplanetarias de las dos perturbaciones transapalnianas.

«Be that as it may, if this abnormal growth of the Tibetan mountains continues, sooner or later a catastrophe on a general cosmic scale is inevitable. However, if this menace I perceive becomes evident, the Most High, Most Sacred Cosmic Individuals will no doubt take the proper measures at the proper time.» — Beelzebub declara la consecuencia si ese crecimiento sigue, y la salvedad de que los Individuos Cósmicos Santísimos tomarían las medidas a tiempo.

«So, during our conversation when His Magnificence heard me mention the name of the solar system where we had been exiled, he told me that at the last, most high, most sacred reception of finally reintegrated Cosmic Results, a certain Individual, Saint Lama, had had the privilege, in the presence of all the Sacred Individuals, of personally presenting at the feet of our Endless Uni-Being a petition regarding the abnormal growth of some of the elevations of a planet belonging, apparently, to that solar system.» — Ahoon refiere que el Arcángel Vilooar le contó que Saint Lama presentó a los pies del Uni-Ser Infinito una petición sobre el crecimiento anormal de ciertas elevaciones de un planeta de aquel sistema solar.

«And our All-Gracious Endlessness, granting his request, immediately commanded that the Archangel Looisos be sent to that solar system where, as one already familiar with it, he might clarify on the spot the causes of these projections and take appropriate measures.» — Ahoon refiere la orden concedida: mandar al Arcángel Looisos a aclarar en el sitio las causas de esas proyecciones y tomar las medidas correspondientes.

«What you have just said will undoubtedly help to destroy the anxiety that arose in my presence when I first noticed the abnormal growth of those Tibetan mountains, namely, my anxiety that the precious memory of our wisest of the wise, the infinitely revered Mullah Nasr Eddin, might completely disappear from the Universe.» — Beelzebub declara qué ansiedad le quita esa noticia: que la memoria preciosa de Mullah Nasr Eddin desapareciera del Universo.

«So, my boy, as the three-brained beings of the planet Mars use only ‘prosphora’ or, as your favorites call it, ‘bread,’ for their first being-food, they always sow ‘wheat’ on the land half of their planet.» — Beelzebub explica la agricultura marciana: como usan solo *prosphora* —lo que sus favoritos llaman pan— para su primer alimento, siembran trigo en la mitad de tierra de su planeta.

«But since the wheat derived the moisture it needed for the ‘evolving djartklom’ only from what is called ‘dew,’ the yield from one grain of wheat was only a seventh part of the total process of the sacred Heptaparaparshinokh, that is to say, the entire yield was only one-seventh.» — Beelzebub da el rendimiento: como el trigo tomaba humedad solo del rocío, de un grano salía una séptima parte del proceso total del sagrado *Heptaparaparshinokh*.

«As this amount of wheat was insufficient for their needs, and in order to get more they would have to utilize the planetary saliakooriap, the three-centered beings there had been talking ever since our arrival of bringing the necessary quantity of saliakooriap from the opposite side of the planet to the side where their being-existence proceeded.» — Beelzebub refiere el proyecto marciano: traer del lado opuesto del planeta el *saliakooriap* necesario.

«This undertaking, my boy, was extremely complicated, and to carry it out the beings of the planet Mars were constantly inventing all sorts of ‘machines’ and ‘appliances,’ among which were many original and ingenious ones, and as I was always interested in any new invention, I was very much taken by this work.» — Beelzebub declara qué le atrajo de aquella empresa: los marcianos inventaban sin parar máquinas y aparatos, muchos originales e ingeniosos.

«Occasionally, however, for a rest, I flew to the planet Saturn to visit Gornahoor Harharkh, who meanwhile had become my real essence-friend, and to whom I am indebted for such a marvel as my big teskooano which, as I have already told you, increases the visibility of remote concentrations 7,000,285 times.» — Beelzebub declara qué debe a Gornahoor Harharkh, su verdadero amigo de esencia: el gran *teskooano* que aumenta 7 000 285 veces la visibilidad de concentraciones remotas.

«I descended for the fourth time to that planet Earth at the request of my essence-friend Gornahoor Harharkh.» — Beelzebub declara a petición de quién descendió por cuarta vez a la Tierra.

«The result of these conversations was that he too became so interested in your favorites that he even very seriously asked me to keep him informed, if only in a general way, about my observations of them; and thereafter I sent him, just as I did to your uncle Tooilan, copies of all my notes on the particularities of their psyche.» — Beelzebub relata el resultado de esas conversaciones: Gornahoor Harharkh se interesó tanto por sus favoritos que le pidió mantenerlo informado de sus observaciones.

«The problem was that the route from the planet Saturn to the planet Mars passed through cosmic spheres that did not correspond to the presence of Gornahoor Harharkh, a being who had as yet only the possibilities for an ordinary planetary existence.» — Beelzebub expone el problema del viaje: la ruta de Saturno a Marte pasaba por esferas cósmicas que no correspondían a la presencia de Gornahoor Harharkh.

«The result of our deliberations was that on the following day his chief assistant began, under his direction, to arrange a special compartment in our ship Occasion, and to equip it with every sort of apparatus for elaborating the substances that make up the atmosphere of the planet Saturn, to which the existence of Gornahoor Harharkh was adapted by Nature.» — Beelzebub relata la solución: un compartimento especial en la nave Occasion, equipado para elaborar las sustancias de la atmósfera de Saturno.

«It was during his stay on Mars that he devised the ‘teskooano,’ or ‘telescope,’ thanks to which my observatory became so famous throughout the whole Universe.» — Beelzebub sitúa en esa estancia en Marte la invención del *teskooano*, o telescopio.

«The result of this exchange was that I undertook to descend to the surface of that planet and to bring back to the planet Saturn a number of the beings your favorites call ‘apes,’ in order to carry out certain experiments with them and elucidate the fact that had astonished us.» — Beelzebub declara a qué se comprometió: bajar a ese planeta y llevar a Saturno seres que sus favoritos llaman monos, para hacer experimentos y aclarar el hecho que los había asombrado.

«I must first tell you that on account of their abnormal being-existence, there was long ago crystallized and there is periodically intensified in the presence of those peculiar three-brained beings arising and existing on the planet Earth a strange factor, producing from time to time a ‘crescendo impulse,’ under the action of which they wish to find out at any cost whether they have descended from these apes or the apes have descended from them.» — Beelzebub declara el factor cristalizado en los terrestres, que de tanto en tanto produce el impulso creciente de averiguar a toda costa si descienden de esos monos o los monos de ellos.

«This Menitkel became a learned being because, in the first place, his childless aunt was an excellent ‘matchmaker,’ and mixed a great deal with ‘power-possessing beings’; and because, in the second place, at the age when he was on the threshold of being a responsible being he was given as a birthday present a book entitled Manual of Bon Ton and Love-Letter Writing.» — Beelzebub explica por qué Menitkel llegó a ser un ser sabio: su tía sin hijos era excelente casamentera y trataba con seres poseedores de poder, y a él le regalaron un libro titulado *Manual of Bon Ton and Love-Letter Writing*.

«This Menitkel then ‘proved’ by his theory that heir ‘fellow countrymen,’ the apes, were descended from none other than people who had, as they say, ‘gone wild.’» — Beelzebub declara lo que Menitkel sostenía con su teoría: que los monos descendían de gente que se había vuelto salvaje.

«Thanks to this maleficent idea there was fixed in the instincts of most of the unfortunates of that period another abnormal so-called ‘dictatorial factor,’ which began to engender in their common presence the false feeling that these ape-beings were sacred.» — Beelzebub declara el efecto de esa idea maléfica: quedó fijado en los instintos otro factor dictatorial que engendraba el falso sentimiento de que los monos eran sagrados.

«And this factor, which engendered such a sacrilegious impulse, passed by heredity from generation to generation and reached the instincts of many beings even of the present time.» — Beelzebub declara que ese factor pasó por herencia de generación en generación y llegó a los instintos de muchos seres del tiempo presente.

«As for the false notion cooked up by that ‘pawnshop progeny,’ it held its ground for nearly two of their centuries and became an integral part of the ‘Reason’ of most of them.» — Beelzebub fecha la vigencia de aquella noción: casi dos siglos, integrada en la Razón de la mayoría.

«But when their so-called ‘cultured existence’ became concentrated on the continent of ‘Europe,’ and when the time again came around for that peculiar disease known as ‘wiseacring’ to manifest itself with maximum intensity—for this disease, by the way, had long before become subject to the fundamental cosmic law of Heptaparaparshinokh, according to which its intensity had to fluctuate with a certain periodicity—then, to the grief of three-brained beings of the whole Universe, that ‘ape question,’ or ‘who is descended from whom,’ once more arose and having become crystallized again became part of the abnormal ‘Reason’ of your favorites.» — Beelzebub explica el regreso de la cuestión de los monos en Europa: la enfermedad del *wiseacring* está sujeta a la ley cósmica del *Heptaparaparshinokh*, según la cual su intensidad fluctúa con cierta periodicidad.

«In this instance also, the ‘ape question’ arose from the stimulus given by a learned being, of course again a ‘great’ one, but of an altogether ‘new formation,’ by the name of Darwin.» — Beelzebub declara de quién vino el nuevo estímulo: un ser sabio, otra vez grande pero de formación enteramente nueva, llamado Darwin.

«This ‘great’ scientist, basing his theory on that same logic of theirs, set about ‘proving’ exactly the opposite of what Menitkel had said, that is, he ‘proved’ that it was they themselves who were descended from these Mister Apes.» — Beelzebub declara lo que Darwin sostenía con la misma lógica: lo contrario de Menitkel, que ellos mismos descienden de los monos.

«In any case, bear in mind that for many centuries this question, among others just as ephemeral, has provided material for the kind of thinking your favorites consider the ‘highest manifestation of Reason.’» — Beelzebub declara qué han sido esas cuestiones por muchos siglos: material del pensar que sus favoritos tienen por la manifestación más alta de la Razón.

«The fact is that neither are your favorites descended from apes nor are apes descended from them,» — Beelzebub declara su propia respuesta a la cuestión.

«The cause of the arising of these ‘misconceived’ beings —as well as that of all events more or less serious in the objective sense that occur on the surface of that ill-fated planet—stemmed from two sources totally independent of each other.» — Beelzebub declara que la causa del surgimiento de esos seres mal concebidos, como la de todo suceso serio de ese planeta, viene de dos fuentes totalmente independientes.

«The first, as always, was the same lack of foresight on the part of certain Most High, Most Saintly Cosmic Individuals ; and the second was, once again, those abnormal conditions of ordinary being-existence established by your favorites themselves.» — Beelzebub nombra esas dos fuentes: la falta de previsión de ciertos Individuos Cósmicos Santísimos y las condiciones anormales de existencia establecidas por sus favoritos.

«The point is that during the second transapalnian perturbation, besides the chief continent of Atlantis many other large and small land masses entered within the planet, and new land masses appeared in their place.» — Beelzebub sitúa el marco: en la segunda perturbación transapalniana entraron dentro del planeta, además de Atlántida, muchas otras masas de tierra, y en su lugar aparecieron otras nuevas.

«This sacred substance, elaborated in the presence of beings of every kind, is almost everywhere called ‘exioehary,’ but your favorites on the planet Earth call it ‘sperm.’» — Beelzebub da el nombre de esa sustancia sagrada, y el que le dan sus favoritos.

«Through the all-gracious foresight and command of our Common Father Creator and according to the actualization of Great Nature, this sacred substance arises in the presence of all beings, without distinction of brain system or exterior coating, in order that by its means they may consciously or automatically fulfill that part of their being-duty which consists in the continuation of their species. But in the presence of three-brained beings it also arises in order that they may consciously transform it for coating their higher being-bodies for their own being.» — Beelzebub declara el doble fin de esa sustancia: continuar la especie en todos los seres, y en los de tres cerebros transformarla conscientemente para revestir sus cuerpos superiores.

«The beings of the male sex had recourse to the antinatural means called ‘moordoorten’ and ‘androperasty’ or, as the contemporary beings would say, ‘onanism’ and ‘pederasty,’ and these antinatural means fully satisfied them.» — Beelzebub nombra los medios antinaturales a que recurrieron los seres del sexo masculino, y sus nombres contemporáneos.

«But for the three-brained beings of the ‘passive sex’ or, as they call them, ‘women,’ these antinatural means were not sufficiently satisfying, and so the poor ‘women-orphans’ of that time, already more cunning and inventive than the men, began to seek out beings of other forms and accustom them to be their ‘partners.’» — Beelzebub relata qué hicieron las mujeres, para quienes esos medios no bastaban: buscar seres de otras formas y acostumbrarlos a ser sus compañeros.

«On the planet Earth, as on other planets of our Universe where ‘keschapmartnian’ beings breed and exist—that is, three-brained beings in whom the formation of the sacred exioëhary for the creation of a new being must take place exclusively in the presences of two beings of distinct, independent sexes—the fundamental difference between the sacred exioëhary formed in the presences of beings of opposite sexes, that is, in men and women, consists in this, that in the exioëhary formed in the presences of beings of the male sex, the localized ‘holy affirming’ or ‘positive’ force of the sacred Triamazikamno participates, while in the exioëhary formed in beings of the female sex there participates the localized ‘holy denying’ or ‘negative’ force of the same sacred law.» — Beelzebub declara la diferencia fundamental entre el *exioëhary* de uno y otro sexo: en el masculino participa la fuerza afirmante del *Triamazikamno* y en el femenino la negadora.

«Thanks to the all-gracious foresight and command of our Father of everything existing in the Universe, and in accordance with the actualizing power of Great Mother Nature, in certain surrounding conditions and with the participation of the third separately localized holy force of the sacred Triamazikamno, namely, with the ‘holy reconciling’ force, the blending of the exioëhary formed in two separate beings of distinct, independent sexes during the process of the sacred ‘elmooarno’ taking place between them brings about the arising of a new being.» — Beelzebub declara cómo surge un ser nuevo: por la mezcla de los *exioëhary* de dos seres de sexos distintos durante el proceso sagrado *elmooarno*, con la participación de la fuerza reconciliadora.

«In the case I was speaking of, the abnormal blending of two heterogeneous kinds of exioëhary was possible only by virtue of a certain cosmic law known as the ‘affinity of the numbers of the totality of vibrations,’ which began to act owing to the second transapalnian perturbation on this ill-fated planet, and which then still continued to act on its common presence.» — Beelzebub declara por qué fue posible la mezcla anormal de dos clases heterogéneas de *exioëhary*: la ley cósmica de la afinidad de los números de la totalidad de vibraciones, activa por la segunda perturbación transapalniana.

«Concerning this cosmic law, it is important to tell you that it arose and began to exist in the Universe after the fundamental sacred law of Triamazikamno had been modified by our Creator in order to render the Heropass harmless, and after its holy parts, until then entirely independent, had become dependent upon forces from outside. But, my boy, you will understand this cosmic law in all its aspects only when I shall explain in» — Beelzebub sitúa el origen de esa ley cósmica: surgió después de que el Creador modificara el *Triamazikamno* para volver inocuo el Heropass y sus partes santas quedaran dependientes de fuerzas de fuera.

«Meanwhile, you should know that on normally existing planets anywhere in our Great Universe the exioëhary formed in the presence of a three-brained being having organs of perception and transformation for localizing the ‘holy affirming’ force of the sacred Triamazikamno, in other words, the exioëhary formed in a three-brained keschapmartnian being of the ‘male’ sex, can never be blended—owing to that same law—with the exioëhary formed in the presence of a two-brained keschapmartnian being of the opposite sex.» — Beelzebub declara la regla en planetas normales: el *exioëhary* de un ser de tres cerebros del sexo masculino nunca puede mezclarse con el de un ser de dos cerebros del sexo opuesto.

«On the other hand, when a special combination of cosmic forces occurs and this same law of the ‘affinity of the numbers of the totality of vibrations’ begins to act, the exioëhary formed in a three-brained keschapmartnian being of the ‘female’ sex can sometimes, in certain surrounding conditions, blend quite well with the exioëhary formed in two-brained keschapmartnian beings of the male sex, but only as the active factor in the actualizing process of the fundamental sacred Triamazikamno.» — Beelzebub declara la excepción: bajo una combinación especial de fuerzas cósmicas y la ley de la afinidad de vibraciones, el *exioëhary* de un ser de tres cerebros del sexo femenino sí puede mezclarse con el de seres de dos cerebros del sexo masculino, solo como factor activo.

«In short, during those terrible years on that planet of yours, a phenomenon very rare in the Universe appeared, that is, a blending of the exioëhary of two keschapmartnian beings of different brain systems and of opposite sexes; and the result was the arising of the ancestors of these terrestrial ‘misconceived’ beings now called ‘apes,’ who give your favorites no peace, and from time to time so agitate their strange Reason.» — Beelzebub declara el resultado de esa mezcla rarísima en el Universo: el surgimiento de los antepasados de los seres terrestres mal concebidos que hoy llaman monos.

«But when this terrible period was over, a relatively normal process of ordinary existence was reestablished on your planet, and your favorites of different sexes again began to find each other and exist together; and thereafter those ‘ape-beings’ actualized the continuation of their species among themselves.» — Beelzebub declara qué pasó después: restablecida la existencia ordinaria, esos seres-mono continuaron su especie entre ellos.

«The most interesting result of this highly abnormal manifestation of the three-brained beings of your planet is that there now exist a great many species of the descendants of these ape-beings, differing in exterior form; and each of these different species bears a striking resemblance to some form of two-brained quadruped being still in existence there.» — Beelzebub declara el resultado más interesante: hay muchas especies descendientes de esos seres-mono, y cada una se parece llamativamente a alguna forma de ser cuadrúpedo de dos cerebros aún existente allí.

«As for the ‘psychic features’ of all the different species of these apes, they are absolutely identical, even down to minute details, with those of the psyche of the three-brained beings of the ‘female sex’ there.» — Beelzebub declara qué halló sobre los rasgos psíquicos de todas esas especies de monos.

«From all I have learned about them during my observations, I foresee that this ‘scientific experiment’ will unquestionably arouse the serious interest of the rest of your favorites, and will for a time serve their strange Reason as material for endless discussion and argument.» — Beelzebub prevé el efecto de ese experimento científico entre los demás: material de discusión y disputa sin fin para su extraña Razón.

«As for the beings who propose to carry out this experiment, and as for any benefit to be derived from it by the other three-brained beings there, you can get a good idea of the whole thing if you remember the profoundly wise saying of our honorable Mullah Nasr Eddin: ‘Happy is the father whose son is busy even with murder and robbery, for then he will have no time to teach him titillation.’» — Beelzebub cita el dicho de Mullah Nasr Eddin con que juzga a quienes se proponen ese experimento.

«and, knowing my great interest in the three-brained beings breeding on the planet Earth, he does his best, as is clearly evident, to send me information concerning all their manifestations, thus keeping me constantly in touch with the whole process of ordinary existence of these three-brained beings, although I am now inaccessibly remote, even for their featherweight thoughts.» — Beelzebub explica cómo se mantiene informado: alguien le manda etherogramas con las manifestaciones de esos seres, aunque él esté ya remoto hasta para sus pensamientos de peso pluma.

«And we alighted on this sea because it washed the eastern shores of the continent of Grabontzi, now called ‘Africa,’ where I wished to go, and where the ape-beings I needed then bred in greater numbers than on any of the other land masses on the surface of your planet; and also because this sea was particularly convenient for mooring our ship Occasion; but above all because it bordered the country known as ‘Nilia,’ now called ‘Egypt,’ where at that period those beings of our tribe existed who wished to remain on that planet, and upon whose help I was relying» — Beelzebub declara las tres razones del amaraje en aquel mar: la costa oriental de Grabontzi —hoy África—, donde más abundaban los seres-mono; la comodidad para amarrar la nave Occasion; y la vecindad de Nilia, hoy Egipto, donde vivían los suyos.

«On the very day of my arrival in the city of Thebes, one of the beings of our tribe there told me, among other things, that the Earth-beings of that locality had devised a new system for observing other cosmic concentrations from their planet, and in order to put it into effect were then building the required structures; and, as everybody was saying, this new system offered advantages and possibilities hitherto unparalleled on the Earth.» — Beelzebub relata la noticia que le dieron en Tebas: los seres de la localidad habían ideado un sistema nuevo para observar concentraciones cósmicas y estaban construyendo las estructuras necesarias.

«And so I decided to postpone for a while my original intention of immediately going farther south on that continent to collect the apes I needed, and to go instead to the place where those structures were being erected, in order to find out all about it for myself.» — Beelzebub relata su decisión de aplazar la recolección de monos e ir a ver esas obras.

«At that period on the Earth the beings occupied with such observations and studies were called ‘astrologers.’ But later, when that psychic disease of your favorites called ‘wiseacring’ was finally fixed in them, and these specialists ‘shriveled and shrank,’ becoming ‘specialists’ only in giving names to remote cosmic concentrations, they came to be called ‘astronomers.’» — Beelzebub da los dos nombres del oficio y explica el cambio: los llamaban astrólogos, y cuando la enfermedad del *wiseacring* quedó fijada en ellos y esos especialistas se encogieron hasta solo poner nombres a concentraciones remotas, pasaron a llamarse astrónomos.

«The difference in value and significance for the beings around them between the professionals of that time and those who supposedly follow the same occupation today may show you the extent of the decline that has steadily taken place in the crystallization of data engendering ‘sane logical mentation,’ which your favorites as three-brained beings ought to have in their common presence; I therefore find it necessary to explain this change for the worse, and help you reach an approximate understanding of it.» — Beelzebub declara qué muestra esa diferencia de valor entre los profesionales de entonces y los de hoy: la medida del declive en la cristalización de los datos que engendran la mentación lógica sana.

«as long as these astrologers existed among them, they followed their counsels very strictly and entered into conjugal unions only according to their indications.» — Beelzebub relata que mientras hubo astrólogos entre ellos, seguían sus consejos con rigor y solo formaban uniones conyugales según sus indicaciones.

«Thus the pairs chosen according to the indications of the astrologers nearly always turned out to be corresponding, which is the opposite of what happens there today when your favorites are united in conjugal pairs who almost never correspond in type; so that throughout their entire existence about half of the so-called ‘inner life’ of these couples is spent on what our esteemed Mullah Nasr Eddin» — Beelzebub contrasta aquellos matrimonios correspondientes con los de hoy, que casi nunca corresponden en tipo, y remite a Mullah Nasr Eddin para lo que se va de su vida interior.

«As soon as a function became disharmonized in the presence of any being, or was only just beginning to be so, he would apply to the astrologer of his district, who, on the basis of the oblekioonerish and of the variations expected according to calculation in the atmospheric processes caused by the action of other planets of their solar system, would indicate just what the disharmonized being should do with his planetary body at certain definite periods of the krentonalnian movement of that planet; as for instance, in what direction to lie down, how to breathe, what movements it was preferable to make, with which types of beings to avoid relations, and many other things of this kind.» — Beelzebub describe la otra función del astrólogo: ante una función desarmonizada indicaba, sobre el *oblekioonerish* y las variaciones atmosféricas calculadas, qué hacer con el cuerpo planetario en ciertos periodos del movimiento *krentonalnian*.

«But this beneficial practice, established in the process of their existence, your favorites have thrown—as they have all their other good attainments, without even having had time to make real use of it—to the ‘gluttonous swine’ of our venerable Mullah Nasr Eddin.» — Beelzebub declara qué hicieron sus favoritos con esa práctica benéfica, como con todo lo bueno que alcanzaron.

«There is no need to draw any other logical conclusion about this ‘initiating factor’ actualized specially for them; the very name of this map of theirs is enough to show that its designations can only be relative.» — Beelzebub declara qué basta para concluir sobre ese mapa suyo: su propio nombre muestra que sus designaciones solo pueden ser relativas.

«even though they rack their ‘esteemed brains’ in devising names and calculating various measurements, your favorites can see only those suns and planets that, fortunately for them, do not change too rapidly the course of their falling in relation to their own planet, thus making it possible for them over long periods of time—long, of course, as compared with the brevity of their own existence—to observe and, as they pompously put it, ‘mark down their positions.’» — Beelzebub declara qué pueden ver realmente: solo los soles y planetas que no cambian demasiado rápido el curso de su caída respecto del suyo.

«In any case, my boy, if these astrologers had continued to exist and practice there, they surely would have acquired such experience that the existence of the beings of this unfortunate planet would gradually have come to bear some resemblance, at least in their family relations, to that of similar beings on other planets of our Great Universe.» — Beelzebub declara qué habría pasado de haber seguido existiendo esos astrólogos: la existencia de esos seres se habría parecido, al menos en sus relaciones familiares, a la de seres semejantes de otros planetas.

«I think, my boy, that before I continue to speak about the observatory and other structures erected for the welfare of the being-existence of your favorites, you should know that the ‘conscious power’ of the three-brained beings manifested in the creation of those great artifacts that I saw with my own eyes—unparalleled before and after that period—was also a result of the attainments of ordinary three-brained beings, members of the learned Society of Akhldanns» — Beelzebub declara de dónde vino el poder consciente manifestado en aquellas grandes obras: de los alcances de seres ordinarios de tres cerebros, miembros de la sabia Sociedad de Akhldanns.

«And I must tell you about the history of its arising and existence so that you may realize that if something is attained by the three-brained beings on your planet thanks to their ‘being-partkdolgduty’—that is to say, their conscious labor and intentional suffering—not only are these attainments utilized by them for the welfare of their own being but also, as with us, a certain part of these attainments is transmitted by heredity and becomes the property of their direct descendants.» — Beelzebub declara qué muestra esa historia: que lo alcanzado por el *being-partkdolgduty* —trabajo consciente y sufrimiento intencional— se transmite en parte por herencia y pasa a ser propiedad de los descendientes directos.

«You can perceive this law-conformable result in the fact that, although abnormal conditions of ordinary being-existence had begun to be established even before the disappearance of the continent of Atlantis, and although after the second great catastrophe they worsened to such an extent that the ableness to manifest the possibilities proper to the presence of three-brained beings was soon totally crushed in them, nevertheless, at least part of their scientific attainments passed by inheritance, even though mechanically, to their remote posterity.» — Beelzebub declara el alcance de esa ley: aun aplastada la capacidad de manifestar las posibilidades propias de los seres de tres cerebros, parte de sus alcances científicos pasó por herencia, aunque mecánicamente, a su posteridad remota.

«I must first tell you that I learned about the history of this society through what are called ‘teleoghinaras,’ also found in the atmosphere of your planet Earth.» — Beelzebub declara la fuente por la que supo la historia de esa sociedad: las *teleoghinaras* que también hay en la atmósfera de la Tierra.

«A ‘teleoghinara’ is a materialized idea or thought, which after its arising exists almost eternally in the atmosphere of the planet where it appeared.» — Beelzebub define la *teleoghinara* como idea o pensamiento materializado que, una vez surgido, existe casi eternamente en la atmósfera del planeta donde apareció.

«The ‘korkaptilnian thought-tapes’ concerning the arising of the learned Society of Akhldanns were, as I found out much later, intentionally fixed by a certain eternal Individual, Asoochilon, now a saint, who became coated in the common presence of a three-brained being named Tetetos, who arose on the continent of Atlantis and existed there four centuries before the second great transapalnian perturbation.» — Beelzebub declara quién fijó intencionalmente las cintas de pensamiento *korkaptilnian* sobre el surgimiento de la Sociedad de Akhldanns.

«These ‘korkaptilnian thought-tapes’ are never destroyed as long as the given planet remains in the same ‘tempo of movement’ as at the moment of their arising; and they are subject to none of those transformations, whatever the cosmic cause, to which all other cosmic substances» — Beelzebub declara la condición de permanencia de esas cintas: no se destruyen mientras el planeta guarde el mismo tempo de movimiento, y no sufren transformación cósmica alguna.

«And however long a time may have passed, every three-brained being who has acquired in his presence the ableness to enter into the being-state called ‘soorptakalknian contemplation’ can perceive these ‘korkaptilnian thought-tapes’ and become aware of their contents.» — Beelzebub declara quién puede percibirlas: todo ser de tres cerebros que haya adquirido la capacidad de entrar en el estado de contemplación *soorptakalknian*.

«It was founded on the initiative of a being there named Belcultassi, who was able to bring the perfecting of his highest being-part to the Being of a Sacred Eternal Individual; and this highest part of his now dwells on the Holy Planet Purgatory.» — Beelzebub nombra al fundador de la sociedad, Belcultassi, que llevó su parte superior al Ser de un Individuo Eterno Sagrado y habita ahora el Planeta Santo Purgatorio.

«In the course of my investigation of all the inner and outer being-impulses and manifestations that led this Belcultassi to form that truly great society of ordinary three-brained beings—‘envied’ in its day throughout the whole Universe as ‘worthy of imitation’—it appeared that one day while this future Sacred Individual was engaged in contemplation, according to the practice of every normal being, and by association his thoughts were concentrated on himself, that is, on the meaning and aim of his existence, he suddenly sensed and cognized that the functioning of the whole of him had been proceeding until then not as it should have proceeded according to sane logic.» — Beelzebub relata el arranque de Belcultassi: contemplando y concentrado en el sentido y el fin de su existencia, sintió y conoció de golpe que el funcionamiento de todo él no procedía como debía según la lógica sana.

«This unexpected realization shocked him so profoundly that thereafter he devoted the whole of himself exclusively to becoming able at any cost to unravel this and understand it.» — Beelzebub relata el efecto de esa comprensión: se dedicó entero a llegar a desentrañarla y entenderla a cualquier costo.

«As it became clear to me during my further detailed investigations, although Belcultassi had become convinced of the accuracy of his observations of himself, he doubted the validity of his own sensations and understanding, and even the normality of his own psychic organization.» — Beelzebub declara la duda de Belcultassi: convencido de la exactitud de sus observaciones de sí, dudaba de la validez de sus propias sensaciones y de la normalidad de su organización psíquica.

«He therefore set himself the task of verifying first of all whether he was in general normal in sensing and understanding everything in this way and not otherwise.» — Beelzebub declara la tarea que Belcultassi se puso: verificar si era normal sentir y entender todo así y no de otro modo.

«To carry out this task, he decided to find out whether others sensed and cognized things in the same way he did.» — Beelzebub declara el método que eligió: averiguar si otros sentían y conocían las cosas como él.

«Thanks to his inquiries, Belcultassi gradually succeeded in evoking sincerity in his friends and acquaintances, and as a result he learned that they all sensed and saw everything in themselves the same way that he did.» — Beelzebub declara el hallazgo: evocando sinceridad en sus amigos y conocidos, supo que todos sentían y veían en sí mismos lo mismo que él.

«Now among these friends and acquaintances of his were several serious beings not yet entirely enslaved by the action of the consequences of the properties of the organ kundabuffer, and they also, having penetrated to the gist of the matter, became very deeply interested in it, and continued to verify what proceeded in themselves and independently to observe those around them.» — Beelzebub declara qué distinguía a algunos de esos amigos: seres serios aún no esclavizados del todo por las consecuencias del órgano *kundabuffer*, que siguieron verificando en sí y observando a los de alrededor.

«As a result of prolonged verifications, observations, and impartial conclusions, this entire group of terrestrial beings became absolutely convinced, as Belcultassi was, that they were not as they ought to be.» — Beelzebub declara la convicción a que llegó todo el grupo tras verificaciones y conclusiones imparciales prolongadas.

«And this division into groups took place for the following reason: “When the members of the society had become definitely convinced that there was something very undesirable in their presence, they began to search for every possible means of achieving its removal from themselves, in order to become able to be what they ought to have been according to sane logic, and thus to correspond to the sense and aim of their existence, the elucidation of which they had determined to carry out at any cost as the very basis of their task.» — Beelzebub declara qué buscaron entonces: todo medio posible de remover eso indeseable para poder ser lo que debían ser según la lógica sana y corresponder al sentido y al fin de su existencia.

«Here you should note, my boy, that it was then that genuine Objective Science arose there for the first time, and developed normally until the second great catastrophe to their planet—certain of its branches even developing at an unprecedented rate.» — Beelzebub fecha allí el primer surgimiento de la Ciencia Objetiva genuina en la Tierra, que se desarrolló normalmente hasta la segunda catástrofe.

«The members of this first, and perhaps last, great terrestrial learned society were then divided into seven independent groups or ‘sections,’ and each of these sections received a specific designation.» — Beelzebub declara la organización de aquella sociedad: siete grupos o secciones independientes, cada uno con su designación propia.

«“The members of the fourth group were called ‘Akhldann-psychosovors,’ a name designating those members of the society who made observations of the perceptions, experiencings, and manifestations of beings like themselves— observations that they verified statistically. “» — Beelzebub describe a los *Akhldann-psychosovors*, que observaban las percepciones, vivencias y manifestaciones de seres como ellos y verificaban esas observaciones estadísticamente.

«“The members of the fifth group were called ‘Akhldann harnosovors,’ which meant that they were occupied with the study of the branch of knowledge that combined the two contemporary terrestrial sciences called by your favorites ‘chemistry’ and ‘physics.’ “» — Beelzebub describe a los *Akhldann harnosovors*, ocupados de la rama que junta las dos ciencias que sus favoritos llaman química y física.

«“The members belonging to the sixth section were called ‘Akhldannmistessovors,’ that is to say, beings who studied all kinds of outer events, whether actualized consciously or arising by themselves, and further studied which of these events were erroneously perceived by beings, and in what circumstances. “» — Beelzebub describe a los *Akhldannmistessovors*, que estudiaban toda clase de sucesos externos y cuáles eran percibidos erróneamente por los seres, y en qué circunstancias.

«“The three-brained beings of your planet who became members of this society actually approached Objective Knowledge to a degree that had never been reached before and perhaps will never be reached again. “» — Beelzebub declara hasta dónde llegaron esos miembros: se acercaron al Conocimiento Objetivo en un grado nunca antes alcanzado y quizá nunca alcanzado de nuevo.

«“And here it is impossible not to express regret that, to the great misfortune of the terrestrial three-brained beings of all later epochs, just at the moment when, after incredible being-efforts by the members of that great society, the required tempo of work had finally been established—both with regard to the conscious discernment of themselves and the unconscious preparation for the welfare of their descendants—just at the height of all their efforts, as I said, certain of them ascertained that something serious was soon to befall their planet. “» — Beelzebub declara el momento del corte: justo cuando el tempo de trabajo quedaba establecido, algunos comprobaron que algo serio iba a caer sobre su planeta.

«“In order to determine the character of the serious event they anticipated, they dispersed over the whole planet and, shortly afterward, as you already know, the second transapalnian perturbation occurred to that ill-fated planet of yours. “» — Beelzebub relata que se dispersaron por todo el planeta para determinar el carácter de ese suceso, y poco después ocurrió la segunda perturbación transapalniana.

«“They found a suitable place in the valley of the large river flowing northward on that continent and they all migrated there with their families, in order to continue in seclusion to fulfill the tasks undertaken by their society. “» — Beelzebub relata dónde se reasentaron los supervivientes: el valle del gran río que corre al norte de aquel continente, adonde migraron con sus familias para seguir en reclusión las tareas de su sociedad.

«The hope of the few surviving members of the Society of Akhldanns that they would be able to revive the society and carry out its tasks was not fulfilled.» — Beelzebub declara que la esperanza de los pocos miembros supervivientes de revivir la sociedad no se cumplió.

«Nevertheless, thanks to them alone, there was preserved in the presence of the beings of several generations after the loss of Atlantis the sense and ‘instinctive conviction’ of the need for what is called ‘completed personal being.’» — Beelzebub declara qué se conservó solo gracias a ellos en generaciones posteriores a la pérdida de Atlántida: el sentido y la convicción instintiva de la necesidad del *completed personal being*.

«It was also thanks to them that certain attainments of the Reason of the three-brained beings there survived as long as their Reason remained normal, and after a while began to be transmitted mechanically from generation to generation, reaching the beings of quite recent periods and even certain beings of the present day.» — Beelzebub declara el otro legado: ciertos alcances de la Razón se transmitieron después mecánicamente de generación en generación, hasta seres de periodos recientes y aun del día de hoy.

«Although, when I saw this new observatory with my own eyes, the expectations I had formed about it from everything our countrymen had told me were not justified, nevertheless this observatory and the other architectural works of the beings of that region proved to be exceedingly ingenious, and aroused in my common presence data that enriched my consciousness with a great deal of productive information.» — Beelzebub declara su juicio sobre el observatorio: no cumplió lo que esperaba por lo que le habían contado, y aun así resultó ingenioso y enriqueció su conciencia con información productiva.

«The first fact is that at the beginning, while they were still existing normally in a manner becoming to all three-brained beings in general and while they still had what is called ‘olooestesnokhnian sight,’ they could perceive with their own eyes the visibility of all great and small cosmic concentrations existing beyond them during any process of the Omnipresent Okidanokh taking place in their atmosphere up to a distance proper to the vision of ordinary three-brained beings.» — Beelzebub declara qué podían percibir esos seres mientras existían normalmente y conservaban la vista *olooestesnokhnian*: la visibilidad de todas las concentraciones cósmicas durante cualquier proceso del Okidanokh en su atmósfera.

«Moreover, those who had consciously perfected themselves and who had thereby brought the sensitivity of perception of their organ of sight up to what is called the ‘olooessultratesnokhnian state,’ acquired, as do three-brained beings everywhere else, the possibility of perceiving, at that same distance, the visibility of all cosmic units whose arising and further existence depend» — Beelzebub declara qué añadían quienes se habían perfeccionado conscientemente hasta el estado *olooessultratesnokhnian*.

«And when the abnormal conditions of ordinary being-existence had become fixed there, and when, for reasons I have already told you about, Great Nature was compelled, among other restrictive measures, to degrade the functioning of their organ of sight to what is called the ‘koritesnokhnian’ level —proper only to the presence of one-brained and two-brained beings—from that time on the three-brained beings there were able to perceive the visibility of any great or small cosmic concentrations situated beyond them only when the sacred process of ‘Aleioiuoa’ proceeded in the ‘omnipresent active element’ Okidanokh in the atmosphere of their planet or, as they say, according to their understanding and perceptions, in the ‘dark of night.’» — Beelzebub declara la degradación: la Gran Naturaleza tuvo que rebajar su órgano de la vista al nivel *koritesnokhnian*, propio de seres de uno y dos cerebros, y desde entonces solo perciben concentraciones cósmicas durante el proceso sagrado en la atmósfera, es decir, en lo que ellos llaman la oscuridad de la noche; el troceo imprime *Aleioiuoa* donde el libro escribe en otras partes *Aieioiuoa*.

«Here it is opportune to recall one of the profound sayings of our Mullah Nasr Eddin, which very neatly fits the present case, that is, the degree to which the visual perception of your contemporary favorites is limited.» — Beelzebub remite a un dicho de Mullah Nasr Eddin que ajusta a la limitación de la percepción visual de sus favoritos contemporáneos.

«Well, my boy, thanks to the artificial devices for the observation of other cosmic concentrations which I had seen, and which were being constructed in that future Egypt on the initiative coming from the Reason of the remote descendants of the members of the learned Society of Akhldanns, any one of these unfortunate favorites of yours, in spite of the ‘koritesnokhnian’ sight that had long before become inherent in them, acquired the power to perceive freely at any time, as they say, ‘of the day or night’ the visibility of all those remote cosmic concentrations which during the process of the general harmonious movement fell within the sphere of their observation.» — Beelzebub declara qué ganaban con aquellos dispositivos artificiales pese a la vista *koritesnokhnian*: percibir libremente a cualquier hora las concentraciones remotas que cayeran en su esfera de observación.

«To compensate for the limitation of their organ of visual perception they invented the following: instead of placing their ‘teskooano, ‘ or telescope, on the surface of the planet, as was the custom in those days and still is, they placed it very deep within the planet, according to an idea which, by the way,» — Beelzebub declara el invento con que compensaban esa limitación: poner el *teskooano* muy hondo dentro del planeta y no en su superficie.

«Each of them opened toward the horizon from a different point in the space occupied by the observatory, but they all converged at a small underground hollow, something like a ‘cave.’» — Beelzebub describe la disposición de los tubos, abiertos al horizonte desde puntos distintos y convergentes en un pequeño hueco subterráneo parecido a una cueva.

«I repeat, my boy, that although the chief particularity of the observatory erected by the three-brained beings of the future Egypt was not new to me, since this principle had also been applied in my observatory on Mars—the only difference being that my seven long tubes were placed not within the planet but on its surface—nevertheless all their innovations were so interesting that, for any eventuality, I even made a detailed sketch of everything I saw during my stay there, and later made use of some of it in my own observatory.» — Beelzebub declara que ese principio no le era nuevo, pues lo había aplicado en Marte con sus siete tubos largos en la superficie, y que aun así hizo un croquis detallado de lo que vio.

«It is very interesting to note here that at the main entrance to that vast enclosure they had erected a rather large stone figure—large of course in comparison with the size of their presences—called the ‘Sphinx,’ which strongly reminded me of the statue I had seen on my first descent in person to your planet in the city of Samlios, just opposite the enormous building belonging to the learned Society of Akhldanns, which was then known as the ‘principal cathedral’ of this society.» — Beelzebub compara la figura de piedra de la entrada, llamada Sphinx, con la estatua que vio en Samlios frente al edificio de la Sociedad de Akhldanns.

«The statue I saw in the city of Samlios and which greatly interested me was the emblem of the society, and was called ‘Conscience.’» — Beelzebub declara qué era aquella estatua de Samlios: el emblema de la sociedad, y cómo se llamaba.

«This bull trunk rested on the four legs of another form of being existing there called ‘lion’; and to the part of the trunk called the ‘back’ were attached two large wings, similar in appearance to those of a powerful bird-being breeding there called ‘eagle.’» — Beelzebub describe la figura: tronco de toro sobre las cuatro patas de un león, con dos alas grandes semejantes a las de un águila.

«‘This allegorical figure is the emblem of the Society of Akhldanns, and serves as a stimulus for all its members constantly to recall and awaken in themselves the impulses corresponding to those it represents.’» — el miembro de la sociedad declara qué es esa figura alegórica y para qué sirve a sus miembros.

«Each part of this allegorical figure arouses in every member of our society, in the three independently associating parts of his common presence, that is, in the body, in the thoughts, and in the feelings, a shock calling forth corresponding associations for the separate realizations which, in their totality, alone make it possible for us to rid ourselves little by little of the maleficent factors present in every one of us, both those factors transmitted by heredity and those we have ourselves acquired, which gradually engender within us undesirable impulses, as a consequence of which we are not what we might be.» — el miembro de la sociedad declara qué provoca cada parte de la figura en el cuerpo, los pensamientos y los sentimientos, y a qué apunta esa totalidad de realizaciones.

«The trunk of this allegorical being, represented by that of a bull, means that the factors crystallized in us, both inherited and personally acquired, which engender in our presences those maleficent impulses can be regenerated only by indefatigable labors—those labors for which, among all the beings of our planet, the “bull” is particularly fitted.» — el miembro de la sociedad declara qué significa el tronco de toro de la figura: que los factores heredados y adquiridos que engendran los impulsos maléficos solo pueden regenerarse por labores infatigables.

«The wings of the strongest and highest-soaring of birds, the “eagle,” attached to the bull’s trunk, constantly remind the members of our society that, during these labors, and while experiencing this inner psychic property of self-respect, one must meditate unceasingly on questions not concerned with the manifestations directly required for ordinary being-existence.» — el miembro de la sociedad declara qué recuerdan las alas de águila: que durante esas labores hay que meditar sin cesar en cuestiones no ligadas a las manifestaciones de la existencia ordinaria.

«And that the head is fixed to the trunk of the bull with amber signifies that this love should be strictly impartial, that is to say, completely separated from all the other functions proceeding in every whole responsible being.» — el miembro de la sociedad declara qué significa que la cabeza esté fijada al tronco con ámbar: que ese amor debe ser estrictamente imparcial, separado por completo de las demás funciones del ser responsable.

«In order, my boy, for you to understand the meaning symbolized by the material known there as ‘amber,’ I must add that amber is one of the seven planetary formations» — Beelzebub declara qué es el ámbar: una de las siete formaciones planetarias.

«Good! ... If not even one of the benefits for ordinary being-existence formerly attained by the Reason of the beings of the continent of Atlantis has come down by inheritance to contemporary beings of your planet, this could perhaps be logically justified by the simple fact that, for cosmic reasons neither issuing from the three-brained beings there nor in any way depending upon them, the second great cataclysm not according to law occurred, in which not only this continent itself perished but also almost everything existing upon it.» — Beelzebub concede la justificación lógica de que nada de lo alcanzado por la Razón de los atlantes llegara por herencia: la segunda catástrofe no conforme a ley, por causas ajenas a esos seres.

«Nevertheless, the three-brained beings dwelling there did not perish, but were only scattered over various other parts of the same continent, and so in whatever new conditions they found themselves, there should have been preserved in their presence the crystallized results of the factors perfected for normal ‘being-logical mentation,’ transmitted to them by heredity.» — Beelzebub retira esa justificación: los seres no perecieron, solo se dispersaron, y en su presencia debían haberse conservado los resultados cristalizados de los factores perfeccionados para la mentación lógica sana.

«For when this particularity of their psyche—horrifying for every being with Reason—reaches its climax and those three-brained beings begin to manifest it outwardly, that is to say, when they begin to carry out the process of reciprocal destruction on some part of the surface of their planet, then, at the same time, just in passing, as it were, with no deliberate aim and even without what is called ‘organic need,’ they also destroy everything that comes within range of their organ of sight.» — Beelzebub declara qué ocurre cuando esa particularidad de su psique llega al clímax: además de destruirse entre sí, destruyen de paso, sin fin deliberado ni necesidad orgánica, todo lo que cae bajo su órgano de la vista.

«And so it was, my boy, that at the period of my fourth sojourn on the surface of your planet, and after my arrival in the country now known as ‘Egypt,’ I stayed there several days among the remote descendants of the members of the learned Society of Akhldanns, and became acquainted with certain results of their being-partkdolgduty that had survived for the welfare of their descendants.» — Beelzebub relata su estancia en el actual Egipto entre los descendientes remotos de la Sociedad de Akhldanns y su conocimiento de ciertos resultados de su *being-partkdolgduty*.

«This family solemnity, called a ‘khri-khra-khri,’ was the consecration by the beings around Gornahoor Harharkh of his recently arisen first heir.» — Beelzebub nombra la solemnidad familiar *khri-khra-khri*: la consagración por los allegados de Gornahoor Harharkh de su primer heredero recién surgido.

«Here it is interesting to remark that the ceremony for assuming this being-duty also took place in ancient times among the three-brained beings of your planet and has even come down to your contemporary favorites but, just as in everything else, they have kept only the external form of this serious and important procedure.» — Beelzebub afirma que esa ceremonia se daba también en la Tierra antigua y llegó a sus favoritos contemporáneos, que solo conservaron su forma externa.

«The beings who, as it were, take this obligation upon themselves are called by your contemporary favorites ‘godfathers’ and ‘godmothers.’» — Beelzebub da el nombre que sus favoritos dan a quienes asumen esa obligación.

«By now their numbers had considerably increased, and they were already populating almost all the large and small land masses on your planet; and of course their chief particularity continued to manifest itself, that is to say, every so often they would begin to destroy each other’s existence.» — Beelzebub describe lo observado en aquellos años: su número había crecido mucho, poblaban casi todas las tierras, y su particularidad principal seguía manifestándose.

«The cause of the destruction of these ‘centers of culture’ and of the changes on the surface of the Earth was a new catastrophe, the third for this ill-fated planet.» — Beelzebub declara la causa de la destrucción de aquellos centros de cultura y de los cambios en la superficie: una nueva catástrofe, la tercera del planeta.

«This third catastrophe was entirely local in character, and occurred as a result of unprecedented accelerated ‘displacements of parts of the atmosphere’ or, as your favorites would say, ‘great winds,’ which lasted several years.» — Beelzebub declara el carácter de esa tercera catástrofe: enteramente local, por desplazamientos acelerados de partes de la atmósfera —grandes vientos— que duraron varios años.

«And the cause of these abnormal displacements, or ‘great winds,’ was once again those two fragments which had broken off from this planet of yours during the first great calamity and which later became small independent planets of that solar system, known today as the ‘Moon’ and ‘Anulios.’» — Beelzebub adjudica la causa de esos vientos a los dos fragmentos desprendidos en la primera calamidad, hoy Moon y Anulios.

«Strictly speaking, the main cause of this third terrestrial catastrophe was the larger of the fragments, namely the Moon; the smaller fragment, Anulios, played no part in it whatsoever.» — Beelzebub precisa la adjudicación: la causa principal fue el fragmento mayor, la Luna, y Anulios no tuvo parte alguna.

«When the atmosphere around the small, accidentally arisen planet Moon had been finally formed, and the Moon was still falling back upon its fundamental mass, by a path established according to the already mentioned ‘law of catching up,’ and this newly arisen definite presence around the Moon had not yet acquired its own harmony within the ‘common-system harmony of movement,’ then the ‘osmooalnian friction,’ as it is called, not being harmonized with the whole, provoked in the Earth’s atmosphere these accelerated displacements, or ‘great winds.’» — Beelzebub explica el mecanismo: la fricción *osmooalnian*, no armonizada aún con el todo, provocó en la atmósfera terrestre esos desplazamientos acelerados.

«It is interesting to note here that your contemporary favorites also learned, by some means or other, that the three-centered beings of that period changed the places of their permanent existence, and having attached one of their ‘labels’ to this, namely, the ‘great migration of races,’ they stuck it on to what they call their ‘knowledge.’» — Beelzebub refiere que sus favoritos contemporáneos supieron de aquel cambio de lugar y le pegaron la etiqueta de la gran migración de las razas.

«At the present time there are several theories about this that have nothing in common and, in an objective sense, are each more absurd than the other, but are nevertheless recognized there by what is called ‘official science.’» — Beelzebub declara el estado de esas explicaciones: varias teorías sin nada en común, cada una más absurda que la otra en sentido objetivo, y aun así reconocidas por la ciencia oficial.

«But in fact, the true cause of the migration of the three-centered beings of that epoch was that as soon as this process of erosion began, the beings inhabiting the continent of Ashhark, fearing to be buried by the sands, started to move to other, safer places.» — Beelzebub declara la causa verdadera de aquella migración: empezada la erosión, los habitantes de Ashhark temieron quedar sepultados por las arenas y se movieron a lugares más seguros.

«Most of the three-brained beings populating Tikliamish moved to the southern part of the continent of Ashhark, to the country later called ‘Persia,’ while the rest moved north and settled in the regions afterward called ‘Kirghizcheri.’» — Beelzebub traza los destinos: la mayoría de Tikliamish al sur de Ashhark, la futura Persia, y el resto al norte, a la región después llamada Kirghizcheri.

«Those who went east, after crossing high mountains, settled on the shores of a large ‘saliakooriapnian’ space, in the region later called ‘China.’» — Beelzebub traza el destino de los que fueron al este, tras cruzar montañas altas, a la región después llamada China.

«And those beings of Maralpleicie who had sought safety by moving to the west, after wandering from place to place, ultimately reached the neighboring continent, later called ‘Europe.’» — Beelzebub traza el destino de los de Maralpleicie que fueron al oeste, hasta el continente vecino después llamado Europa.

«I purposely selected a large number of individual beings from among your favorites, and during many of their years, either I personally or someone I specially commissioned kept them under close observation, trying as much as possible not to miss anything, and to clarify for myself from every aspect all the particularities in their manifestations during the process of their ordinary existence.» — Beelzebub describe su método de observación: eligió a propósito muchos seres particulares y los mantuvo bajo observación estrecha durante años, intentando no perder nada de sus manifestaciones.

«And so, one day, while I was carrying on these observations from the planet Mars through my teskooano, it flashed upon me that the length of their existence was, century by century, and even year by year, becoming shorter, at a very definite and uniform rate; and this served as the starting point for my subsequent intensive study of the psyche of these three-brained beings who have taken your fancy.» — Beelzebub declara el hallazgo que fue el punto de partida de su estudio intensivo: la duración de su existencia se acortaba siglo a siglo, y aun año a año, a un ritmo muy definido y uniforme.

«Of course, when I first became aware of this, I immediately took into account not only the chief particularity of their psyche, that is, their periodic reciprocal destruction, but also the innumerable what are called ‘diseases’ found exclusively on that planet, and most of which, by the way, arose and continue to arise owing as always to the abnormal external conditions of ordinary being-existence they themselves have established—conditions that are greatly to blame for their inability to exist normally until the sacred ‘rascooarno.’» — Beelzebub declara qué tuvo en cuenta al notarlo: su particularidad principal y las innumerables enfermedades exclusivas de ese planeta, casi todas nacidas de las condiciones anormales que ellos mismos establecieron.

«When I noticed this for the first time, and began to recall my former impressions on the subject, this fact flashed upon my essence, and each of the separate independent spiritualized parts of my whole presence became filled with the conviction that in the beginning these three-brained beings of your planet had actually existed, according to their time calculation, for as many as twelve, and some of them even for fifteen centuries.» — Beelzebub declara la convicción que le llenó: que al principio esos seres existían hasta doce siglos, y algunos hasta quince.

«For you to have a clearer picture of the rate at which the length of their existence diminished during this period, it is enough to tell you that when I left that solar system forever, the maximum length of their existence had decreased to no more than seventy to ninety of their years.» — Beelzebub da la cifra a que había bajado esa duración cuando dejó aquel sistema solar para siempre: no más de setenta a noventa años.

«And if anyone were to exist for a little over a century he would be exhibited in their museums; and of course all the rest of the beings there would know about him because his ‘photograph’ and descriptions of his manner of existence, down to each step he takes, would keep appearing in all their ‘newspapers,’ as they are called.» — Beelzebub describe qué harían allí con quien pasara del siglo: exhibirlo en sus museos, con su fotografía y la descripción de cada paso en todos sus periódicos.

«So, my boy, since at the time when I suddenly became aware of this fact I had no special business on the planet Mars, and since it was quite impossible to try to probe this new peculiarity by means of the teskooano, I decided to go in person to the planet Earth, in order to clear up for myself on the spot the causes of this phenomenon.» — Beelzebub declara por qué decidió bajar en persona: era imposible sondear esa peculiaridad con el *teskooano*.

«At the time of this fifth flight of mine to your planet, their ‘center for the incoming and outgoing results of the perfecting of being-comprehension’ or their ‘center of culture,’ as they call it, was the city of ‘Babylon’; so it was just there that I decided to go.» — Beelzebub sitúa el centro de cultura de aquel tiempo, adonde decidió ir: la ciudad de Babilonia.

«When I first arrived in this ‘center of culture’ of theirs, they were just then preparing what later became the principal cause of acceleration in the rate of degeneration of their ‘psychic organization,’ especially in the sense of the atrophy in them of the instinctive functioning of those three fundamental factors which ought to exist in the presence of every three-brained being— namely, those factors which give rise to the being-impulses existing under the names of ‘Faith,’ ‘Hope,’ and ‘Love.’» — Beelzebub declara qué preparaban entonces allí: la causa principal de la aceleración del ritmo de degeneración de su organización psíquica, sobre todo por la atrofia de los tres factores que dan los impulsos llamados Fe, Esperanza y Amor.

«And the degeneration of these being-factors, increasing from one generation to another, has reached such a point that instead of the real being-psyche that should exist in the presence of every kind of three-brained being, there now exists in the presence of your contemporary favorites a ‘real’ psyche, to be sure, but one that can be very well described by the following wise saying of our dear Mullah Nasr Eddin: ‘It has everything in it except the core, or even the kernel.’» — Beelzebub declara el estado a que llegó esa degeneración de generación en generación, y cita a Mullah Nasr Eddin para describir la psique que hoy tienen sus favoritos.

«To begin with, I must tell you that I obtained the information about the events I am going to relate chiefly from those beings whom the other three-centered beings there call ‘learned.’» — Beelzebub declara de quiénes obtuvo la información de esos sucesos: de los seres que allí llaman sabios.

«Note, by the way, that our venerated Mullah Nasr Eddin expresses the importance of such learned beings as follows: ‘Everybody seems to believe that our learned professors know that half a hundred is fifty.’» — Beelzebub cita a Mullah Nasr Eddin sobre la importancia de esos sabios.

«The point is that most of the learned beings of the Earth had been assembled there under compulsion by a highly eccentric Persian king, under whose dominion at that period was also the city of Babylon.» — Beelzebub declara cómo estaban allí reunidos: por compulsión de un rey persa excéntrico bajo cuyo dominio estaba entonces Babilonia.

«The first of these facts is that, almost from the time of the loss of the continent of Atlantis, there gradually began to be crystallized and in later centuries to be definitely fixed in the presence of every one of your favorites a particular property, thanks to which the sensation called ‘happiness for one’s» — Beelzebub declara el primer hecho: desde la pérdida de Atlántida se fue cristalizando y fijando en sus favoritos una propiedad ligada a la sensación de felicidad.

«The worst of it is that, because of this particular property in their common presence, the sensation arising from the possession of that metal is reinforced by the beings surrounding the possessor, and even by those beings who learn about it only by hearsay rather than through their own perceptions.» — Beelzebub declara lo peor de esa propiedad: la sensación que da poseer ese metal la refuerzan los que rodean al poseedor y hasta los que solo lo saben de oídas.

«And the second fact is this, that when their chief particularity functions in the presences of your favorites at an accelerated tempo, and the process of reciprocal destruction breaks out among their different communities according to established custom, then after this maleficent property, inherent in them alone, has run its course and this process of theirs ceases for a while, the king of the community in which a greater number of subjects has survived, on receiving the title of ‘conqueror,’ usually seizes for himself everything belonging to the beings of the conquered community.» — Beelzebub declara el segundo hecho: acabado un proceso de destrucción recíproca, el rey de la comunidad con más súbditos vivos recibe el título de conquistador y se apodera de todo lo de los vencidos.

«Well, my boy, when the subjects of that eccentric Persian king conquered the beings of another community, he ordered them not to take or even touch any of these, but instead to bring back as ‘captives’ only the learned beings of the conquered community.» — Beelzebub declara la orden distinta de aquel rey persa: no tocar nada de eso y traer como cautivos solo a los seres sabios de la comunidad conquistada.

«In order to represent clearly to yourself and understand just why this peculiar craze, proper to him alone, arose in the individuality of that Persian king, you must know that at the period of the Tikliamishian civilization, in the town of ‘Chiklaral,’ a learned three-brained being by the name of Kharnakhoom—whose essence later became crystallized into what is called an ‘Eternal Hasnamuss Individual’—invented the notion that any old metal you like, found in abundance on the surface of that planet, could easily be transformed into the rare metal ‘gold’; and that all you needed to know for this was one very small secret.» — Beelzebub declara el origen de esa manía: Kharnakhoom, sabio de Tikliamish que después se cristalizó en *Eternal Hasnamuss Individual*, inventó la noción de que cualquier metal abundante podía transformarse en oro con un secreto muy pequeño.

«This pernicious invention of his became widely spread there and, having become crystallized in the presence of the beings of that time, passed from generation to generation and gradually took the form of a maleficent, fantastic science under the name of ‘alchemy’—the very name of that great science which had indeed existed there as a branch of genuine knowledge during long-past epochs when the consequences of the properties of the organ kundabuffer had not yet been completely crystallized in the presence of their ancestors—a science that could have been most useful, or indeed essential, for all three-brained beings there, even of contemporary times.» — Beelzebub declara qué se hizo de esa invención perniciosa: cristalizada y pasada de generación en generación, tomó la forma de una ciencia fantástica y maléfica llamada alquimia, nombre de una ciencia que sí había existido allí como conocimiento genuino en épocas remotas.

«When this Persian king had definitely decided to obtain gold by means of alchemy, he realized then and there with the whole of his being that he did not yet know that ‘little secret’ without which it was absolutely impossible to fulfill this desire.» — Beelzebub relata que el rey persa comprendió con todo su ser que no sabía el pequeño secreto sin el cual era imposible cumplir ese deseo.

«His serious reflection first led his Reason to the conclusion that one or another of the learned beings of his community undoubtedly knew this secret but of course, since ‘professional secrecy’ was strictly observed among beings of that fraternity, nobody was willing to reveal it.» — Beelzebub relata su primera conclusión: algún sabio de su comunidad debía saberlo, pero el secreto profesional se guardaba estrictamente entre ellos.

«He then realized that it was necessary not merely to question, but to put pressure on the learned beings to compel them to reply.» — Beelzebub relata la conclusión siguiente: no bastaba preguntar, había que presionar a los sabios para obligarlos a responder.

«And when this eccentric Persian king finally became convinced that the learned beings of his community really knew nothing about this mystery, he began to look in other communities for learned beings who might know about it.» — Beelzebub relata el paso siguiente: convencido de que sus sabios nada sabían, buscó sabios en otras comunidades.

«As the kings of these other communities were unwilling to hand over their learned beings for interrogation, he decided to compel these recalcitrant rulers by force.» — Beelzebub relata la decisión final: como los otros reyes no entregaban a sus sabios, resolvió obligarlos por la fuerza.

«This Persian king had many hordes in subjection to him because at that period, thanks to the ‘foreseeing adaptability’ of Great Nature, what is called the ‘birthrate’ had increased among the beings of the part of the surface of your planet where his kingdom was situated; moreover, at this same period, the conditions required for the common-cosmic trogoautoegocratic process were being actualized whereby there had to issue from this region of the surface of your planet more of those vibrations that arise from the destruction of the existence of beings.» — Beelzebub explica de dónde le venían las hordas: la adaptabilidad previsora de la Gran Naturaleza había aumentado la natalidad de esa región, donde el proceso trogoautoegocrático requería más vibraciones nacidas de la destrucción de la existencia de seres.

«When this eccentric Persian king with his subject hordes began to conquer the beings of other communities and to carry off their learned beings by force, he assigned the city of Babylon as a gathering place for them, and there they were taken in order that this lord of half the continent of Asia could interrogate them as he pleased, in the hope that one of them might happen to know the secret of turning base metal into gold.» — Beelzebub declara para qué asignó Babilonia como punto de reunión: interrogar allí a los sabios con la esperanza de que alguno supiera el secreto de convertir metal vil en oro.

«This Persian conqueror then carried off from Egypt all the learned beings he found there, both the native ones and those from other communities, and among their number were several Egyptian ‘priests,’ descendants of those learned members of the Society of Akhldanns who, having chanced to survive, had been the first to populate that country.» — Beelzebub refiere a quiénes se llevó de Egipto: todos los sabios que halló, entre ellos varios sacerdotes egipcios descendientes de los miembros sabios de la Sociedad de Akhldanns.

«But when a little later a new craze arose in the presence of that eccentric Persian king, this time for the process itself of the destruction of the existence of his fellow-beings, the new craze supplanted the former one, and he forgot all about the learned beings, who then began to exist freely in the city of Babylon awaiting his further instructions.» — Beelzebub relata el olvido: una nueva manía por el proceso mismo de destruir la existencia de sus semejantes desplazó a la anterior, y los sabios quedaron libres en Babilonia.

«The learned beings thus assembled from almost the whole of the planet in the city of Babylon often used to meet together, and of course, as is proper to ‘learned’ beings on the planet Earth, they discussed among themselves questions immeasurably beyond their comprehension, from which they could never derive anything useful whatsoever, either for themselves or for the ordinary beings there.» — Beelzebub describe las reuniones de esos sabios: discutían cuestiones inconmensurablemente fuera de su comprensión, de las que nada útil podían sacar ni para sí ni para los seres ordinarios.

«Well, it was precisely during these meetings and discussions that there arose among them, as generally happens with terrestrial learned beings, a ‘burning question of the day,’ which this time in some way or other stirred them, as they say, ‘to their very marrow.’» — Beelzebub declara qué surgió en esas reuniones: una cuestión ardiente del día que esta vez los conmovió hasta la médula.

«The question that chanced to become the ‘burning question of the day’ so vitally affected the whole being of every one of them that they even ‘climbed down from their pedestals’ and began discussing it not only with the ‘learned’ like themselves, but here, there, and everywhere, with anyone they happened» — Beelzebub declara el alcance de esa cuestión: bajaron de sus pedestales y la discutían con cualquiera y en todas partes.

«In spite of the number and variety of these theories, they were all based upon two quite opposite assumptions.» — Beelzebub declara la estructura del debate: pese al número y la variedad de teorías, todas se fundaban en dos supuestos opuestos.

«All the dualistic theories maintained the existence of the ‘soul,’ and of course its ‘immortality,’ as well as every conceivable ‘tribulation’ it might suffer after the death of the being, man.» — Beelzebub declara qué sostenían todas las teorías dualistas: la existencia del alma, su inmortalidad y toda tribulación imaginable tras la muerte del hombre.

«And all the atheistic theories maintained just the opposite.» — Beelzebub declara qué sostenían las ateístas.

«Now I wish to explain to you the expression, the ‘building of the Tower of Babel,’ which I just used and which is very often used on your planet by the contemporary three-brained beings.» — Beelzebub anuncia la explicación de la expresión sobre la torre de Babel, muy usada por los tres cerebros contemporáneos.

«When I first met him he was at an age when his ‘I’—in the sense of intelligently directing the ‘automatic psychic functioning’ of his common presence—had already attained the maximum stability possible for a three-centered being of the planet Earth at that time, so that during what is called his ‘passive waking state’ he had being-manifestations that were very clearly expressed, such as ‘consciousness of self,’ ‘impartiality,’ ‘sincerity,’ ‘sensitivity,’ ‘resourcefulness,’ and so forth.» — Beelzebub describe el estado de Hamolinadir al conocerlo: su *yo* había alcanzado la estabilidad máxima posible allí, con manifestaciones claras de conciencia de sí, imparcialidad, sinceridad, ingenio y sensibilidad.

«He was agitated and perplexed by the fact that the numerous theories on this subject, the new as well as the old, were all, in spite of their entirely contradictory proofs, equally plausible and convincing.» — Beelzebub declara qué agitaba y perplejaba a Hamolinadir: que las teorías nuevas y viejas, con pruebas del todo contradictorias, resultaran igualmente plausibles y convincentes.

«Although this learned Hamolinadir was descended from the race of beings called ‘Assyrian,’ and his arising and preparation for becoming a responsible being had taken place in that very city of Babylon, his knowledge had been acquired in Egypt, in the highest school of all those existing on the Earth at that time, called the ‘School for Materializing Thought.’» — Beelzebub sitúa a Hamolinadir: de raza asiria, formado en Babilonia, y con su conocimiento adquirido en Egipto, en la escuela más alta de entonces, llamada *School for Materializing Thought*.

«At first he spoke calmly, but the longer he spoke, the more agitated he became, until his voice rose to a shout as he began to criticize the ‘Reason’ in man.» — Beelzebub relata la escena del discurso: empezó tranquilo y se fue agitando hasta gritar, criticando la Razón en el hombre.

«‘To every man, and also of course to me, it is quite easy to prove anything whatever; all you need to know is which shocks and which associations to arouse in the various brains while one or another “truth” is being proved.» — Hamolinadir declara ante la asamblea que a cualquier hombre le es fácil probar lo que sea, y que basta saber qué choques y qué asociaciones despertar en los distintos cerebros mientras se prueba una verdad u otra.

«‘During this general dementia over the question of the ”soul,” this Reason of mine, in spite of its high development, has brought me nothing but “five Fridays a week.”» — Hamolinadir declara qué le ha dado su Razón, pese a lo desarrollada que está, en la demencia general sobre la cuestión del alma.

«‘Yet now, I honestly and sincerely declare before you all that, regarding this “question of the beyond,” I, with all the knowledge accumulated in me, am neither more nor less than an “idiot cubed.”» — Hamolinadir declara honesta y sinceramente ante todos qué es él, con todo el conocimiento acumulado, en la cuestión del más allá.

«‘This tower is being built of bricks that outwardly all look alike, but that are made of quite different materials.» — Hamolinadir describe la torre: se levanta con ladrillos que por fuera parecen iguales y están hechos de materiales muy distintos.

«Well then, with these bricks an immensely high tower is now being built right in the center of Babylon, and every more or less conscious person must realize that sooner or later this tower is certain to fall and crush not only all the people of Babylon but also everything else there.» — Hamolinadir declara el destino de esa torre altísima que se levanta en el centro de Babilonia: caerá y aplastará a los babilonios y a todo lo demás.

«Some of these sayings have even reached contemporary beings of the planet Earth, and among these is the ‘building of the Tower of Babel.’» — Beelzebub declara que algunos de esos dichos llegaron a los seres contemporáneos, entre ellos el de la construcción de la torre de Babel.

«And the contemporary beings also say, and are even quite persuaded, that during the building of this Babylonian tower a confusion of tongues occurred.» — Beelzebub declara qué añaden y creen los seres contemporáneos sobre aquella construcción.

«He uttered these last words while leaving, and ran off.» — Beelzebub cierra la escena de Hamolinadir.

«I also ascertained that this Hamolinadir never again occupied himself with ‘sciences’ and spent the rest of his existence in growing ‘choongary,’ which in contemporary language is called ‘maize.’» — Beelzebub declara el resto de la existencia de Hamolinadir: nunca volvió a ocuparse de ciencias y la pasó cultivando *choongary*, lo que hoy llaman maíz.

«One of these two teachings with adherents in Babylon was the ‘dualistic,’ and the other, the ‘atheistic’; thus one of them proved that beings have a ‘soul,’ and the other, quite the opposite, namely, that they have nothing of the kind.» — Beelzebub nombra las dos enseñanzas con adeptos en Babilonia y qué probaba cada una sobre el alma.

«This ‘fine body’ of man is immortal, that is to say, it is never destroyed.» — Beelzebub expone la tesis dualista sobre el cuerpo fino del hombre.

«According to this teaching, as soon as a man is born, two invisible ‘spirits’ perch upon his shoulders.» — Beelzebub expone la doctrina de los dos espíritus que se posan en los hombros del hombre al nacer.

«On his right shoulder sits a ‘spirit of good’ called an ‘angel,’ and on his left, a ‘spirit of evil’ called a ‘devil.’» — Beelzebub nombra a cada uno de esos espíritus y su lado.

«When the man dies, these spirits leave his ‘physical body’ on the Earth and take his ‘soul’ to ‘God,’ who exists somewhere ‘up in Heaven.’» — Beelzebub expone qué hacen esos espíritus al morir el hombre.

«There ‘up in Heaven’ this ‘God’ sits surrounded by His devoted angels and archangels, with a pair of ‘scales’ suspended in front of him.» — Beelzebub describe la escena celeste de esa doctrina, con la balanza suspendida ante Dios.

«On each side of the scales spirits stand on duty. On the right stand the spirits who are called ‘servants of Paradise,’ and these are the ‘angels’; and on the left stand the ‘servants of Hell’—these are the ‘devils.’» — Beelzebub describe a los espíritus de guardia a cada lado de la balanza y sus nombres.

«On the right pan He puts the notebook of the angel and on the left the notebook of the devil and, depending on which pan sinks lower, ‘God’ commands the spirits on duty on that side to take this ‘soul’ into their charge.» — Beelzebub describe el juicio de esa doctrina babilónica: los cuadernos del ángel y del demonio en cada platillo, y el destino del alma según cuál baje.

«Every deed of a man is good in the objective sense if it is done according to his conscience, and every deed is bad if from it he later experiences remorse.» — Beelzebub declara el criterio objetivo del bien y del mal: es bueno el acto hecho según la conciencia, y malo aquel del que después se experimenta remordimiento.

«As regards the question of which being-manifestations are considered good on your planet, and which bad, two distinct ways of understanding, having nothing in common, have existed from the most ancient times up to the present day.» — Beelzebub declara que sobre qué manifestaciones se tienen allí por buenas y por malas han existido desde la antigüedad dos entendimientos distintos sin nada en común.

«The first way of understanding exists there and passes from one generation to another through such three-brained beings as were the members of the learned Society of Akhldanns on the continent of Atlantis, and through such as those who, several centuries later, after the second transapalnian perturbation, were beginning, although in a different manner, to acquire almost the same data in the foundation of their common presence, and who were called ‘initiates.’» — Beelzebub declara por quiénes pasa el primero de esos entendimientos: los miembros de la Sociedad de Akhldanns y, siglos después, los llamados iniciados.

«In this teaching of the terrestrial hasnamussian candidates of that time, it was stated over and over again that there is no ‘God’ in the world, much less any ‘soul’ in man, and that therefore all the arguments and discussions about the ‘soul’ are nothing but the delirium of sick visionaries.» — Beelzebub expone la enseñanza de los candidatos *hasnamussian* de entonces: que no hay Dios en el mundo ni alma en el hombre, y que las discusiones sobre el alma son delirio de visionarios enfermos.

«It was further maintained that there exists in the world only one particular law of mechanics, according to which everything that exists passes from one form into another; that is to say, the results arising from any preceding causes are progressively transformed and become the causes of subsequent results.» — Beelzebub expone la tesis mecánica de esa enseñanza: solo existe una ley particular de mecánica por la que todo pasa de una forma a otra y los resultados se vuelven causas de resultados posteriores.

«Moreover, it was said that all ‘supernatural’ phenomena—even those actually perceptible to most people—are also nothing but results ensuing from this particular law of mechanics.» — Beelzebub expone qué hace esa enseñanza con los fenómenos sobrenaturales, incluso los perceptibles para la mayoría.

«But as regards the Reason of man, this is merely the sum of all the impressions he has perceived, from which there gradually arise in him data for the possibility of comparisons, deductions, and conclusions.» — Beelzebub expone qué es la Razón del hombre en esa enseñanza: la suma de las impresiones percibidas, de las que surgen los datos para comparar, deducir y concluir.

«And the strangest and most original aspect of this particularity of the ‘morality’ there, especially of the contemporary ‘morality,’ is that its functioning automatically depends on the moods of the ‘local authorities’; and these moods in their turn depend, also automatically, on the state of the four sources of action existing there under the names of ‘mother-in-law,’ ‘digestion,’ ‘John Thomas,’ and ‘cash.’» — Beelzebub declara lo más original de esa moralidad, sobre todo la contemporánea: su funcionamiento depende automáticamente de los humores de las autoridades locales, y esos humores de cuatro fuentes de acción.

«“The point is that during this great ‘agitation of minds’ in the city of Babylon, when these learned beings, through their collective wiseacrings, had acquired in their presences a mass of new data for hasnamussian manifestations—in addition to those they already had—and when they dispersed and went home to their own countries, they began, of course unconsciously, to propagate everywhere, like contagious bacilli, all those notions which together finally and utterly destroyed the last remnants and even the traces of the results of the holy labors of the Very Saintly Ashiata Shiemash» — Beelzebub declara qué hicieron aquellos sabios al volver a sus países: propagar, inconscientemente y como bacilos contagiosos, las nociones que destruyeron los últimos restos de las labores santas de Ashiata Shiemash.

«In the name of justice I must say here that the prime initiative for the destruction of the holy labors of Ashiata Shiemash did not spring from those learned terrestrial beings then assembled in the city of Babylon, but rather from the invention of a well-known ‘learned’ being who had existed on the continent of Asia several centuries before these Babylonian events.» — Beelzebub adjudica en justicia la iniciativa primera de esa destrucción: no a los sabios reunidos en Babilonia sino a la invención de un sabio célebre de Asia de siglos antes.

«His name was Lentrohamsanin; and this being, whose highest being-part was coated into a definite unit and perfected to the required gradation of Objective Reason, became one of those 313 Eternal Hasnamuss Individuals who now exist on the small planet bearing the name of ‘Retribution.’» — Beelzebub nombra a ese ser, Lentrohamsanin, y lo cuenta entre los 313 *Eternal Hasnamuss Individuals* que existen en el pequeño planeta llamado Retribution.

«Not only was the city of Babylon itself destroyed but also everything acquired and accomplished by the beings who had existed there for many of their centuries.» — Beelzebub declara el alcance de la destrucción de Babilonia: la ciudad y todo lo adquirido y logrado allí durante siglos.

«I have already told you more than once that, by the all-gracious command of our Infinitely Loving Common Father Endlessness, our Highest and Most Saintly Cosmic Individuals sometimes actualize within the presence of some terrestrial three-brained being the ‘definitized conception’ of a Sacred Individual, in order that, having become a terrestrial being with such a presence, he might comprehend the situation on the spot and give a suitable new direction to the process of the ordinary being-existence of your favorites, thanks to which there could perhaps be removed from their presences the already crystallized consequences of the properties of the organ kundabuffer, as well as the predisposition to new crystallizations.» — Beelzebub declara para qué actualizan a veces los Individuos Cósmicos Santísimos la concepción definitizada de un Individuo Sagrado dentro de un ser terrestre: que comprenda la situación en el sitio y dé nueva dirección a la existencia de esos seres.

«It was just seven centuries before the Babylonian events of which I have spoken that there was actualized in the planetary body of a three-brained being there the ‘definitized conception’ of a Sacred Individual named Ashiata Shiemash, who became in his turn a Messenger from Above, and who is now one of the Highest and Most Saintly Common-Cosmic Sacred Individuals.» — Beelzebub fecha esa actualización siete siglos antes de los sucesos babilónicos y nombra al Mensajero.

«The Very Saintly Ashiata Shiemash was the only Messenger sent from Above to your planet who by his holy labors succeeded in creating conditions in which for a certain time the existence of its unfortunate beings somewhat resembled the existence of three-brained beings with the same possibilities that inhabit other planets of our Great Universe.» — Beelzebub declara la singularidad de Ashiata Shiemash: el único Mensajero enviado a ese planeta que logró crear con sus labores santas condiciones en que por un tiempo la existencia de sus seres se pareció a la de otros planetas.

«And this saint was also the first who, for the accomplishment of the mission assigned to him, refused to employ the customary methods established during centuries by all the other Messengers from Above for the three-brained beings of that planet.» — Beelzebub declara la otra singularidad: fue el primero que rechazó los métodos establecidos por todos los demás Mensajeros para los seres de aquel planeta.

«Definite information relating to his very saintly activities did, however, pass from the contemporaries of the Very Saintly Ashiata Shiemash to the beings of following generations through those known as ‘initiates,’ by means of a certain ‘legomonism’ of his deliberations under the title of ‘The Terror of the Situation.’» — Beelzebub declara cómo pasó a las generaciones siguientes la información sobre las actividades de Ashiata Shiemash: por los iniciados, mediante un legomonismo de sus deliberaciones titulado *The Terror of the Situation*.

«In addition to this, there has been preserved from the period of his very saintly activities, and exists even to the present day, a ‘marble tablet’ on which were engraved his ‘counsels’ and ‘commandments’ to the beings of that time.» — Beelzebub declara qué más se conservó de ese periodo: una tabla de mármol con sus consejos y mandamientos grabados.

«The name ‘Olbogmek’ means, ‘There are no different religions, there is only one God.’» — Beelzebub traduce el nombre *Olbogmek*.

«This legomonism was of great help to me in elucidating certain strange aspects of the psyche of these peculiar beings, which until then I had been unable to understand at all, in spite of my careful observations of them during tens of centuries.» — Beelzebub declara para qué le sirvió ese legomonismo: aclarar aspectos de la psique de esos seres que en decenas de siglos de observación no había logrado entender.

«Legomonism,” Beelzebub replied, “is the name given to one of the means used there for transmitting from generation to generation information about certain events of long-past ages through those three-brained beings who have become worthy to be, and to be called, ‘initiates.’» — Beelzebub define el legomonismo como medio de transmitir de generación en generación información sobre sucesos remotos a través de los seres que se han hecho dignos de ser y de llamarse iniciados.

«This means of transmitting information had been devised by the beings of the continent of Atlantis.» — Beelzebub adjudica la invención de ese medio a los seres de Atlántida.

«According to the first meaning it is used, as in the past, to designate those beings who become ‘initiates’ thanks to their personal, conscious labor and intentional suffering, and who thus acquire in themselves, as I have already told you, objective merits that are perceptible to other beings of any brain-system and that evoke trust and respect.» — Beelzebub declara el primer sentido de la palabra iniciado: quien lo llega a ser por su trabajo consciente y su sufrimiento intencional, adquiriendo méritos objetivos perceptibles para seres de cualquier sistema cerebral.

«Under the pretence of following ‘supernatural’ or ‘occult’ sciences, these ‘robber gangs’ are really occupied, and very successfully, with this kind of ‘plunder.’» — Beelzebub declara a qué se dedican en realidad, y con éxito, esas bandas de ladrones bajo pretexto de ciencias sobrenaturales u ocultas.

«It is in fact the sole means by which information about certain events of long ago has accurately reached beings of later generations.» — Beelzebub declara la función única del legomonismo: el solo medio por el que información de sucesos remotos ha llegado con exactitud a generaciones posteriores.

«As for the information that passes from generation to generation through the mass of ordinary beings of that planet, either it disappears and is completely forgotten or, as our dear Mullah Nasr Eddin says, all that is left of it is ‘skin and bones and tales for Scheherazade.’» — Beelzebub declara qué pasa con la información transmitida por la masa de seres ordinarios, y cita a Mullah Nasr Eddin sobre lo que queda.

«Hence it is that when a few scraps of information about some event or other do happen to reach the beings of remote generations, and the ‘learned beings of new formation’ concoct their hodge-podge out of these scraps, a most peculiar and instructive phenomenon occurs: when all the ‘cockroaches’ hear what is in this hodge-podge, the ‘evil spirit of Saint Vitus’ immediately enters their common presences and dances to his heart’s content.» — Beelzebub describe el fenómeno que se produce cuando los sabios de nueva formación cocinan su revoltijo con unas migajas de información.

«I must tell you that when I used to exist among your favorites, it was sometimes almost impossible for me to keep from ‘bursting out laughing,’ as they would say, when one or another of the ‘learned’ beings there delivered a lecture or told me personally about some past events of which I myself had been an eyewitness.» — Beelzebub confiesa lo que le costaba contener la risa cuando un sabio de allí le relataba sucesos de los que él mismo había sido testigo.

«These lectures and ‘stories’ are full of such comical fictions that neither our arch-cunning Lucifer nor his aides could have invented them, even if they wanted to.» — Beelzebub declara el grado de ficción cómica de esas conferencias e historias.

«“‘But when during this period of self-preparation I chanced to meet many beings of almost all “types” who existed here in the city of Babylon, and when in the course of my impartial observations I became aware of various traits of their being-manifestations, there crept into me and progressively increased an essence-doubt as to the possibility of saving the three-centered beings of this planet by any of these three sacred ways.» — Ashiata Shiemash declara en su legomonismo cómo le nació la duda de esencia sobre la posibilidad de salvar a los seres de ese planeta por cualquiera de las tres vías sagradas.

«“‘With this aim I then ascended “Mount Veziniama,” where for forty days and nights I knelt on my knees and devoted myself to concentration.» — Ashiata Shiemash relata que subió al monte Veziniama y se entregó cuarenta días y cuarenta noches de rodillas a la concentración.

«“‘For a second forty days and nights I neither ate nor drank, but recalled and analyzed all the impressions present in me of everything I had perceived during my existence here in the period of my self-preparation.» — Ashiata Shiemash relata los segundos cuarenta días sin comer ni beber, recordando y analizando todas las impresiones de su periodo de autopreparación.

«“‘And it was only when I had finally attained complete freedom from the influence of all bodily and spiritual associations linked with the impressions of ordinary life that I began to ponder what I was to do.» — Ashiata Shiemash declara cuándo empezó a ponderar qué hacer: solo al alcanzar la libertad completa de toda asociación corporal y espiritual ligada a las impresiones de la vida ordinaria.

«“‘This pondering of my purified Reason then brought me to the certainty that it was already too late to save the contemporary beings by any of the three sacred ways.» — Ashiata Shiemash declara la certeza a que lo llevó esa ponderación: era ya demasiado tarde para salvar a los seres contemporáneos por ninguna de las tres vías sagradas.

«“‘This pondering of mine also made it categorically clear to me that all the genuine functions proper to men-beings —as they are proper to all three-centered beings of our Great Universe—had already degenerated in their remote ancestors into quite other functions, which were included among the properties of the organ kundabuffer, and were very similar to the genuine sacred being-functions of Faith, Hope, and Love.» — Ashiata Shiemash declara la segunda certeza: las funciones genuinas propias de los seres-hombres ya habían degenerado en sus antepasados remotos en otras funciones incluidas entre las propiedades del órgano *kundabuffer*, muy semejantes a la Fe, la Esperanza y el Amor.

«“‘And in all probability this degeneration was due to the fact that when the organ kundabuffer had been destroyed in their ancestors, and they had acquired in themselves factors for the genuine sacred being-impulses, then, as the taste of many of the properties of the organ kundabuffer still remained in them, these properties resembling the three sacred impulses gradually became mixed with the genuine ones, and as a result, factors were crystallized in their psyche for the impulses of “faith,” “hope,” and “love,” which although similar to the genuine were somehow or other quite peculiar.» — Ashiata Shiemash da su explicación probable de esa degeneración: al destruirse el órgano quedaba el gusto de muchas de sus propiedades, que se fueron mezclando con los impulsos sagrados genuinos.

«“‘The contemporary three-centered beings also at times believe, love, and hope both with their Reason and with their feelings; but how they believe, how they love, and how they hope—in this lies all the peculiarity of these three being-properties of theirs!» — Ashiata Shiemash acota que los seres contemporáneos sí creen, aman y esperan, y que la peculiaridad está en el cómo.

«“‘They also believe, but in them this sacred impulse does not function independently, as it does in general in all the three-centered beings with the same possibilities on the various other planets of our Great Universe; but its arising is dependent upon certain factors that have been formed in their common presence, owing as always to the consequences of the properties of the organ kundabuffer—as, for instance, those peculiar properties arising in them which they call “vanity,” “self-love,” “pride,” “self-importance,” and so forth.» — Ashiata Shiemash declara el defecto de su fe: no funciona independientemente, sino que su surgimiento depende de factores como la vanidad, el amor propio, el orgullo y la autoimportancia.

«‘It is very easy to convince a being of this planet of anything you like, provided that during his perception of this nonsense there is evoked in him, either consciously from without or automatically by itself, the functioning of one or another corresponding consequence of the properties of the organ kundabuffer crystallized in him from among those forming what is called his “subjectivity,” as for instance ”self-love,” “vanity,” “pride,” “swagger,” “presumptuousness,” ”arrogance,” and so on.» — Ashiata Shiemash declara con qué condición es facilísimo convencer a un ser de ese planeta de cualquier cosa.

«‘If these influences act upon their degenerate Reason and upon the equally degenerate factors in their localizations—factors that actualize being-sensations-not only is a false conviction crystallized in them concerning the aforementioned nonsense, but they will even, in all sincerity and faith, prove vehemently to those around them that it is just so and can in no way be otherwise.» — Ashiata Shiemash declara el efecto: no solo se cristaliza en ellos una convicción falsa, sino que probarán con vehemencia y sinceridad a los demás que es así y no puede ser de otro modo.

«‘In the presence of the beings of contemporary times there is as much as you please of that strange impulse they call “love”; but this “love” of theirs is also the result of certain crystallized consequences of the properties of the organ kundabuffer, and this impulse arises and manifests itself in the presence of every one of them entirely subjectively—so subjectively and so differently that if ten of them were asked to explain how they sense this inner impulse of theirs, all of them—if, of course, they for once replied sincerely, and frankly acknowledged their genuine sensations and not those they had read about somewhere or heard about from someone else—all ten would reply differently and describe ten different sensations.» — Ashiata Shiemash declara que el impulso que llaman amor es también resultado de consecuencias cristalizadas del órgano *kundabuffer*, y que si se preguntara a diez cómo lo sienten, los diez describirían diez sensaciones distintas.

«‘One would explain this sensation in the sexual sense; another in the sense of pity; a third as a desire for submission; a fourth, a common interest in outer things, and so on and so forth; but not one of the ten could describe, even remotely, the sensation of genuine Love.» — Ashiata Shiemash enumera esas descripciones dispares y declara que ninguno de los diez podría describir, ni de lejos, la sensación del Amor genuino.

«‘And none of them could describe it, because for a long time now none of the ordinary men-beings here has ever had any sensation of the sacred being-impulse of genuine Love.» — Ashiata Shiemash da la razón: hace mucho que ninguno de los seres-hombres ordinarios de allí tiene sensación alguna del impulso sagrado del Amor genuino.

«‘But never do men-beings here love with genuine, impartial, and nonegoistic love.» — Ashiata Shiemash declara el límite de ese amor.

«‘Thanks to the kind of love that exists in the contemporary beings here, their hereditary predisposition to the crystallization of the consequences of the properties of the organ kundabuffer now proceeds in them without hindrance, and becomes definitely fixed as a lawful part of their nature.» — Ashiata Shiemash declara la consecuencia de esa clase de amor: la predisposición hereditaria a cristalizar las consecuencias del órgano *kundabuffer* procede sin estorbo y queda fijada como parte lícita de su naturaleza.

«‘And as regards the third sacred being-impulse, Essence-Hope, its plight in the presence of the three-centered beings here is even worse than that of the first two.» — Ashiata Shiemash declara que el tercer impulso sagrado, la Esperanza de esencia, está aún peor que los dos primeros.

«‘Not only has this being-impulse, in its distorted form, finally adapted itself to the whole of their presence but this newly formed, maleficent “hope,” which has taken the place of the being-impulse of sacred Hope, is now the principal reason why factors can no longer be acquired in them for the functioning of the genuine being-impulses of Faith, Hope, and Love.» — Ashiata Shiemash declara el daño de esa esperanza maléfica: es la razón principal de que ya no puedan adquirirse en ellos los factores de la Fe, la Esperanza y el Amor genuinos.

«‘And in the course of a year of special observations of all their manifestations and perceptions, I made it categorically clear to myself that although the factors for engendering in their presence the sacred being-impulses of Faith, Love, and Hope have completely degenerated in the beings of this planet, nevertheless, the factor that should engender that being-impulse on which, in general, the whole psyche of beings of a three-brained system is based, namely, the impulse existing under the name of “Objective Conscience,” is not yet atrophied in them, and remains in their presence almost in its primordial state.» — Ashiata Shiemash declara lo que un año de observaciones le dejó categóricamente claro: el factor de la Conciencia Objetiva no está aún atrofiado en ellos y queda casi en estado primordial.

«‘Thanks to the abnormally established conditions of ordinary external being-existence here, this factor gradually sank into that consciousness of theirs which they call the ”subconscious,” and as a result, it takes no part whatever in the functioning of their ordinary consciousness.» — Ashiata Shiemash declara dónde se hundió ese factor y con qué efecto: en lo que llaman subconsciente, sin tomar parte alguna en su conciencia ordinaria.

«‘Well, I then understood beyond all doubt, with all the separate ruminating parts making up the whole of my “I,” that only if this being-factor still surviving in their common presence were to participate in the general functioning of the consciousness under whose direction they pass their daily, as they call it, “waking existence“—only then would it be possible to save the contemporary terrestrial three-brained beings from the consequences of the properties of that organ which was intentionally implanted in their first ancestors.» — Ashiata Shiemash declara la única condición de salvación que entendió: que ese factor participe en el funcionamiento de la conciencia bajo cuya dirección transcurre su existencia diurna.

«So, my boy, when early in my last sojourn on the surface of your planet I first learned the details of this legomonism which I have just repeated, I at once became interested in the deductions of this later Most High, Very Saintly Common-Cosmic Individual, Ashiata Shiemash, and since there existed no other legomonism nor any other source of information concerning his further very saintly activities among those favorites of yours, I resolved to investigate in detail and make entirely clear to myself what measures he had taken and how he had carried them out in order to help these unfortunates to free themselves from the consequences of the properties of the organ kundabuffer, which had passed to them by heredity and were so maleficent for them.» — Beelzebub declara qué resolvió al conocer ese legomonismo: investigar en detalle qué medidas tomó Ashiata Shiemash y cómo las llevó a cabo.

«In the course of my subsequent investigations it turned out that, later on, when this Very Saintly Ashiata Shiemash had established the particular conditions of ordinary being-existence he had planned, several of these tablets, on his advice and initiative, were set up in appropriate places in many of the large towns, and upon them were engraved all kinds of precepts and counsels for a corresponding existence.» — Beelzebub refiere que varias de esas tablas se erigieron por iniciativa suya en muchas ciudades grandes, con preceptos y consejos grabados.

«But later, when their big wars began again, all these tablets were destroyed by these strange beings themselves, with the exception of that one which has somehow remained intact, as I have already told you, and is now the property of this brotherhood.» — Beelzebub refiere el destino de esas tablas: destruidas por esos mismos seres al volver sus grandes guerras, salvo la que quedó intacta y es hoy propiedad de aquella hermandad.

«On this surviving marble tablet was engraved an inscription concerning the sacred being-impulses called ‘Faith,’ ‘Love,’ and ‘Hope,’ which was as follows:» — Beelzebub anuncia la inscripción de la tabla superviviente sobre los impulsos sagrados llamados Fe, Amor y Esperanza.

«And the special observations and investigations I made later in regard to this strange and abnormal impulse clearly showed me that the factors engendering it in their presence are, in truth, most maleficent for them.» — Beelzebub declara qué le mostraron sus observaciones sobre ese impulso anormal: que los factores que lo engendran son en verdad de lo más maléfico para ellos.

«Thanks to this abnormal hope of theirs, a singular and very curious disease, with the property of evolving, arose and exists among them even until now—a disease called ‘tomorrow.’» — Beelzebub nombra la enfermedad singular que surgió de esa esperanza anormal y que aún existe entre ellos, con la propiedad de evolucionar.

«And indeed, that is just the maleficent part of this terrifying evil which, owing to various causes great and small, is concentrated in the process of the ordinary being-existence of these pitiable three-brained beings—that by putting off ‘from tomorrow till tomorrow,’ even those unfortunate beings who do by chance learn about all that I have mentioned are also deprived of the possibility of ever attaining anything real.» — Beelzebub declara lo maléfico de ese mal: al aplazar de mañana en mañana, hasta los que por azar se enteran de todo esto quedan privados de alcanzar nada real.

«Thanks to this disease, ‘tomorrow,’ the three-brained beings there, particularly the contemporary ones, almost always put off ‘until later’ everything that needs to be done at the moment, being convinced that ‘later’ they will do better and more.» — Beelzebub declara el efecto de esa enfermedad en los seres contemporáneos: aplazan casi siempre lo que hay que hacer en el momento, convencidos de que después lo harán mejor y más.

«Here I must not fail to tell you about the strange phenomenon I noted during my observations and studies of the almost entirely degenerate presence of those favorites of yours—that is to say, I definitely established that in many of them, toward the end of their planetary existence, most of the consequences of the properties of the organ kundabuffer crystallized in their common presence atrophy of their own accord, and some of them even entirely disappear, thanks to which these beings begin to see and sense reality a little better.» — Beelzebub declara el fenómeno extraño que estableció: hacia el final de su existencia planetaria, en muchos de ellos se atrofian por sí solas la mayoría de las consecuencias del órgano *kundabuffer*, y algunas desaparecen, con lo que empiezan a ver y a sentir la realidad un poco mejor.

«But needless to say, nothing can result from such desires of theirs simply because it is already too late, the time allotted them for this purpose by Great Nature having already passed; and although they see and feel the necessity of making the required being-efforts, yet for the fulfillment of these desires they now have only ‘ineffectual yearnings’ and the ‘lawful infirmities’ of old age.» — Beelzebub declara por qué eso ya no da fruto: ha pasado el tiempo que la Gran Naturaleza les asignó, y para cumplir esos deseos solo les quedan anhelos ineficaces y las flaquezas lícitas de la vejez.

«When this great, and as regards his Reason almost incomparable, Sacred Individual became definitely convinced that the sacred ways that exist for the purpose of self-perfection for all three-brained beings of the Universe were no longer suitable for the beings of the planet Earth, then, after his year of special observation and studies of their psyche, he again ascended that same Mount Veziniama, and for several terrestrial months contemplated and pondered how to carry out his decision, that is, to save the beings of this planet from their inherited predisposition to the crystallization of the consequences of the properties of the organ kundabuffer, by means of those data which remained intact in their subconscious for the fundamental sacred being-impulse, Conscience.» — Beelzebub relata que Ashiata Shiemash, convencido de que las vías sagradas ya no servían allí, volvió a subir al monte Veziniama a ponderar cómo salvarlos por los datos intactos de la Conciencia en su subconsciente.

«This pondering of his definitely convinced him that it would indeed be possible to save them by means of the data in their common presence for engendering this sacred being-impulse, but only if the manifestations of these data surviving in the subconscious were without fail to participate in the functioning of the consciousness under whose direction their daily waking existence flows, and furthermore, only if this being-impulse» — Beelzebub declara la condición doble a que llegó esa ponderación: que las manifestaciones de esos datos participen sin falta en el funcionamiento de la conciencia que dirige su existencia diurna.

«My research and investigations also made clear to me that after the Very Saintly Ashiata Shiemash had pondered on Mount Veziniama and had drawn up in his mind a definite plan for his further most saintly activities, he did not return to the city of Babylon but went straight to the city of ‘Djoolfapal,’ the capital of a country then called ‘Kurlandtekh’ situated in the middle of the continent of Asia.» — Beelzebub sitúa el destino que eligió Ashiata Shiemash tras ponderar: no volver a Babilonia sino ir a Djoolfapal, capital del país entonces llamado Kurlandtekh, en medio de Asia.

«On arriving there, he first of all entered into relations with the brethren of the ‘Tchaftantoori Brotherhood,’ which had its place of existence not far from that city, and whose name signified ‘To be—or not to be at all.’» — Beelzebub nombra la hermandad con que entró en relación y traduce su nombre.

«One of these two terrestrial beings who had become genuine initiates was named Poundoliro and the other, Sensimiriniko.» — Beelzebub nombra a los dos terrestres que se habían vuelto iniciados genuinos.

«You should know, by the way, that in the common presences of both of these genuine terrestrial initiates their highest being-parts had already been coated to the gradation called ‘completion,’ and that, during their further existence, they had time to perfect these highest parts of theirs to the required gradation of sacred Objective Reason; thus today, their perfected highest being-parts have become worthy to have, and in fact do have, the place of their existence on the Holy Planet Purgatory.» — Beelzebub declara a qué grado llevaron esos dos sus partes superiores y dónde existen hoy.

«My further exhaustive investigations showed that in all the separate spiritualized parts of the common presences of both of these three-brained beings, Poundoliro and Sensimiriniko, there arose and was continuously sensed the suspicion, which later became a conviction, that owing to some obviously nonlawful causes, ‘something very undesirable’ for them had been acquired and was functioning in their general organization and that, moreover, it was impossible for this very ‘undesirable something’ to be removed simply by means of the data present within them.» — Beelzebub declara la sospecha vuelta convicción que sentían esos dos: que por causas no conformes a ley funcionaba en su organización algo muy indeseable que no podían quitarse con los datos que tenían.

«They therefore decided to seek out some other beings like themselves who were striving for the same aim, so that they could try together to rid themselves of this very ‘undesirable something.’» — Beelzebub declara qué decidieron entonces: buscar a otros seres que aspiraran a lo mismo para intentarlo juntos.

«So, after arriving in Djoolfapal, the Very Saintly Ashiata Shiemash established relations with the brethren of the Tchaftantoori Brotherhood, who were already working on that abnormal functioning of their psyche which they themselves had observed; and he began to enlighten their Reason by means of objectively true ideas, and to guide their being-impulses in such a way that they could sense these truths without the least participation either of the undesirable factors already abnormally crystallized in their presence, or of any new factors that might arise from the results of external perceptions received from the abnormally established forms of ordinary being-existence.» — Beelzebub declara qué hizo Ashiata Shiemash con esos hermanos: ilustrar su Razón con ideas objetivamente verdaderas y guiar sus impulsos para que las sintieran sin la participación de los factores indeseables ya cristalizados ni de los nuevos.

«While thus enlightening the brethren of this Tchaftantoori Brotherhood and discussing his suppositions and intentions with them, the Very Saintly Ashiata Shiemash was occupied with drawing up the ‘rules’ or, as is also said there, the ‘statutes’ for the brotherhood which, in association with the brethren he had already initiated, he founded in the city of Djoolfapal, and which was later called the ‘Heeshtvori Brotherhood,’ a name signifying ‘Only he will be called and become the son of God who acquires in himself Conscience.’» — Beelzebub declara el nombre de la hermandad que fundó en Djoolfapal y su significado.

«Later, when everything had been worked out and organized with the participation of these brethren of the former Tchaftantoori Brotherhood, the Very Saintly Ashiata Shiemash sent these same brethren to various places and entrusted them, under his general guidance, with the task of spreading the idea that in the ‘subconscious’ of all men there are crystallized and always present the data manifested from Above for engendering in them the divine impulse of genuine Conscience;» — Beelzebub declara la tarea con que mandó a esos hermanos: difundir la idea de que en el subconsciente de todos los hombres están cristalizados y siempre presentes los datos manifestados desde lo Alto para engendrar el impulso divino de la Conciencia genuina.

«These brethren preached this objective truth at first chiefly among the monks of the many monasteries in the environs of Djoolfapal, and later among the ordinary inhabitants of the city.» — Beelzebub declara dónde predicaron primero esa verdad objetiva y dónde después.

«According to the statutes drawn up by the Very Saintly Ashiata Shiemash, any one of them could become an ‘all-rights-possessing brother’ of the Heeshtvori Brotherhood only when, in addition to the attainment of certain other also foreseen objective merits, he could bring himself—in the sense of the ‘ableness consciously to direct the functioning of his own psyche’—to the state of knowing how to convince to perfection a hundred other beings, and to prove to them first that the factor for the impulse of Objective Conscience» — Beelzebub declara el requisito de los estatutos para ser hermano con todos los derechos: saber convencer a la perfección a otros cien seres.

«It was those who became worthy to be such ‘all-rights-possessing brethren’ of the Heeshtvori Brotherhood who were first given the name of ‘priest.’» — Beelzebub declara a quiénes se dio primero el nombre de sacerdote.

«And in the other sense, the word ‘priest’ was used and still is used to designate those beings who, by their pious existence and by the merits of their deeds performed for the good of those around them, stand out so much from the rank and file of the ordinary three-brained beings there that whenever they remember them there arises in their presence the process called ‘gratitude.’» — Beelzebub declara el otro sentido de la palabra sacerdote: los que por su existencia piadosa y por sus obras destacan tanto que al recordarlos surge la gratitud.

«And those who had sensed and become aware of this divine impulse of Conscience, and who were called ‘first-degree initiates,’ he set apart; and he began to enlighten their Reason separately concerning ‘objective truths’ which up till then had been quite unknown to the three-brained beings of that planet.» — Beelzebub declara qué hizo Ashiata Shiemash con los que sintieron ese impulso divino de la Conciencia, llamados iniciados de primer grado.

«And it was these ‘first-degree initiates’ whom he had set apart from the others who were the first to be called ‘great initiates.’» — Beelzebub declara qué nombre recibieron primero esos iniciados de primer grado apartados de los demás.

«You should note that at that time all the principles of Being of the initiated beings there were renewed by the Very Saintly Ashiata Shiemash and later came to be called ‘Ashiata’s renewals.’» — Beelzebub declara que Ashiata Shiemash renovó entonces todos los principios de Ser de los iniciados de allí, y cómo se llamó eso después.

«‘The factors for the being-impulse of Objective Conscience arise in three-brained beings from the localization in their presence of particles of the “emanations of the sorrow” of our All-Loving and Long-Suffering, Endless Creator; that is why the source of manifestation of genuine Conscience in three-centered beings is sometimes called the “Representative of the Creator.”» — Ashiata Shiemash declara de dónde surgen en los seres de tres cerebros los factores del impulso de Conciencia Objetiva: de la localización de partículas de las emanaciones de la pena del Creador, por lo que su fuente se llama a veces Representante del Creador.

«‘And this sorrow is formed in our All-Maintaining Common Father from the struggle constantly proceeding in the Universe between joy and sorrow.’» — Ashiata Shiemash declara de qué se forma esa pena en el Padre Común: de la lucha que procede sin cesar en el Universo entre la alegría y la pena.

«‘In all the three-centered beings of our entire Universe without exception, including us men, owing to the data crystallized in our common presence for engendering in us the divine impulse of Conscience, “all of us” and the whole of our essence in its very foundation are and must be only suffering.» — Ashiata Shiemash declara qué son y qué deben ser en su fundamento mismo todos los seres de tres centros, por los datos que engendran el impulso divino de la Conciencia.

«‘Consequently, like all three-centered beings of our Great Universe, we men existing on the Earth, owing to the presence in us also of the factors for engendering the divine impulse of Objective Conscience, must always inevitably struggle with the two quite opposite functionings arising and proceeding in our common presence, the results of which are always sensed by us either as “desires” or as ”nondesires. ”» — Ashiata Shiemash declara la lucha inevitable entre dos funcionamientos opuestos cuyos resultados se sienten como deseos o como no-deseos.

«‘And so, only he who consciously assists the process of this inner struggle, and consciously assists the “nondesires” to prevail over the “desires,” behaves in accordance with the Being of our Common Father Creator Himself; whereas» — Ashiata Shiemash declara quién obra conforme al Ser del Padre Creador mismo: solo el que asiste conscientemente a esa lucha interior y ayuda a que los no-deseos prevalezcan sobre los deseos.

«However it may have been, my boy, it turned out that almost all your favorites, those strange three-brained beings, wished and began to strive with all their spiritualized being-parts to have divine Objective Conscience in their ordinary waking consciousness.» — Beelzebub declara el efecto de aquellas labores: casi todos sus favoritos quisieron y empezaron a esforzarse con todas sus partes espiritualizadas por tener la Conciencia Objetiva divina en su conciencia ordinaria de vigilia.

«In the first place, their division into numerous communities, with various forms of organization for external and even internal existence which they call ‘state organizations,’ disappeared of itself and, in the second place, there also disappeared in the same way those various what are called ‘castes’ or ‘classes’ that had long before been established in these numerous communities of theirs.» — Beelzebub declara lo que desapareció por sí solo entonces: la división en comunidades con sus organizaciones estatales, y las castas o clases establecidas dentro de ellas.

«In my opinion, it was the second of these two chief forms of abnormally established ordinary being-existence, namely, the assigning of each other to different classes or castes, that had become, as you will surely understand for yourself later, the basis for the gradual crystallization in the common presence of your favorites of a particular psychic property that in the whole of the Universe is inherent exclusively in the presence of those three-brained beings.» — Beelzebub declara cuál de esas dos formas anormales fue la base de la cristalización de una propiedad psíquica exclusiva de esos seres en todo el Universo: el asignarse unos a otros clases o castas.

«This unique property was formed in them soon after the second transapalnian perturbation and, gradually developing and becoming stronger in them, passed from generation to generation by heredity, until it reached contemporary beings as a lawful and inseparable part of their general psyche; and this particular property they call ‘egoism.’» — Beelzebub fecha la formación de esa propiedad poco después de la segunda perturbación transapalniana y da su nombre.

«And this strange anomaly, by the way, fully justifies one of the numerous wise sayings of our highly esteemed, irreplaceable, and honorable Mullah Nasr Eddin, which states: “‘Every real happiness for man can arise exclusively from some unhappiness —also real—which he has already experienced.’» — Beelzebub cita a Mullah Nasr Eddin sobre de qué puede surgir toda felicidad real para el hombre.

«And because these ‘individual initiatives’ issue from two different localizations, each of your favorites in his daily waking existence is, as it were, divided into two independent personalities.» — Beelzebub declara la consecuencia de que esas iniciativas individuales salgan de dos localizaciones distintas: cada uno queda dividido en su existencia diurna en dos personalidades independientes.

«Here it must be remarked that this duality was also the reason why their presence gradually lost that impulse, indispensable to three-brained beings, called ‘sincerity.’» — Beelzebub declara la otra consecuencia de esa dualidad: su presencia fue perdiendo el impulso indispensable llamado sinceridad.

«Later, the practice even took root among them of intentionally suppressing this being-impulse called ‘sincerity’; and now, from the day of their arising or, as they say, from the day of their ‘birth,’ these three-brained beings are accustomed by their producers—or, as they say, their ‘parents’—to an entirely contrary impulse, namely ‘deceit.’» — Beelzebub declara qué arraigó después entre ellos: suprimir intencionadamente ese impulso, y acostumbrar a los hijos desde el nacimiento al impulso contrario.

«They ‘educate’ their children never to be able and never to dare to do as the conscience present in them instinctively directs, but only to do what is prescribed in the manuals of ‘bon ton’ usually compiled by various candidatehasnamusses.» — Beelzebub declara a qué educan a sus hijos: a no atreverse nunca a hacer lo que la conciencia les dirige instintivamente, sino solo lo prescrito en los manuales de *bon ton*; el troceo devuelve *candidatehasnamusses* donde la fuente imprime *candidate-hasnamusses*.

«Thanks to all this, the conscience that might be in the consciousness of the beings of that planet is, from their earliest infancy, gradually driven back within, so that by the time they are grown up this conscience is found only in what they call their ‘subconscious.’» — Beelzebub declara el resultado: la conciencia que podría estar en su conciencia queda empujada hacia dentro desde la infancia, y de adultos solo se halla en lo que llaman su subconsciente.

«Furthermore if, for some reason or other, the action of the divine data crystallized in their presence for this being-impulse begins to manifest itself in certain of them from their ‘subconscious,’ and strives to participate in the functioning of their abnormally formed ‘ordinary consciousness,’ then no sooner are they aware of this than they at once take all sorts of measures to avoid it, because in the conditions now prevailing there it has become» — Beelzebub declara qué hacen si esos datos divinos pugnan por participar en su conciencia ordinaria: tomar toda clase de medidas para evitarlo.

«Later, however, when they themselves destroyed all the results of the very saintly labors of this Essence-Loving Ashiata Shiemash, these same maleficent psychic properties gradually arose again in all of them and, in the contemporary three-brained beings there, they are the foundation of the whole of their essence.» — Beelzebub declara qué pasó al destruir ellos mismos los resultados de las labores de Ashiata Shiemash: esas propiedades psíquicas maléficas volvieron a surgir y son hoy el fundamento de toda su esencia.

«And it was only after my detailed research and investigations had made all this clear to me, that I understood why there arose and still exists that division of themselves into various ‘classes’ or ‘castes’ which has such maleficent consequences for them.» — Beelzebub declara qué entendió solo tras esa investigación: por qué surgió y persiste la división en clases o castas, de consecuencias tan maléficas.

«Later detailed investigations also showed me very definitely and clearly that in that consciousness which they call the ‘subconscious,’ even in the beings of the present time the data for the acquisition in their presence of this fundamental divine impulse of Conscience do indeed continue to be crystallized and hence to be present during the whole of their existence.» — Beelzebub declara lo que sus investigaciones posteriores le mostraron con claridad: aun en los seres de hoy siguen cristalizándose y presentes toda su existencia los datos para adquirir el impulso divino de la Conciencia.

«And this special coloration occurred, as I later ascertained, because from time to time there appear in the presence of this atmosphere large quantities of those crystallizations which are frequently radiated from the presence of these favorites of yours when they are moved by the particular inner impulse which they call ‘remorse of conscience. ’» — Beelzebub declara la causa de la coloración especial de la atmósfera terrestre: las cristalizaciones que sus favoritos radian cuando los mueve el impulso que llaman remordimiento de conciencia.

«In consequence, there automatically takes place in the common presence of these three-brained beings there a combination of functioning that frees the data present in their ‘subconscious’ for the manifestation of the divine impulse of Objective Conscience and temporarily allows it to participate in the functioning of their ordinary consciousness, with the result that this ‘remorse of conscience’ begins to proceed in them.» — Beelzebub describe qué pasa entonces: una combinación de funcionamientos libera los datos del subconsciente para el impulso divino de Conciencia Objetiva y le permite participar temporalmente en su conciencia ordinaria.

«No sooner do they begin to sense a twinge or even the slightest ‘prick’ of the arising of the functioning in them of this being-impulse than they immediately ‘squash’ it, whereupon this impulse, not yet quite formed in them, promptly subsides.» — Beelzebub declara qué hacen apenas sienten el primer pinchazo de ese impulso.

«For ‘squashing’ the first stirring of any remorse of conscience in themselves, they have even invented some very effective special means which now exist there under the names of ‘alcoholism,’ ‘cocainism,’ ‘morphinism,’ ‘nicotin- ism,’ ‘onanism,’ ‘monkism,’ ‘Athenianism,’ and others with names also ending in ‘ism.’» — Beelzebub enumera los medios especiales que inventaron para aplastar el primer movimiento de todo remordimiento de conciencia.

«And as in general there never is, nor can there be on any of the planets of our Great Universe enough of everything required for the equal external welfare of everyone, irrespective of what are called ‘objective merits,’ the result is that the prosperity of some is always built on the adversity of others.» — Beelzebub declara por qué la prosperidad de unos se construye siempre sobre la adversidad de otros: en ningún planeta hay ni puede haber bastante de todo para el bienestar externo igual de todos.

«It is this exclusive regard for their own personal welfare that has gradually crystallized in their psyche the quite peculiar and unprecedented properties I cited such as ‘cunning,’ ‘contempt,’ ‘hate,’ ‘servility,’ ‘lying,’ ‘flattery,’ and so on, which, on the one hand, are factors for outer manifestations unbecoming to three-brained beings, and on the other are causes of the gradual destruction of all those inner possibilities, placed in them by Great Nature, of becoming particles of the whole of the Reasonable Whole.» — Beelzebub declara qué cristalizó ese cuidado exclusivo del bienestar propio: astucia, desprecio, odio, servilismo, mentira y adulación, factores de manifestaciones impropias y causas de la destrucción de sus posibilidades internas.

«when the results of the very saintly labors of the Essence-Loving Ashiata Shiemash had begun to blend with the processes of both their inner and outer being-existence, and when thanks to this the data for the divine impulse of Conscience, surviving in their ‘subconscious,’ shared more and more in the functioning of their ‘waking consciousness,’ then their being-existence, both personal and in their relations with others, began to proceed on this planet almost as it does on the other planets of our Great Universe on which three-brained beings exist.» — Beelzebub declara qué pasó cuando los datos de la Conciencia participaban más y más en su conciencia de vigilia: su existencia, personal y con los demás, empezó a proceder casi como en los otros planetas donde hay seres de tres cerebros.

«These favorites of yours then began to behave toward one another as toward the manifestations, differing only in degree, of a Unique Common Creator, and showed respect for one another only according to the merits personally attained by means of ‘being-partkdolgduty,’ that is, by means of personal conscious labor and intentional suffering.» — Beelzebub declara cómo se trataban entonces entre sí: como manifestaciones que solo difieren en grado de un Creador Único, y con respeto solo según los méritos alcanzados por el *being-partkdolgduty*.

«That is why, during that period there ceased to exist those two chief maleficent forms of their ordinary existence, namely, their division into separate independent communities and the division of themselves within these communities into different ‘castes’ or ‘classes.’» — Beelzebub declara qué dejó de existir en ese periodo: la división en comunidades independientes y la división interna en castas o clases.

«At that time also, all the three-brained beings on your planet began to consider themselves and to consider those like them simply as beings bearing in themselves particles of the emanations of the sorrow of our Common Father Creator.» — Beelzebub declara cómo se consideraban entonces a sí mismos y a los demás: seres que llevan partículas de las emanaciones de la pena del Padre Creador.

«Of course, at that period there also continued to be all kinds of ‘chiefs,’ ‘directors,’ and ‘specialist-advisors,’ but just as on all planets of the Universe inhabited by three-brained beings of varying degrees of self-perfecting, they occupied these positions chiefly from difference of age and from what is called ‘essence-power,’ instead of through hereditary right or by election, as was the case both before and after this blissful Ashiatan epoch and is the case today.» — Beelzebub declara cómo se ocupaban entonces los cargos de jefe, director y consejero: por diferencia de edad y por poder de esencia, y no por derecho hereditario ni por elección, como antes y después.

«The first striving: to have in one’s ordinary being-existence everything satisfying and really necessary for the planetary body.» — Ashiata Shiemash formula el primer esfuerzo: tener en la existencia ordinaria todo lo satisfactorio y realmente necesario para el cuerpo planetario.

«The second striving: to have a constant and unflagging instinctive need to perfect oneself in the sense of Being.» — Ashiata Shiemash formula el segundo esfuerzo: la necesidad instintiva, constante e incansable, de perfeccionarse en el sentido del Ser.

«The third: the conscious striving to know ever more and more about the laws of world-creation and world-maintenance.» — Ashiata Shiemash formula el tercer esfuerzo.

«The fourth: the striving, from the beginning of one’s existence, to pay as quickly as possible for one’s arising and individuality, in order afterward to be free to lighten as much as possible the sorrow of our Common Father.» — Ashiata Shiemash formula el cuarto esfuerzo: pagar cuanto antes el propio surgimiento y la propia individualidad, para luego poder aligerar la pena del Padre Común.

«The objective attainments of these beings of course attracted the attention of all those around them, who thereupon made those who had attained these merits stand out from their midst and paid them every kind of respect, joyfully trying to merit the attention of these outstanding beings and to receive their indications and counsel as to how they likewise could perfect themselves.» — Beelzebub declara qué hacían los demás con quienes alcanzaban esos méritos objetivos: los hacían destacar y buscaban sus indicaciones y consejos para perfeccionarse también.

«These outstanding beings, in their turn, then began to make the one with the highest attainments among themselves stand out, and this outstanding being, without hereditary or other right, automatically became the chief of them all.» — Beelzebub declara cómo se elegía al jefe: los que destacaban hacían destacar al de mayores alcances, y ese se volvía jefe de todos automáticamente y sin derecho hereditario ni de otra clase.

«But the most astonishing and significant result of the very saintly labors of Ashiata Shiemash was that at that period not only did the duration of the existence of these unfortunates become a little more normal—that is to say, it began to increase, while what they call the ‘death rate’ fell —but at the same time the number of results for the continuation of their species diminished, that is, their ‘birth rate,’ as they say, also fell by at least a fifth.» — Beelzebub declara el resultado más asombroso de aquellas labores: la duración de la existencia se hizo un poco más normal y bajó la mortalidad, y a la vez la natalidad cayó por lo menos una quinta parte.

«Thereby there was practically demonstrated one of the cosmic laws called the ‘law of the equilibration of vibrations,’ that is, vibrations arising from the evolution and involution of the cosmic substances required for the Most Great Omnicosmic Trogoautoegocrat.» — Beelzebub declara qué quedó demostrado en la práctica con eso: la ley cósmica de la equilibración de vibraciones.

«This decline in both their ‘death rate’ and ‘birth rate’ came about because, as their existence became approximately normal for three-centered beings, they also began to radiate from themselves vibrations corresponding more closely to the requirements of Great Nature, thanks to which, Nature had less need of those vibrations that are obtained from the destruction of the existence of beings.» — Beelzebub explica el mecanismo: al hacerse su existencia aproximadamente normal, radiaban vibraciones más acordes con lo que la Gran Naturaleza requiere, y ella necesitaba menos las que se obtienen destruyendo la existencia de seres.

«Certain inscriptions, however, which have survived from ancient times and have reached contemporary beings, contain some information that there once existed on their planet a special kind of ‘state organization,’ at the head of which were beings of the highest attainments.» — Beelzebub declara qué queda en ciertas inscripciones antiguas llegadas a los seres contemporáneos: que una vez existió allí una organización estatal especial encabezada por seres de los alcances más altos.

«my boy, I have already told you that the ‘learned beings’ then assembled in the city of Babylon from almost the whole surface of the Earth were not primarily to blame for the arising of the factors that caused the final destruction of the surviving beneficent results of the conscious labors of the Very Saintly Ashiata Shiemash for later generations of your favorites; but as had long before become proper to most of the terrestrial ‘learned beings of new formation,’ they were merely, like ‘contagious bacilli,’ the unconscious disseminators of every kind of already existing evil among their own and subsequent generations.» — Beelzebub repite la adjudicación: los sabios reunidos en Babilonia no fueron los primeros culpables, sino diseminadores inconscientes, como bacilos contagiosos, de un mal ya existente.

«The basis of all the great and small maleficent activities of those ‘learned’ beings and of all their unconscious harmful manifestations leading to the destruction of the last remnants of the results, so beneficent for the three-brained beings there, of the very saintly conscious labors of the Essence-Loving Ashiata Shiemash was, as my further detailed research on his saintly activities showed me, the ‘invention’ of a learned being, well known in his day, who was also a ‘learned being of new formation,’ named Lentrohamsanin.» — Beelzebub declara la base de todas aquellas actividades maléficas: la invención de un sabio de nueva formación llamado Lentrohamsanin.

«the double ‘center of gravity’ of his inner existence, the ‘highest being-part’ of the presence of this terrestrial three-brained being was coated and perfected up to the required gradation of Objective Reason, and later this highest being-part became, as I once told you, one of those 313 ‘highest being-bodies’ who are called ‘Eternal Hasnamuss Individuals’ and who have the place of their further existence in the Universe on a small planet named ‘Eternal Retribution.’» — Beelzebub declara el destino de la parte superior de Lentrohamsanin: uno de los 313 cuerpos superiores llamados *Eternal Hasnamuss Individuals*, que existen en un pequeño planeta llamado Eternal Retribution.

«The maleficent ‘invention’ or, as contemporary terrestrial learned beings of new formation would say, the ‘composition’ or even the ‘creation’ of that learned being was actualized, as I have already told you, at least two centuries before the time when during my fifth sojourn I first visited the city of Babylon, where learned beings were assembled, partly by coercion and partly voluntarily, from almost the whole surface of the planet.» — Beelzebub fecha esa invención al menos dos siglos antes de su quinta estancia, cuando visitó Babilonia.

«of that learned being of a former period reached the learned beings of the Babylonian epoch by means of what is called a ‘kashireitleer,’ inscribed by Lentrohamsanin with his own hand.» — Beelzebub declara por qué medio llegó esa invención a los sabios de la época babilónica: un *kashireitleer* inscrito por Lentrohamsanin de su propia mano.

«It was then that I learned that this Lentrohamsanin arose or, as is said there, was ‘born’ on the continent of Asia in the city of ‘Kronbookhon,’ the capital of ‘Nievia.’» — Beelzebub sitúa el nacimiento de Lentrohamsanin en la ciudad de Kronbookhon, capital de Nievia, en Asia.

«He was the first-born of his elderly and very rich parents, for although the blending of their exioëharies had been actualized many times before, yet, as I found out, they were so absorbed in acquiring riches that they did not wish to be hindered in this pursuit, and always had recourse, at each actualization of this sacred blending, to what is called ‘toosy’ or, as your contemporary favorites express it, ‘abortion.’» — Beelzebub relata su condición de primogénito de padres viejos y muy ricos, que en cada mezcla anterior de sus *exioëharies* habían recurrido al *toosy* para no ser estorbados en la acumulación de riquezas.

«But soon they felt that without a real ‘result,’ that is, ‘without a child,’ pleasure could never be complete; and from that time on, without sparing any money, they took every possible measure to obtain such a ‘result.’» — Beelzebub relata el cambio de esos padres: sintieron que sin un hijo el placer no podía ser completo y tomaron toda medida posible, sin ahorrar dinero, para obtenerlo.

«From the very first, his parents were completely wrapped up in what they described as their ‘God-sent result,’ or son, and spent vast sums on his pleasures and on what is called his ‘education.’» — Beelzebub relata el trato que le dieron: envueltos en su resultado enviado por Dios, gastaron sumas enormes en sus placeres y en lo que llaman su educación.

«When this future great learned being reached responsible age, he had indeed a great deal of information or, as it is called there, ‘knowledge’; nevertheless in relation to this information or ‘knowledge’ he had acquired no Being whatever.» — Beelzebub declara el balance de esa educación al llegar a la edad responsable: mucha información o conocimiento, y ningún Ser respecto de ese conocimiento.

«He spent many days in serious thought, and finally decided first of all to invent a theory about some question nobody before him had ever touched upon; and then to inscribe this invention of his upon a ‘kashireitleer,’ the likes of which had never been inscribed upon before, nor ever could be in the future.» — Beelzebub relata su decisión: inventar una teoría sobre una cuestión que nadie hubiera tocado, e inscribirla en un *kashireitleer* como nunca hubo ni podría haber.

«‘Undeniably, life under the present state organization is far better for us than it used to be; but where then is that real freedom which we need to bring us happiness?» — Lentrohamsanin escribe en su *kashireitleer* la pregunta con que abre: que la vida es mejor que antes bajo esa organización estatal, y dónde está entonces la libertad real que hace falta para la felicidad.

«‘But meanwhile, things being as they are, we ourselves must struggle and we ourselves must strive for our real happiness and real freedom, and liberate ourselves from the need to toil and sweat.» — Lentrohamsanin escribe que ellos mismos deben luchar y esforzarse por su felicidad y su libertad reales, y liberarse de la necesidad de trabajar y sudar.

«‘True, for eight months we are free, but only from physical labors; while our consciousness, namely, our dearest and highest part, is the slave, day and night, of these illusory ideas always being dinned into us by our masters and pastors.» — Lentrohamsanin escribe el reparto de la esclavitud: ocho meses libres de labores físicas, mientras la conciencia, la parte más querida y más alta, es esclava día y noche de las ideas ilusorias que les meten sus amos y pastores.

«‘And we can obtain real freedom and happiness only if we all act as one, that is, “all for one and one for all.” But first we must destroy everything that is old.» — Lentrohamsanin escribe la condición de esa libertad: obrar todos como uno, y destruir primero todo lo viejo.

«Thereupon began that pernicious reciprocal ‘praising to the skies’ which has always been practiced among the ‘learned beings of new formation’ and which prevents any true knowledge that happens to reach them from evolving there as it does everywhere else in the Universe, if only through the passage of time; on the contrary, owing to this maleficent practice, even the knowledge already attained is destroyed, and its possessors become shallower and shallower.» — Beelzebub declara qué empezó entonces: el alabarse recíprocamente hasta los cielos, práctica de los sabios de nueva formación que impide que el conocimiento evolucione y destruye el ya alcanzado.

«he arranged an enormous and costly banquet to which he invited the ‘learned beings’ from all over Nievia, taking upon himself all their traveling expenses; and at the end of the feast he showed them his kashireitleer.» — Beelzebub relata el banquete enorme y costoso con que Lentrohamsanin reunió a los sabios de toda Nievia, pagándoles el viaje, para mostrarles su *kashireitleer*.

«Above all they asked one another how it was possible that not a single being, ordinary or learned, had known or guessed that in their own country there existed a learned being with such knowledge.» — Beelzebub relata la pregunta que se hacían entre ellos: cómo era posible que nadie hubiera sabido ni sospechado que en su país existía un sabio con tal conocimiento.

«‘Listen, all of you, and try to realize that we, assembled here as representatives of the beings of the Earth—we who have already, thanks to our great knowledge, attained independent individuality—now have the privilege of being the first to behold with our own eyes the coming of a Messiah of divine consciousness, sent from Above to reveal world truths to us.’» — el sabio más viejo y renombrado proclama de pie sobre la mesa que ellos son los primeros en ver con sus propios ojos la llegada de un Mesías de conciencia divina enviado de lo Alto.

«The most interesting thing about all this is the reason why these learned beings were so worked up and gave vent so freely to their learned ‘snivelings,’ which was that there had been formed in the psyche of your favorites, thanks as always to the same abnormally established conditions of ordinary existence, a certain extremely strange conviction that anyone who becomes a follower of a well-known and important being will appear to others to be almost as well known and important himself.» — Beelzebub declara la convicción extrañísima que explica ese arrebato: que quien se vuelve seguidor de un ser importante parecerá a los demás casi tan importante como él.

«Well, my dear boy, no sooner had the learned scientists of Nievia returned home after this banquet than they began talking, at first to their neighbors and later here, there, and everywhere, about that extraordinary kashireitleer; and, foaming at the mouth, they asserted and proved to everybody the truth of those ‘revelations’ which the great Lentrohamsanin had inscribed upon this kashireitleer.» — Beelzebub relata la propagación: al volver a casa, los sabios de Nievia empezaron a probarle a todo el mundo, echando espuma por la boca, la verdad de las revelaciones del *kashireitleer*.

«And gradually, as usually happens there almost everywhere, beings became divided into two opposing parties, one of which favored the ‘invention’ of the future Universal Hasnamuss, and the other the already well established forms of being-existence.» — Beelzebub relata la división en dos partidos, uno por la invención del futuro *Hasnamuss* Universal y otro por las formas de existencia ya establecidas.

«Thus it continued for almost a whole terrestrial year, during which the ranks of the contending parties increased everywhere, while toward each other one of their specific properties called ‘hate’ also increased.» — Beelzebub relata el año en que crecieron las filas de ambos partidos y con ellas el odio recíproco.

«‘Civil war’ is the same as ‘war’; the only difference is that in ordinary war beings of one community destroy the beings of another community, whereas in civil war the process of reciprocal destruction goes on among beings of one and the same community—for example, brother annihilates brother; father, son; uncle, nephew; and so on.» — Beelzebub define la guerra civil frente a la guerra: en la primera la destrucción recíproca procede entre seres de una misma comunidad.

«But at the end of the fourth day, those who were for the ‘invention’ of Lentrohamsanin, that is, for the ‘learned beings,’ were victorious in Kronbookhon, and from then on the same process began in all the large and small cities of Nievia.» — Beelzebub relata la victoria de los partidarios de la invención en Kronbookhon al cuarto día y la extensión del proceso a todas las ciudades de Nievia.

«This widespread and horrible process continued until a ‘horde’ of learned beings appeared who, ‘feeling firm ground beneath their feet,’ compelled all the surviving beings to accept Lentrohamsanin’s ideas, and immediately destroyed everything.» — Beelzebub relata el final de aquel proceso: una horda de sabios con terreno firme bajo los pies obligó a los sobrevivientes a aceptar las ideas de Lentrohamsanin y lo destruyó todo de inmediato.

«Still later, the community of Nievia, having by then become great and powerful, began, as usually happens there, making war on neighboring communities for the purpose of imposing upon them its new form of ‘state organization.’» — Beelzebub relata que Nievia, ya grande y poderosa, empezó a hacer la guerra a las comunidades vecinas para imponerles su nueva organización estatal.

«Although the direct effect of that maleficent invention of the now Universal Hasnamuss Lentrohamsanin was that the practice of existing in separate communities was revived among your favorites, and although they again resumed their periodic reciprocal destruction, yet in some of these newly arisen, independent communities on the continent of Asia beings still continued to conform in their ordinary existence to many of the wisely foreseen usages of the Very Saintly Ashiata Shiemash, which had been inseparably fused with the automatic process of their daily life.» — Beelzebub acota el alcance: pese a esa invención, en algunas de las nuevas comunidades de Asia los seres seguían conformando su existencia a muchos de los usos de Ashiata Shiemash, fundidos ya con el automatismo de su vida diaria.

«At the ‘general planetary conference’ of all the learned beings on the famous ‘question of the beyond,’ which was organized in Babylon, it happened that among those who went there of their own accord was the great-grandson of Lentrohamsanin, who had himself become a ‘learned being.’» — Beelzebub relata que al congreso planetario de Babilonia fue por su propia voluntad el bisnieto de Lentrohamsanin, vuelto él mismo sabio.

«He brought with him an exact copy on papyrus of his great-grandfather’s famous kashireitleer, the original of which he had received by inheritance.» — Beelzebub relata qué llevó consigo: una copia exacta en papiro del famoso *kashireitleer* de su bisabuelo, cuyo original había heredado.

«And at the very height of the ‘frenzy’ unleashed by the ‘question of the soul,’ during one of the last big general meetings of the learned beings, he read aloud the text of that maleficent ‘invention’ of his great-grandfather; whereupon it occurred, as had become proper to the strange Reason of these ‘sorry scientists,’ that from one question that interested them they at once passed to quite another, namely, from the question of the ‘soul’ to the question of what is called ‘politics.’» — Beelzebub relata el salto de cuestión: leído el texto en voz alta, pasaron de la cuestión del alma a la cuestión que llaman política.

«Of course, all their discussions were based on the ‘truths’ expounded in the invention of Lentrohamsanin, as reproduced on the papyrus brought by his great-grandson, a copy of which almost every learned being then in Babylon carried in his pocket.» — Beelzebub declara sobre qué se fundaban todas esas discusiones: las verdades expuestas en la invención de Lentrohamsanin, cuya copia casi todo sabio de Babilonia llevaba en el bolsillo.

«On his orders some of these learned scientists were executed, others were imprisoned with lice, and still others were banished to places where even now, as Mullah Nasr Eddin would say, ‘French champagne cannot be found.’» — Beelzebub relata la represión del rey: unos sabios ejecutados, otros encarcelados con piojos y otros desterrados, con el dicho de Mullah Nasr Eddin sobre esos lugares.

«The destruction of the last remnants of the conscious labors of the Very Saintly Ashiata Shiemash thus continued on the continent of Asia for about a century and a half; yet in spite of this, certain customs created by Ashiata Shiemash for the good of their being-existence were still preserved in some places and continued by momentum.» — Beelzebub declara la duración de esa destrucción en Asia, siglo y medio, y que aun así ciertas costumbres creadas por Ashiata Shiemash seguían por inercia en algunos lugares.

«But when the three-brained beings of the neighboring continent, now called ‘Europe,’ began taking part in these Asiatic wars and when ‘hordes,’ led by the arch-vainglorious Greek called Alexander of Macedonia, overran almost the whole continent of Asia, they made, as is said, a ‘clean sweep’ from the surface of that ill-fated planet of everything that had been established and preserved; so clean a sweep that not a trace was left even of the memory that there once existed on their planet such ‘bliss,’ intentionally created for their existence by that Reason whose possessor is now one of our seven Most Saintly Omnicosmic Individuals, without whose participation even our Uni-Being Common Father does not allow Himself to actualize anything.» — Beelzebub declara el barrido final: las hordas del griego archivanaglorioso llamado Alejandro de Macedonia arrasaron cuanto quedaba, hasta borrar el recuerdo de que tal dicha existió.

«The result of these wiseacrings of theirs was that throughout the continent of Asia civil wars broke out in various communities and the process of mass reciprocal destruction between different communities started up once more.» — Beelzebub declara el resultado de aquellas sabihondeces: guerras civiles en varias comunidades de Asia y la reanudación de la destrucción recíproca masiva.

«In its widest sense the word ‘hasnamuss’ designates any three-brained being—whether he has already coated his highest being-parts or consists of his planetary body alone —in whose common presence, under the influence of certain ‘individual impulses,’ a certain ‘something’ arises which participates in the ‘completed formation’ of his independent individuality.» — Beelzebub define en su sentido más amplio la palabra *hasnamuss*: todo ser de tres cerebros, revestido o no de partes superiores, en cuya presencia surge, bajo ciertos impulsos individuales, un algo que participa en la formación completada de su individualidad independiente.

«This ‘something’ arises in these cosmic individuals and, during the process of the transformation of substances, blends with the crystallizations resulting from the action of the entire ‘spectrum’ of what are called naloo-onosnian impulses.» — Beelzebub declara con qué se mezcla ese algo: con las cristalizaciones que resultan de la acción del espectro entero de los impulsos *naloo-onosnian*.

«In accordance with the chief cosmic law, the sacred Heptaparaparshinokh, this ‘naloo-onosnian spectrum of impulses’ in its original essence consists of seven heterogeneous layers, from the point of view of their engendering as perception and resulting manifestation.» — Beelzebub declara la estructura de ese espectro según la ley cósmica principal, el *Heptaparaparshinokh*: siete capas heterogéneas por su surgimiento como percepción y como manifestación resultante.

«This ‘something’ which, together with these naloo-onosnian’ impulses, arises in the presences of specific individuals not only is the cause of ‘painfully retributive consequences’ for these individuals themselves but also has the particularity that, whenever one of these ‘imperious tendencies’ ceases to act in their presences, the radiation proper to one or another aspect of the manifestation of this ‘something’ has a greater effect on surrounding beings, and becomes a factor for engendering the same» — Beelzebub declara la particularidad de ese algo: además de traer consecuencias retributivas dolorosas al individuo, su radiación afecta más a los seres de alrededor cuando cesa de actuar una de esas tendencias imperiosas.

«The first kind of hasnamuss individual is a three-brained being who, while acquiring this ‘something’ in his common presence, still consists only of his planetary body and who, during the process of the sacred rascooarno is subject to the consequences of the properties of this ‘something’ in him and is thus destroyed forever such as he is.» — Beelzebub define la primera clase de individuo *hasnamuss*: el que consta solo de su cuerpo planetario y en el *rascooarno* queda destruido para siempre tal como es.

«The second kind of hasnamuss individual is a three-brained being in whose common presence the ‘kesdjan body’ has already been coated with the participation of that same ‘something’; and, as is proper to such a cosmic arising, having acquired the property of ‘toorinoorino,’ that is, ‘nondecomposition’ in any sphere of that planet on which he arose, has to exist such as he is, undergoing certain transformations, until this ‘something’ has been eliminated from him.» — Beelzebub define la segunda clase: aquel cuyo *kesdjan body* se revistió con la participación de ese algo y adquirió el *toorinoorino*, la no descomposición en ninguna esfera del planeta donde surgió.

«with the participation of this ‘something’; and this highest being-body also acquires the property of toorinoorino, but this time corresponding to this highest coating, that is to say, it is not subject to decomposition, either in the spheres of that planet on which he arose, or in any other sphere of the Great Universe.» — Beelzebub define la cuarta clase por su cuerpo superior, no sujeto a descomposición ni en su planeta ni en ninguna otra esfera del Gran Universo.

«That is why the fourth kind of hasnamuss is called an ‘Eternal Hasnamuss Individual.’» — Beelzebub da el nombre de esa cuarta clase.

«For these four kinds of hasnamuss individuals who have this ‘something’ in their presence, the ‘retributive consequences’ I have mentioned do not entail the same suffering, but correspond to the nature of each as well as to the ‘objective responsibilities’ flowing from the original foresight and hope of our Common Father for these cosmic actualizations.» — Beelzebub declara que las consecuencias retributivas no traen a las cuatro clases el mismo sufrimiento, sino el que corresponde a la naturaleza de cada una y a sus responsabilidades objetivas.

«the decomposition of his planetary body does not proceed according to the general rule; that is to say, all the various sensed impulses in his organism do not stop functioning simultaneously at the approach of the sacred rascooarno, that is, death.» — Beelzebub describe la muerte del primero: la descomposición de su cuerpo planetario no procede por la regla general, y los impulsos sentidos no cesan a la vez al acercarse el *rascooarno*.

«But the process of the sacred rascooarno already begins in him during his planetary existence and proceeds in stages, that is, one by one his ‘separate spiritualized localizations’ gradually cease to function in his common presence» — Beelzebub describe cómo procede en él el *rascooarno*: empieza ya durante su existencia planetaria y avanza por etapas, dejando de funcionar una a una sus localizaciones espiritualizadas.

«In addition to this, after the final death, the disintegration of all the active elements of which the ‘planetary body’ was formed proceeds much more slowly than usual, and is subject to the inextinguishable action—lessening only in proportion to the volatilization of the active elements—of the ‘naloo-onosnian impulses’ sensed during his life.» — Beelzebub añade que tras la muerte final la desintegración de los elementos activos de su cuerpo planetario procede mucho más lenta y bajo la acción inextinguible de los impulsos *naloo-onosnian* sentidos en vida.

«And as for a hasnamuss individual of the third kind, namely, a three-brained being in whom the highest being-body has been coated, but with this ‘something’ participating to the extent that he has not lost forever the possibility of freeing himself from it, his fate is still more terrible.» — Beelzebub declara cuál es el destino más terrible: el del *hasnamuss* de tercera clase, con cuerpo superior revestido pero sin haber perdido para siempre la posibilidad de liberarse de ese algo.

«he has the possibility of eliminating this ‘something’ from his presence, but solely through the action of the results of intentionally actualized partkdolgduty, that is to say, of conscious labor and intentional suffering.» — Beelzebub declara el único medio de eliminar ese algo: la actualización intencional del *partkdolgduty*, trabajo consciente y sufrimiento intencional.

«One of these four disharmonized planets, called ‘Retribution,’ is specially prepared for the Eternal Hasnamuss Individuals, and the other three for the higher being-bodies of hasnamusses who still have in their presence the possibility of ridding themselves at some time or other of this maleficent ‘something.» — Beelzebub declara el destino de los cuatro planetas desarmonizados: Retribution para los Eternos, y los otros tres para los cuerpos superiores que aún pueden librarse de ese algo maléfico.

«Here it is interesting to note that from all the highest being-bodies that have been coated and perfected in every kind of exterior form of three-brained being of the whole Universe, only 313 have, so far, reached the planet Retribution, two of whom had their arising on your planet; and one of these is the highest being-body of precisely this Lentrohamsanin.» — Beelzebub da la cuenta: de todos los cuerpos superiores revestidos y perfeccionados en el Universo entero, solo 313 han llegado al planeta Retribution, dos de ellos surgidos en la Tierra, y uno es el de Lentrohamsanin.

«The greatest anguish of this state of the highest being-bodies is that they must always endure these terrible sufferings, fully conscious that there is no hope whatever of their coming to an end.» — Beelzebub declara la mayor angustia de ese estado: soportar esos sufrimientos terribles con plena conciencia de que no hay esperanza alguna de que acaben.

«According to the cosmic laws I once mentioned to you, the two communities that during those periods became the greatest and most powerful, that is to say, better organized and possessing more means than the others for the process of reciprocal destruction, were the ‘Greek’ and ‘Roman’ communities.» — Beelzebub nombra las dos comunidades que en esos periodos se volvieron las mayores y más poderosas, mejor organizadas y con más medios que las otras para la destrucción recíproca.

«I must warn you, my boy, that my story of the arising of those ancient communities called the ‘Greek’ and the ‘Roman,’ and of everything later connected with them, is not based on my personal investigations, but only on the information about them» — Beelzebub advierte a Hassein que su relato del surgimiento de esas comunidades no se basa en investigaciones personales suyas sino en la información recogida sobre ellas.

«And having repeatedly confirmed, during my investigations, that the fundamental cause of the various abnormalities in the general psyche of contemporary beings was the so-called ‘civilization’ spread by these two large groups of beings called the Greeks and the Romans, I was obliged to investigate certain details» — Beelzebub declara la causa fundamental que confirmó repetidamente en sus investigaciones: la civilización difundida por esos dos grupos.

«From the investigations of this countryman of ours, it seems that long, long ago, before the period of my tale about the majestic city of Babylon, that is, when the existence of those strange beings was proceeding mainly on the continent of Asia and their chief center of culture was in the country of Tikliamish, there were as yet no definitely organized communities» — Beelzebub sitúa el punto de partida: en aquel tiempo, con el centro de cultura en Tikliamish, no había aún comunidades definidamente organizadas.

«At that time, there chiefly existed on that continent two-brained and one-brained beings called ‘wild quadrupeds’ and ‘reptiles’; as for your favorites, the biped beings, they existed there only in small groups» — Beelzebub describe la Europa de entonces: cuadrúpedos salvajes y reptiles, y sus favoritos bípedos solo en grupos pequeños.

«Toward the close of that period there migrated from Tikliamish to that continent a number of beings of the first Asiatic group who followed two quite different professions; some of them were engaged in various marine occupations, and others in raising cattle and sheep.» — Beelzebub declara las dos profesiones de los emigrantes de Tikliamish a ese continente: ocupaciones marinas unos, y cría de ganado y ovejas otros.

«The Greeks were the cause of the gradual decay of the Reason of the three-brained beings there, which has so degenerated in contemporary beings that it has become, as our dear Mullah Nasr Eddin says, a real ‘mill for nonsense.’» — Beelzebub adjudica a los griegos la decadencia gradual de la Razón de aquellos seres, y cita a Mullah Nasr Eddin sobre lo que se ha vuelto.

«According to the investigations of our countryman, it seems that the earliest ancestors of the beings of the community that was later called ‘Greece’ were obliged, during the frequent storms at sea that hindered them in their ‘marine occupations,’ to seek refuge from the rains and winds in sheltered places, where they played various ‘games’ they had invented, to ‘kill time.’» — Beelzebub relata el origen: los antepasados de los griegos, impedidos por las tormentas, buscaban refugio y jugaban juegos inventados para matar el tiempo.

«And so, my dear boy ... it was largely on account of the beings of these two groups that the Reason of your contemporary favorites has become mechanical, and that the data for engendering the impulse of ‘being-shame’ have completely atrophied in them.» — Beelzebub declara qué se debe en buena parte a esos dos grupos: que la Razón de sus favoritos se haya vuelto mecánica y se hayan atrofiado los datos que engendran el impulso de la vergüenza de ser.

«And it is thanks to the Romans that, as a result of successive changes in the presence of contemporary three-brained beings, those factors are never crystallized which in other three-brained beings engender the impulse called ‘instinctive shame,’ that is, the being-impulse that is the basis of what are called ‘morals’ and ‘objective morality.’» — Beelzebub adjudica a los romanos que ya no se cristalicen los factores que engendran la vergüenza instintiva, base de lo que llaman morales y moralidad objetiva.

«In short, these poor bored fishermen first played ordinary children’s games long since customary there; but later, when one of them invented a new game called ‘pouring from the empty into the void,’ they were all so pleased with it that from then on they amused themselves with that alone.» — Beelzebub relata el juego que inventó uno de aquellos pescadores aburridos y con el que se entretuvieron desde entonces.

«It turned out that among those ancient bored fishermen several were so clever and ingenious that, following the principle of that curious game, they became expert in inventing very long explanations.» — Beelzebub relata en qué se volvieron expertos algunos de ellos siguiendo el principio de ese juego.

«And when one of them discovered how to make what was afterward called ‘parchment’ from the skin of the fish called ‘shark,’ some of these skillful fellows, just to swagger before their companions, even began inscribing these long explanations of theirs on these fishskins, employing the conventional signs invented earlier for another game called ‘mousetrap.’» — Beelzebub relata cómo empezaron a inscribir esas explicaciones largas en pieles de tiburón, con los signos convencionales inventados antes para otro juego.

«And from then on, as the craze for ‘cooking up’ these ‘sciences’ passed from generation to generation, the beings of that group whose ancestors had been simple Asiatic fishermen became ‘specialists’ in inventing sciences of every sort.» — Beelzebub declara el resultado tras generaciones: los descendientes de aquellos pescadores asiáticos se volvieron especialistas en inventar ciencias de toda clase.

«Hence it is that almost half of what are called the ‘egoplastikoori’ arising in the Reason of the contemporary beings of that ill-fated planet—from which, in general, what is called a ‘world outlook’ is formed in beings—are crystallized just from the ‘truths’ invented by those bored fishermen and their descendants.» — Beelzebub declara de dónde se cristaliza casi la mitad de los *egoplastikoori* de que se forma la visión del mundo de los seres contemporáneos.

«But when everything had been talked out and they felt bored, one of them suggested that as a relief they should take up the occupation which they were the first to call cinque contra uno—five against one—a pastime which has been preserved» — Beelzebub relata el pasatiempo que uno de los pastores propuso y que ellos fueron los primeros en nombrar.

«As long as only the beings of the male sex engaged in that pastime everything went ‘smoothly and peacefully,’ but when a little later their ‘passive halves,’ that is to say, their women, joined in and, immediately appreciating it, soon became addicted to it, they gradually attained such ‘finesses’ in this occupation that if our arch-cunning Lucifer himself were to rack his honorable brains, he could not invent even a tithe of the ‘turns’ these erstwhile shepherds invented and prepared for the beings of succeeding generations of that ill starred planet.» — Beelzebub relata que las mujeres se sumaron a ese pasatiempo y que juntos alcanzaron finezas que ni el archiastuto Lucifer podría inventar.

«Here it is very interesting to note that during intervals of peace between these two communities—who were almost equal in the possession of efficient means for reciprocal destruction—the beings of both these groups, whose places of existence were close to each other, often came into contact and had friendly relations, with the result that little by little each picked up from the other those specialties that had originally been invented by their ancestors.» — Beelzebub relata el intercambio entre las dos comunidades en los intervalos de paz: cada una fue tomando de la otra las especialidades inventadas por sus antepasados.

«A great deal of time has passed since then. The inventors of both those kinds of being-manifestation have long since disappeared, and their descendants who chanced to become ‘powerful’ have also disappeared. Yet now the contemporary three-brained beings of that planet ‘fondly’ dedicate more than half their existence and the being-energy they have acquired to absorbing and actualizing somehow or other, unconsciously and sometimes even consciously, those two ‘ideals’ whose initiators were the bored Asiatic fishermen and shepherds.» — Beelzebub declara cuánto dedican hoy sus favoritos a esos dos ideales cuyos iniciadores fueron los aburridos pescadores y pastores asiáticos.

«Although each time the place of the ‘center of culture’ of your favorites has changed, a new so-called ‘civilization’ has arisen, bringing for the beings of succeeding epochs some new maleficence; nevertheless, not one of these many ‘civilizations’ has ever prepared so much evil for the beings of later epochs, including of course the present one, as that famous ‘Greco-Roman civilization.’» — Beelzebub declara qué civilización preparó más mal que ninguna otra para las épocas posteriores, incluida la presente.

«Without mentioning many other lesser psychic features, unbecoming to three-brained beings and now existing in the presence of your favorites, that civilization is chiefly to blame for the complete disappearance, especially from contemporary beings, of the possibility of crystallizing in their presence the data for ‘sane logical mentation’ and for engendering the impulse of ‘being-shame.’» — Beelzebub declara de qué tiene la culpa principalmente esa civilización: de que haya desaparecido la posibilidad de cristalizar los datos de la mentación lógica sana y de engendrar el impulso de la vergüenza de ser.

«Later when, as I have already said, the beings of both these communities chanced to become powerful and began influencing the beings of other communities, those peculiar and unnatural being-impulses gradually infected your unfortunate favorites everywhere.» — Beelzebub declara cómo se extendió el contagio: al volverse poderosas esas dos comunidades e influir en las otras, esos impulsos antinaturales infectaron a sus favoritos en todas partes.

«This took place, on the one hand, as a result of the persistent influence of these two communities, and on the other, because of that peculiarity of their psyche—common to all the three-brained beings of that planet and already well fixed in it before this—which is called ‘imitation.’» — Beelzebub declara los dos factores del contagio: la influencia persistente de esas dos comunidades y la peculiaridad de su psique llamada imitación.

«Here it is very interesting to note that, although the heritage from the ancient Romans has caused the gradual disappearance from the presence of your favorites of the ‘organic shame’ proper to three-brained beings, there has arisen in its place something rather like it. In the presence of your contemporary favorites there is as much as you want of this ‘pseudo being-impulse,’ which they also call ‘shame,’ but the data for engendering it are quite singular.» — Beelzebub declara qué surgió en lugar de la vergüenza orgánica desaparecida: un pseudoimpulso al que también llaman vergüenza, con datos de origen muy singular.

«But if nobody sees them, then nothing they do—even if according to their own consciousness and their own feelings it is undesirable—gives rise in them to any such impulse.» — Beelzebub declara la condición de ese pseudoimpulso: si nadie los ve, nada de lo que hacen les provoca impulso alguno, aunque su propia conciencia lo tenga por indeseable.

«Indeed, the beings of this Germany can boldly be declared to be the ‘direct heirs of the ancient Greek civilization’; for it is they who bring every kind of new ‘science’ and ‘invention’ into contemporary civilization.» — Beelzebub declara a quiénes cabe llamar herederos directos de la civilización griega antigua, por ser los que traen toda ciencia e invención nueva.

«But the contemporary beings of the community of Germany have gone even further; they have become very skillful in inventing ‘sciences’ that spread the specific disease of wiseacring among the rest of your favorites» — Beelzebub declara en qué han ido más lejos los alemanes contemporáneos: en inventar ciencias que difunden la enfermedad específica del sabihondeo entre los demás.

«And indeed, my boy, it is only owing to the ‘sciences’ concocted by certain beings of contemporary Germany that the other three-brained beings belonging to all communities have in their turn acquired the possibility of ‘inventing.’» — Beelzebub declara qué posibilitaron esas ciencias en los seres de todas las comunidades.

«I should like to point out, by the way, one very odd phenomenon, which is that these contemporary successors of the ancient Greeks give names to their maleficent inventions which for some reason or other all end in ‘ine.’» — Beelzebub señala un fenómeno curioso: los nombres que dan a esas invenciones maléficas terminan todos en *ine*.

«Let us take for example, among the many particularly harmful inventions of the German beings, just those five what are called ‘chemical substances’ now existing under the names of ‘satkaine,’ ‘aniline,’ cocaine,’ atropine,’ and ‘alizarine,’ all of which are used there at the present time by the beings of all the continents and islands on that planet even, as our dear Mullah Nasr Eddin says, ‘without economizing.’» — Beelzebub enumera las cinco sustancias químicas alemanas de las que va a hablar, y cita a Mullah Nasr Eddin sobre el uso que se hace de ellas en todos los continentes.

«Concerning this German invention I also learned, among other things, that a being of that community happened to obtain this gas from some definite surplanetary and interplanetary formations and, noticing its special property, reported his discovery to several of his colleagues.» — Beelzebub relata el descubrimiento del gas: un ser de esa comunidad lo obtuvo de ciertas formaciones surplanetarias e interplanetarias y notó su propiedad especial.

«Having begun their practical research with this aim in view, one of these ‘scientists’ soon discovered that if this gas were concentrated in a pure state ready to be released at will in any given space at any given time, it could serve their purpose admirably.» — Beelzebub relata el hallazgo práctico: concentrado en estado puro y liberable a voluntad en cualquier espacio y momento, ese gas servía admirablemente a su propósito.

«And owing to this maleficent aniline, the beings of the community of Germany have been responsible not only for the rapid destruction of the products of all the contemporary beings, but also for the nearly complete disappearance of articles from ancient times from the face of that ill-fated planet.» — Beelzebub adjudica a la anilina la destrucción rápida de los productos contemporáneos y la desaparición casi completa de los artículos antiguos de aquel planeta.

«And this was because, for various hasnamussian purposes and for their famous, as they call them, ‘scientific aims,’ they set about collecting the surviving ancient productions from all centuries and, not having the least idea of how to preserve ancient objects, they only hastened their destruction.» — Beelzebub explica esa desaparición: reunieron las producciones antiguas de todos los siglos con fines *hasnamussian* y científicos, y sin idea de cómo conservarlas solo apresuraron su destrucción.

«As for the third of those chemical substances they invented, namely ‘cocaine,’ not only is this ‘chemical means’ of great assistance to Nature in hastening the decomposition of planetary formations—in this instance, their own planetary bodies—but it also has an effect on the psyche of contemporary beings of the planet Earth surprisingly like that which the famous organ kundabuffer had on the psyche of their ancestors.» — Beelzebub declara el doble efecto de la cocaína: ayuda a la Naturaleza a apresurar la descomposición de sus propios cuerpos planetarios, y actúa sobre la psique de un modo sorprendentemente parecido al del órgano *kundabuffer* en sus antepasados.

«I must point out, my boy, that even though the action of that German invention is similar to the action of the organ kundabuffer, this came about, of course, without any conscious intention on the part of the beings of Germany; they became colleagues of the Great Angel Looisos only by chance.» — Beelzebub acota esa comparación: ese parecido se dio sin intención consciente alguna de los alemanes, que se volvieron colegas del Gran Ángel Looisos solo por azar.

«It seems that, thanks as always to the abnormally established conditions of ordinary being-existence there, the organ of sight of your favorites has acquired the property of finding the faces of others beautiful and pleasing only when they have dark eyes.» — Beelzebub declara la propiedad que adquirió el órgano de la vista de sus favoritos: hallar bello y agradable el rostro ajeno solo cuando los ojos son oscuros.

«I say until forty-five because so far there has never been a case there of a being continuing to use this means who could still see after the age of forty-five.» — Beelzebub declara por qué pone el límite de los cuarenta y cinco años: nunca hubo caso de quien siguiera usando ese medio y aún viera pasada esa edad.

«In short, my boy, these present-day successors to the beings of ancient Greece, with all their practical ‘attainments’ based on the ‘sciences’ they have invented, have become a great help to poor Nature—though only, it is true, in the process of decomposition.» — Beelzebub declara en qué se han vuelto una gran ayuda a la Naturaleza esos sucesores de los griegos antiguos, y en qué proceso.

«Strictly speaking, the capacity to cook up ‘fantastic sciences’ and to devise new methods for ordinary being-existence did not pass from the ancient Greeks to the beings of contemporary Germany alone; the same capacity was inherited, and perhaps no less, by the beings of another contemporary» — Beelzebub declara que esa capacidad de cocinar ciencias fantásticas no pasó solo a los alemanes.

«but meanwhile you should know that although the beings of the community of England also invent in large quantities a wide range of new objects required by your favorites in the process of their ordinary being-existence, they do not invent chemical substances as do the beings of Germany, no ...» — Beelzebub declara la diferencia de los ingleses: inventan en gran cantidad objetos nuevos requeridos por la existencia ordinaria, pero no sustancias químicas como los alemanes.

«But although these descendants of the former great Greeks, namely, the Greeks of the present day, have lost the knack of being an imaginary authority for other three-brained beings there, they have adapted themselves perfectly on almost all the continents and islands to keeping what are called ‘shops’» — Beelzebub declara a qué se han adaptado los griegos de hoy, perdida su autoridad imaginaria sobre los demás.

«Nevertheless, certain beings of that contemporary Italy have inherited from their ancestors one special and very peculiar property called ‘giving pleasure to others.’» — Beelzebub declara la propiedad peculiar que ciertos italianos heredaron de sus antepasados.

«However, they manifest this inherited need of ‘giving pleasure,’ not toward beings like themselves but toward beings of other forms.» — Beelzebub acota hacia quiénes manifiestan esa necesidad heredada: no hacia seres como ellos sino hacia seres de otras formas.

«When they destroy the existence of the quadruped beings called ‘sheep’ and ‘goats,’ whose planetary bodies they use for their first food, they do not do so all at once; but in order to give them this ‘pleasure’ they do it ‘slowly’ and ‘gently’ over a period of many days; that is, one day they take off one leg, then a few days later, a second leg, then the third, and so on, for as long as the ‘sheep’ or ‘goat’ still breathes.» — Beelzebub describe cómo destruyen la existencia de las ovejas y las cabras para darles ese placer: no de una vez, sino lenta y suavemente durante muchos días.

«Now let us talk about that particularly maleficent invention of the ancient Greeks which is practiced today by the beings of the community of England, and which is called ‘sport.’» — Beelzebub anuncia la invención maléfica de los griegos antiguos que hoy practican los ingleses.

«These beings of contemporary England, who make the most use of this particularly harmful invention of the ancient Greeks, have thereby added one more sure-fire factor for shortening the duration of their existence, already trifling enough without this.» — Beelzebub declara qué añadieron con ello: un factor seguro más para acortar la duración de su existencia, ya bastante escasa sin eso.

«Furthermore, experiencing in their turn the ‘greatness’ of their community, they have now become ‘authorities’ for the three-brained beings of other communities; and having made the practice of this invention their ideal and its propagation their aim, they are infecting by every possible means the beings of all the other large and small communities of that ill-fated planet.» — Beelzebub declara qué hacen desde su condición de autoridades: hecho de esa invención su ideal y de su propagación su fin, infectan por todos los medios a las demás comunidades.

«The cause of this serious misconception was the disappearance from the common presence of your favorites of the possibility of the crystallization in them of those factors which actualize ‘logical mentation’ in three-brained beings.» — Beelzebub declara la causa de ese equívoco serio: la desaparición de la posibilidad de cristalizar los factores que actualizan la mentación lógica.

«And since they lack this ‘logical mentation,’ all of them, almost without exception, accept the statements of certain candidate hasnamusses affirming that they can obtain ‘something’ very beneficial for themselves through ‘sport’; and now believing these assertions with all their presence, and in the hope of obtaining this benefit, they give themselves up entirely to this sport.» — Beelzebub declara qué aceptan sin esa mentación lógica: las afirmaciones de ciertos candidatos a *hasnamuss* sobre lo beneficioso que el deporte les daría.

«You remember that when I explained to you how these favorites of yours define the ‘flow of time,’ I told you that when the organ kundabuffer with all its properties was removed from their presence, and—in conformity with the ‘fulasnitamnian’ principle—they began to have the same duration of existence as all normal three-brained beings arising everywhere in our Universe, they also should without fail have existed until their second being-body, the ‘kesdjan body,’ had been completely coated in them and perfected in Reason up to the sacred ‘Ishmetch.’» — Beelzebub recuerda la condición del principio *fulasnitamnian*: debían existir sin falta hasta que el *kesdjan body* estuviera revestido del todo y perfeccionado en Razón hasta el sagrado *Ishmetch*.

«According to this principle, the duration of their being-existence and also the entire content of their common presence generally depend upon the results arising from the following seven factors in their surroundings:» — Beelzebub declara de qué depende, según el principio de *itoklanotz*, la duración de su existencia y el contenido entero de su presencia común: de siete factores de su entorno.

«The chief particularity of existence according to this principle of itoklanotz is that in the presence of beings existing according to it, depending on the enumerated seven exterior factors, there are crystallized in their ‘being-localizations’ or, as your favorites say, in their ‘brains’—which are the central locations of the sources of manifestation of all the separate independent parts of their common presence—what are called ‘bobbinkandelnosts,’ that is to say, a certain ‘something’ that gives to these ‘localizations’ or ‘brains’ a definite quantity of possible ‘associations’ or ‘experiencings.’» — Beelzebub declara la particularidad principal de ese principio: en los cerebros se cristalizan los *bobbinkandelnosts*, un algo que da a esas localizaciones una cantidad definida de asociaciones o vivencias posibles.

«And so, my boy, because these contemporary favorites of yours, the three-brained beings of the planet Earth, now arise only according to the principle of itoklanotz, there are crystallized in their brains, from the moment of conception up to the age of responsible beings, these ‘bobbinkandelnosts,’ with very definite possibilities for actualizing the processes of association.» — Beelzebub declara que sus favoritos contemporáneos surgen ya solo según el principio de *itoklanotz*, con esos *bobbinkandelnosts* cristalizados desde la concepción hasta la edad responsable.

«Just as the spring of a watch is ‘wound up’ for a definite length of time, so these beings can ‘associate’ and ‘experience’ only to the extent of the possibilities for experiencing put into them by Nature while these bobbinkandelnosts are being crystallized in their brains.» — Beelzebub compara ese límite con la cuerda de un reloj: pueden asociar y vivir solo en la medida de las posibilidades que la Naturaleza puso al cristalizarse los *bobbinkandelnosts*.

«They can associate and consequently exist just so long —no more, no less.» — Beelzebub declara el alcance de ese límite.

«At the present time, it may range from one of their minutes up to seventy or ninety of their years.» — Beelzebub da el rango actual de esa duración: de uno de sus minutos a setenta o noventa de sus años.

«And so, owing to all I have just said, no matter how your favorites exist, and no matter what measures they adopt, and even if they were to put themselves, as they say, ‘in a glass case,’ as soon as the contents of the bobbinkandelnost crystallized in one or another of their brains is used up, that brain immediately ceases to function.» — Beelzebub declara que ninguna medida cambia eso: agotado el contenido de un *bobbinkandelnost*, ese cerebro deja de funcionar de inmediato.

«The difference between mechanical watches and your contemporary favorites is that in watches there is only one spring, whereas your favorites have three of these independent bobbinkandelnosts.» — Beelzebub declara la diferencia con el reloj: este tiene una sola cuerda y sus favoritos tienen tres *bobbinkandelnosts* independientes.

«Nowadays it frequently happens that the process of the sacred ‘rascooarno’ in your favorites takes place ‘by thirds’ —that is to say, they ‘die in parts.’» — Beelzebub declara qué ocurre hoy con frecuencia en el *rascooarno* de sus favoritos: se da por tercios, es decir, mueren por partes.

«For instance, it often happens that, owing to their particularly abnormal existence, the contents of one of their bobbinkandelnosts are used up and, if it is the case of the moving center or, as they themselves call it, the ‘spinal cord,’ then although this three-brained being continues to ‘think’ and to ‘feel,’ he has already lost the possibility of intentionally directing the parts of his planetary body.» — Beelzebub da el ejemplo: agotado el del centro motor, el ser sigue pensando y sintiendo pero ya perdió la posibilidad de dirigir intencionadamente las partes de su cuerpo planetario.

«Here it is interesting to note that, when in one of your contemporary favorites a part finally dies in this way, their ‘zirlikners’ or, as they are called, ‘physicians,’ look upon such a death as unquestionably a disease, and begin to treat it with every kind of wiseacring already proper to them; and they give these supposed diseases all sorts of names sounding like an ancient language utterly unknown to them called ‘Latin.’» — Beelzebub declara cómo tratan eso sus médicos: como enfermedad indudable, con nombres que suenan a una lengua antigua que desconocen por completo.

«Such a death by thirds has become particularly frequent during the last two centuries on the planet Earth which has taken your fancy.» — Beelzebub fecha en los dos últimos siglos la frecuencia particular de esa muerte por tercios.

«You will clearly understand the nature of the pernicious consequences of that harmful occupation when I tell you that, during my stay among those favorites of yours, I once devoted a special section of my statistics to clarifying for myself how long those three-brained beings can exist who take up the profession of ‘wrestling,’ and never once did I find a single one who had existed longer than forty-nine of their years.» — Beelzebub da el dato de su estadística sobre los que toman el oficio de la lucha: nunca halló uno que hubiera existido más de cuarenta y nueve de sus años.

«But even if your favorites should hit upon this simple secret, it would change nothing.» — Beelzebub declara el límite de ese secreto: aunque sus favoritos dieran con él, no cambiaría nada.

«By means of this ‘regulator’ it is possible, for instance, to make the mechanism of a watch that is wound up for twenty-four hours go for a whole month or, on the contrary, run down in five minutes.» — Beelzebub describe qué permite ese regulador en el mecanismo de un reloj de veinticuatro horas.

«But you should also know that one can still occasionally find certain of your favorites whose planetary existence lasts up to five of their centuries.» — Beelzebub declara que aún se halla de vez en cuando algún favorito cuya existencia planetaria llega a cinco de sus siglos.

«Moreover, by this maleficent sport of theirs, these unfortunates not only diminish still further the already trifling duration of their own existence but, in my opinion, they will eventually bring about the same fate» — Beelzebub declara qué acarrea ese deporte maléfico: no solo acortan más su propia existencia, sino que a su juicio traerán el mismo destino a otros.

«And I draw this conclusion from the etherogram I recently received from the planet Mars informing me, among other things, that although there are more than two and a half million of what are called ‘unemployed’ beings in that community of England, the ‘power-possessing beings’ there take no measures concerning this, but only endeavor to spread still more widely» — Beelzebub cita el etherograma de Marte sobre los más de dos millones y medio de desempleados en Inglaterra y la inacción de los seres poseedores de poder.

«Sometime later, I shall explain to you why it is that when beings who exist according to the principle of itoklanotz manifest under the direction of only one or two of their spiritualized sources, and not harmoniously with all three combined and in agreement, the particular brain in which there has been an excess of associations is prematurely used up and consequently dies, and I shall also explain why, owing to this, the other bobbinkandelnosts are likewise used up, even though they had no part in it.» — Beelzebub anuncia la explicación pendiente: por qué el cerebro con exceso de asociaciones se agota antes y muere, y por qué con él se agotan también los otros *bobbinkandelnosts* que no tuvieron parte.

«However, perhaps it is opportune to speak just now about this contemporary terrestrial ‘art’ because, as you have said, during our fifth stay there, I actually witnessed the events that gave rise to the causes of this contemporary evil» — Beelzebub declara por qué es el momento de hablar del arte contemporáneo: presenció durante su quinta estancia los sucesos que dieron origen a las causas de ese mal.

«You yourself were present, as I well remember, at the arising of that factor during our stay in Babylon—I mean that factor which has since become definitely maleficent for the contemporary beings there and which they themselves call ‘art.’» — Beelzebub sitúa el surgimiento de ese factor durante su estancia en Babilonia, y da el nombre con que ellos mismos lo llaman.

«This definite concept, now existing there under the name of ‘art,’ is one of those automatically acting data, the totality of which gradually and almost imperceptibly, yet very surely, converts these unhappy favorites of yours— beings who have in their presence all the possibilities for becoming particles of a part of divinity—merely into what is called ‘live meat.’» — Beelzebub declara qué es ese concepto que hoy llaman arte: uno de los datos de acción automática cuya totalidad convierte a sus favoritos, que tienen todas las posibilidades de ser partículas de una parte de la divinidad, en lo que llaman carne viva.

«In order to throw light on all aspects of the question of this famous contemporary terrestrial ‘art,’ and for your clear understanding of how it all came about, you must first know about two facts relating to what occurred in the city of Babylon during our fifth visit in person to the surface of that planet of yours.» — Beelzebub anuncia los dos hechos de Babilonia que hacen falta para entenderlo.

«I resolved to leave Babylon and continue my observations among the beings of the powerful community called ‘Hel las.’» — Beelzebub relata su resolución de dejar Babilonia y seguir sus observaciones entre los seres de la comunidad poderosa llamada Hellas; el troceo parte la palabra y devuelve *Hel las*.

«I therefore decided to learn their ‘language’ without delay, and from then on I began to visit those places in the city of Babylon frequented by those beings who would be most useful to me in this study.» — Beelzebub relata su método para aprender la lengua: frecuentar los lugares de Babilonia donde estaban los seres que más le servirían para ese estudio.

«Without thinking long about it, I entered the building and, passing myself off as a foreign learned being, I asked to be enrolled as an Adherent of Legomonism.» — Beelzebub relata su ingreso: se hizo pasar por un ser sabio extranjero y pidió que lo inscribieran como Adherente del Legomonismo.

«Well, my boy, having thus become, as they say, a ‘full member’ of this club, I began to go there regularly, chiefly to talk with those learned members who were familiar with the Hellenic language I needed to practice.» — Beelzebub declara para qué frecuentaba el club: hablar con los miembros sabios que conocían la lengua helénica que necesitaba practicar.

«You must remember that among the learned beings who were then gathered in Babylon from almost the whole planet, some had been brought there by coercion by the aforementioned Persian king, and others had come of their own accord, drawn by that famous question of the ‘soul.’» — Beelzebub distingue a los sabios reunidos en Babilonia: unos llevados por coerción del rey persa y otros llegados por su cuenta, atraídos por la cuestión del alma.

«Owing to their genuine and sincere strivings, to the corresponding manner of their existence, and to their being-acts, this small number of beings, even before their arrival in Babylon, had been considered ‘initiates of the first degree’ by those terrestrial three-brained beings worthy to become ‘all-rights-possessing initiates according to the renewed rules of the Most Saintly Ashiata Shiemash.’» — Beelzebub declara qué eran ya esos pocos seres antes de llegar a Babilonia: iniciados de primer grado, por sus afanes sinceros, su modo de existir y sus actos de ser.

«And thus, my boy, when I began frequenting this club, it became evident to me, both from conversations with its members and from other data, that these few terrestrial learned beings, who were sincerely striving to perfect their Reason, had from the beginning kept to themselves in the city of Babylon, and never mixed in any of the affairs in which the general mass of Babylonian scholars very soon became involved.» — Beelzebub declara qué le quedó claro al frecuentar el club: esos pocos sabios se habían mantenido aparte y nunca se mezclaron en los asuntos en que se enredó la masa de eruditos babilónicos.

«These few learned beings kept themselves apart, not only in the beginning when all the others established a meeting place in the very heart of Babylon, where for their better mutual support, both material and moral, they founded a central club for all the learned beings of the Earth; but also later on, when the whole body of learned beings split into three separate sections, each having its independent club in a different part of the city, these initiated beings identified themselves with none of the three sections.» — Beelzebub precisa esa separación: no se identificaron ni con el club central de todos los sabios de la Tierra ni con ninguna de las tres secciones en que después se dividieron.

«These few learned beings I am speaking of had all without exception been brought to the city of Babylon by coercion and were for the most part among those taken by the Persian king from Egypt.» — Beelzebub declara la procedencia de esos pocos sabios: todos llevados por coerción, y la mayoría entre los que el rey persa se llevó de Egipto.

«One of these two terrestrial initiates, who had his arising among a race of beings called the ‘Moors,’ was named Kanil el-Norkel.» — Beelzebub nombra a uno de esos dos iniciados terrestres y la raza en que surgió.

«The other learned initiate was named Pythagoras, who had his arising among the Hellenes— those who were afterward called ‘Greeks.’» — Beelzebub nombra al otro iniciado y el pueblo en que surgió.

«They came to the conclusion that in the course of changing generations of beings on the Earth a very lamentable phenomenon occurs, namely, that for some reason or other during the processes of reciprocal destruction called ‘wars’ and ‘popular uprisings,’ numbers of initiated beings of all degrees are invariably destroyed and, together with them, there are also destroyed forever many legomonisms—the sole means by which information about former real events on the Earth is transmitted and continues to be transmitted from generation to generation.» — Beelzebub declara a qué conclusión llegaron: en guerras y levantamientos populares mueren siempre iniciados de todos los grados y con ellos se destruyen para siempre muchos legomonismos, único medio de transmisión de los sucesos reales.

«When these two sincere and honest terrestrial beings ascertained what they considered so ‘lamentable a phenomenon,’ they deliberated a long time and decided to take advantage of the exceptional gathering of so many learned beings in the same city to confer together for the purpose of finding some means of averting at least this distressing phenomenon, which proceeded on the Earth owing to the abnormal conditions of the life of man.» — Beelzebub declara qué decidieron: aprovechar la reunión excepcional de tantos sabios en una misma ciudad para conferenciar y hallar algún medio de evitar ese fenómeno.

«And it was for this very purpose that they organized that club and called it the ‘Club of the Adherents of Legomonism.’» — Beelzebub declara con qué fin organizaron el club y cómo lo llamaron.

«the number enrolled was 139; and the club continued with this same number of members until the Persian king abandoned his craze concerning those terrestrial learned beings.» — Beelzebub da el número de inscritos y hasta cuándo se mantuvo.

«it had been unanimously decided to hold a daily general meeting for reports and discussions dealing exclusively with the two following questions» — Beelzebub declara la decisión unánime: una asamblea general diaria de informes y discusiones sobre dos cuestiones exclusivamente.

«the word ‘art’ was uttered for the first time and its underlying idea and exact meaning were established» — Beelzebub fecha ahí la primera vez que se pronunció la palabra arte y se estableció su idea y su sentido exacto.

«Past centuries, and especially the two last ones, have shown us that during those inevitable psychoses of the masses leading to wars» — Aksharpantziar declara ante el club qué han mostrado los siglos pasados, y sobre todo los dos últimos, durante las psicosis de masas que llevan a las guerras.

«Just such pious men as these always become the innocent victims of the popular bestiality because, in my opinion, being already free within» — Aksharpantziar declara por qué esos hombres piadosos son siempre las víctimas inocentes de la bestialidad popular.

«Because these pious men exist normally, and in their relations with those around them are always well-wishing in both» — Aksharpantziar describe a esos hombres piadosos: existen normalmente y son siempre bienquerientes en sus relaciones con los de alrededor.

«This, it seems to me, is the most frequent reason why, in the course of their transmission from generation to generation» — Aksharpantziar declara qué es a su juicio la razón más frecuente de lo que ocurre en la transmisión de generación en generación.

«Let this form of transmission continue as before, as it has been established on the Earth since the dawn of centuries» — Aksharpantziar propone que esa forma de transmisión siga como se estableció en la Tierra desde el albor de los siglos.

«I personally suggest that this transmission to future generations be carried out through the human “afalkalnas,” as they are called» — Aksharpantziar propone su medio: transmitir a las generaciones futuras a través de los *afalkalnas* humanos.

«Certain of these human “afalkalnas,” particularly those made of lasting materials, may remain intact and be handed down to our remote posterity» — Aksharpantziar declara la ventaja de algunos de esos *afalkalnas*, sobre todo los de materiales duraderos: pueden quedar intactos y llegar a la posteridad remota.

«“This speech of his aroused considerable excitement, and a noisy discussion broke out among all the members of the club of the Adherents of Legomonism, with the outcome that then and there they unanimously decided to do as the great Aksharpantziar had suggested.» — Beelzebub relata el efecto de ese discurso: excitación considerable, discusión ruidosa y la decisión unánime de hacer lo que el gran Aksharpantziar había propuesto.

«“They reached the unanimous decision to begin the following day making what are called ‘minia-images’—or, as the contemporary three-brained beings call them, ‘models’ —of various productions; and to try to devise the most suitable means of indication, on the principles laid down by the great Aksharpantziar; and then to bring these ‘minia-images,’ or ‘models,’ of theirs to the club where they would be exhibited and explained to the other members.» — Beelzebub relata la decisión unánime de la segunda asamblea: empezar al día siguiente a hacer *minia-images* —modelos— de diversas producciones, con los medios de indicación más adecuados según los principios de Aksharpantziar.

«“Here it is interesting to note that this definite period of the flow of time known as a ‘week’ has always been divided into seven days; and this division was made by the beings of the continent of Atlantis, who expressed in it that same Law of Sevenfoldness, with which they were quite familiar.» — Beelzebub declara quiénes dividieron la semana en siete días y qué expresaron en esa división: los seres de Atlántida, y la Ley de Siete Pliegues que conocían bien.

«Monday was devoted to the first group, and this day was called the ‘day of religious and civil ceremonies’;» — Beelzebub asigna el lunes al primer grupo y da el nombre de ese día.

«Tuesday was allotted to the second group, and was called the ‘day of architecture’;» — Beelzebub asigna el martes al segundo grupo y da el nombre de ese día.

«Wednesday was called the ‘day of painting’;» — Beelzebub da el nombre del miércoles.

«This posture of his infallibly demanded, in accordance with the Law of Sevenfoldness, that his feet should be placed in a certain position; but these Babylonian learned beings intentionally placed the feet of the leader of the ceremony not as they would normally be placed in accordance with this law, but ‘otherwise.’» — Beelzebub da el ejemplo de la ceremonia: la postura exigía por la Ley de Siete Pliegues cierta posición de los pies, y los sabios babilónicos los colocaron a propósito de otro modo.

«But they placed this cupola on only three columns; and they calculated the reciprocal thrust—or, as it is also expressed, the ‘reciprocal resistance’ ensuing from the Law of Sevenfoldness for supporting the surplanetary weight—not from the columns alone, but also from other unusual combinations ensuing from the same Law» — Beelzebub da el ejemplo arquitectónico de la cúpula sobre solo tres columnas, con el empuje recíproco calculado no solo desde las columnas sino desde otras combinaciones inusuales de la misma ley.

«Or to give another example: a certain cornerstone, according to all the data established there, both mechanically from the practice of centuries and thanks to the fully conscious calculations of certain beings with Reason, ought infallibly to have a definite mass corresponding to a certain force of resistance; but on the contrary, they cut and set this cornerstone in such a way that it did not correspond at all to the aforementioned data; and on the basis of the Law of Sevenfoldness they calculated the mass and force of resistance required for the support of the superimposed weight from the setting of the lower stones,» — Beelzebub da el ejemplo de la piedra angular: cortada y colocada sin corresponder a los datos establecidos, con la masa y la fuerza de resistencia calculadas desde la colocación de las piedras inferiores.

«This group of learned members of the club of the Adherents of Legomonism also indicated what they wished in their minia-images, or models, of proposed constructions by utilizing the law called ‘Deivibritzkar,’ that is, the law of the ‘action of vibrations arising in the atmosphere of enclosed spaces.’» — Beelzebub nombra la ley *Deivibritzkar*, la de la acción de las vibraciones que surgen en la atmósfera de los espacios cerrados.

«This law, no knowledge of which has reached contemporary beings of that planet, was then well known to the beings there, who were quite aware that the size and form of an enclosed space, and also the volume of air it contains, influence beings in a particular way.» — Beelzebub declara qué sabían entonces de esa ley, hoy desconocida: que el tamaño y la forma de un espacio cerrado y el volumen de aire que contiene influyen de un modo particular en los seres.

«Then, by utilizing the law of Deivibritzkar, they designed the interior of this proposed building in such a way that these sensations would be evoked in the beings who entered, not in the anticipated lawful sequence but in some other order.» — Beelzebub declara qué hicieron con esa ley al diseñar el interior del edificio proyectado: que las sensaciones se evocaran en quien entrara no en la secuencia lícita esperada sino en otro orden.

«“On these objects were drawn, or embroidered in many-colored threads, various scenes of nature on that planet and different forms of beings breeding there.» — Beelzebub describe lo dibujado o bordado en aquellos objetos: escenas de la naturaleza del planeta y formas de los seres que se reproducen allí.

«“This fact I wish to explain to you concerns the gradual deterioration in the quality of those ‘organs of perception’ which are formed in the presence of every kind of being, especially the organ that interests us at present, namely, the organ for perceiving and distinguishing what is called the ‘blending of center-of-gravity vibrations,’ which reach their planet from the spaces of the Universe.» — Beelzebub anuncia el hecho penoso: el deterioro gradual del órgano que percibe y distingue la mezcla de vibraciones de centro de gravedad que llega al planeta desde los espacios del Universo.

«“I am referring to what is known as the ‘common integral vibration issuing from all sources of actualizing,’ which the learned being Aksharpantziar called the ‘white ray,’ and also to the separate blendings of ‘center-of-gravity vibrations,’ which are perceived and distinguished by beings as different ‘tonalities of color.’» — Beelzebub nombra la vibración integral común que Aksharpantziar llamó rayo blanco, y las mezclas separadas que los seres perciben como tonalidades de color.

«“Objective Science has precisely established that the number of separate blendings of ‘center-of-gravity vibrations’ issuing from the ‘common integral vibration,’ that is, the number of ‘tonalities of color’ is exactly equal to one ‘hooltanpanas’ which, according to the calculations of the terrestrial three-brained beings, would amount to 5,764,801 tonalities.» — Beelzebub da la cifra que estableció la Ciencia Objetiva: las tonalidades de color son exactamente un *hooltanpanas*, que por el cálculo terrestre serían 5 764 801.

«“Only a third of this total number of blendings or tonalities—with the exception of the one tonality which is accessible only to the perception of our All-Autocratic Endlessness—that is, 1,921,600 tonalities, can be perceived as ‘different colors’ by all ordinary beings on whatever planet of our Great Universe they arise.» — Beelzebub da la fracción accesible a todo ser ordinario de cualquier planeta, con la excepción de la tonalidad accesible solo a la Infinitud.

«“And only those three-brained beings who perfect their highest being-part to the state of what is called ‘Ishmetch’ become able to perceive and distinguish the total number of blendings or tonalities, with the exception of that one tonality which, as I have already told you, is accessible to the perception of our All-Maintaining Creator alone.» — Beelzebub declara quiénes pueden percibir y distinguir el número total: solo los seres de tres cerebros que perfeccionan su parte superior hasta el estado llamado *Ishmetch*, salvo esa única tonalidad.

«“First of all it must be said that the ‘common integral vibration,’ like every already definite cosmic formation, is formed according to the completed result of the fundamental cosmic law of the holy Heptaparaparshinokh, namely, that cosmic law which the three-brained beings of the planet Earth of the Babylonian period called the ‘Law of Sevenfoldness’;» — Beelzebub declara conforme a qué se forma la vibración integral común: la ley cósmica fundamental del *Heptaparaparshinokh*, que los terrestres de la época babilónica llamaron Ley de Siete Pliegues.

«“And meanwhile, as regards this question, you ought to know that when this ‘common integral vibration,’ which the terrestrial three-brained beings call the ‘white ray,’ enters with the presence proper to it into the spheres of its possible transformation in the presence of an insapalnian planet, there occurs in it, just as in the case of every definite cosmic arising having the possibility of further actualization, that cosmic process called ‘djartklom’; that is to say, it itself remains as a presence, but its essence disintegrates, as it were, and engenders processes for evolution and involution by the separate ‘center-of-gravity vibrations’ of its arising; and these processes are actualized thus:» — Beelzebub describe el *djartklom* del rayo blanco al entrar en las esferas de su transformación posible: permanece como presencia mientras su esencia se desintegra y engendra procesos de evolución e involución por sus vibraciones de centro de gravedad separadas.

«during my personal descents to the planet Earth, I noted, at first without any conscious intention on the part of my Reason, and later I quite intentionally verified, the progressive worsening of this being-organ in all your favorites.» — Beelzebub declara cómo notó y luego verificó intencionadamente el empeoramiento progresivo de ese órgano en todos sus favoritos.

«Deteriorating century by century, the ‘sensitivity of perception’ of that organ, by means of which there chiefly proceeds in the presence of three-brained beings what is called the ‘automatic saturation by externals’—which serves as the basis for the possibility of natural self-perfecting-had been diminished to such a point that at the time of our fifth stay there, during the period called by contemporary beings the period of the ‘greatness of Babylon,’ your favorites could perceive and distinguish the blendings of the ‘center-of-gravity vibrations’ of the white ray at most up to the third degree of its ‘sevenfold strata,’ that is, only up to 343 different tonalities of color.» — Beelzebub da la cifra de la época babilónica: podían percibir a lo sumo hasta el tercer grado de los estratos septuples del rayo blanco, es decir, solo 343 tonalidades de color.

«Here it is interesting to note that quite a number of the three-brained beings of the Babylonian epoch already suspected the gradual deterioration of the sensitivity of this organ of theirs, and certain of them even founded a new society in Babylon, which launched a peculiar ‘movement’ among the painters of that time.» — Beelzebub relata que bastantes seres de la época babilónica ya sospechaban ese deterioro y que algunos fundaron una sociedad que lanzó un movimiento peculiar entre los pintores.

«This peculiar ‘movement’ had the following program: to find out and elucidate the truth only by means of the tonalities existing between white and black.» — Beelzebub declara el programa de ese movimiento: hallar y elucidar la verdad solo por las tonalidades que hay entre el blanco y el negro.

«When I found out about that particular ‘movement’ among the Babylonian painters, they were already using about fifteen hundred quite distinct shades of the color ‘gray.’» — Beelzebub da la cifra que esos pintores manejaban ya cuando él supo del movimiento: unos mil quinientos matices bien distintos del gris.

«This new ‘movement’ in painting made a great stir among the beings who were striving to learn truth at least in something; and it even gave rise to another and still more peculiar ‘movement,’ this time among the beings then known in Babylon as ‘olfactorists,’ who studied and devised new combinations of ‘concentrations of vibrations’ acting in a particular way on the sense of smell of beings, and producing definite effects on their general psyche, that is to say, among those beings who made it their aim to find the truth by means of smells.» — Beelzebub relata el movimiento derivado entre los *olfactorists*, que estudiaban combinaciones de concentraciones de vibraciones que actúan sobre el olfato y se propusieron hallar la verdad por los olores.

«As regards that organ of theirs about which we began to speak, namely, the organ for perceiving the visibility of cosmic arisings outside themselves, the deterioration of its sensitivity continued after the Babylonian period and reached such a point that during our last stay on the surface of this planet your favorites, instead of the 1,921,600 ‘tonalities of color’ which they ought to have perceived, had the possibility of perceiving and distinguishing only the result of the penultimate ‘sevenfold crystallization of the white ray,’ that is, forty-nine tonalities; and even then only some of your favorites had that capacity, while the rest, perhaps the majority, were deprived even of that.» — Beelzebub da la cifra de su última estancia: en vez de las 1 921 600 tonalidades que debían percibir, solo la penúltima cristalización septuple del rayo blanco, cuarenta y nueve tonalidades, y no todos.

«But what is most interesting as regards the progressive deterioration of that most important part of their common presence is the sorry farce that results, which is that those contemporary three-brained beings who can still manage to distinguish this miserable fraction of the total number of tonalities—merely forty-nine—look down with disdain and self-conceit upon those other beings who have lost the capacity to distinguish even this insignificant number, as upon beings with an abnormal deficiency in that organ, and speak of them as afflicted by the disease called ‘Daltonism.’» — Beelzebub declara la farsa que resulta de ese deterioro: los que aún distinguen esas cuarenta y nueve miran con desdén a los que perdieron incluso eso y los llaman enfermos de daltonismo.

«In accordance with that definite property of the ‘common integral vibration,’ or the ‘white ray,’ during the process of its transformations about which I have just spoken and which was already familiar to the learned Babylonian painters, each of its ‘center-of-gravity vibrations’ or one of the separate colors of the ‘white ray’ always ensues from another and is transformed into a third; for example, the color orange is obtained from red, and in turn passes into yellow, and so on and so forth.» — Beelzebub declara la propiedad del rayo blanco que los pintores babilónicos ya conocían: cada color procede de otro y se transforma en un tercero.

«So, whenever these learned painters of Babylon made their pictures, or wove or embroidered with colored threads, they arranged the different tonalities—whether lengthwise or crosswise or at the points of intersection of the lines of color—not in the lawful sequence in which this process normally» — Beelzebub declara qué hacían esos pintores al pintar o bordar: disponer las tonalidades no en la secuencia lícita de la Ley de Siete Pliegues sino de otro modo.

«takes place in accordance with the Law of Sevenfoldness, but ‘otherwise’; and it was in these equally lawful ‘otherwises’ that they placed the substance of certain information and knowledge.» — Beelzebub declara dónde ponían la sustancia de cierta información y cierto conocimiento: en esos otros modos igualmente lícitos.

«And in order that you should have a better idea and understanding of the way in which they indicated what they wished in these dances, you must know that the learned beings of this time had long been aware that, in accordance with the Law of Sevenfoldness, every posture or movement of any being always consists of seven ‘mutually balanced’ tensions» — Beelzebub declara qué sabían desde hacía tiempo esos sabios sobre las danzas: que por la Ley de Siete Pliegues toda postura o movimiento de un ser consta de siete tensiones mutuamente equilibradas.

«You should know that all the three-brained beings of the Earth, and especially of course the sculptors of that period, already knew that, in accordance with the great Law of Sevenfoldness, the dimensions of any specific part of any whole being derive from the seven dimensions of other, secondary parts» — Beelzebub declara qué sabían ya los escultores de aquel periodo: que por la Ley de Siete Pliegues las dimensiones de cualquier parte de un ser derivan de las siete dimensiones de otras partes secundarias.

«Therefore, the dimensions of each large or small part of the whole planetary body of a being are larger or smaller in exact proportion to the dimensions of the other parts.» — Beelzebub declara la proporción exacta entre las dimensiones de las partes del cuerpo planetario de un ser.

«In this connection it must be noted that although in former times ‘mysteries’—some of which contained many instructive ideas known to antiquity—did sometimes happen to reach beings of later epochs, having passed automatically from generation to generation, in recent times those mysteries in which the learned members of the club of the Adherents of Legomonism intentionally introduced all manner of knowledge, calculating that it would reach their remote posterity, have almost totally ceased to exist.» — Beelzebub declara qué pasó con los misterios: los que los sabios del club llenaron de conocimiento contando con la posteridad remota han dejado de existir casi por completo.

«The mysteries that had been incorporated in the process of the ordinary existence of your favorites many centuries earlier began to disappear soon after the Babylonian period.» — Beelzebub fecha la desaparición de los misterios incorporados a la existencia ordinaria poco después del periodo babilónico.

«These theatrical spectacles came to replace the mysteries at the beginning» — Beelzebub declara qué vino a reemplazar a los misterios.

«Although the terrestrial three-brained beings of that time were well acquainted with the law of the ‘flow of associative movements,’ no information whatever about these laws has reached contemporary beings.» — Beelzebub declara que los terrestres de entonces conocían bien la ley del flujo de movimientos asociativos y que ninguna información sobre esas leyes llegó a los seres contemporáneos.

«However, like all other three-brained beings of the whole of our Great Universe, they consist of three separate independent spiritualized parts, each having a central place of concentration for all its functioning in a localization of its own, which they call a ‘brain.’» — Beelzebub declara la estructura común a todos los seres de tres cerebros: tres partes espiritualizadas independientes, cada una con su lugar central de concentración en una localización propia que llaman cerebro.

«The process itself is the same in them as in us, but in us it takes place only when we are intentionally resting in order to allow the whole functioning of our common presence to be free to transform, without hindrance from our will, every variety of being-energy required for an all-round active existence,» — Beelzebub declara la diferencia del proceso: en los suyos ocurre solo cuando descansan intencionadamente para dejar libre la transformación de la energía de ser sin estorbo de la voluntad.

«Thus every impression, whether coming from without or arising from within, is perceived independently, in accordance with its nature, by each of these brains of theirs.» — Beelzebub declara cómo se percibe en ellos toda impresión, venga de fuera o surja de dentro: independientemente y según su naturaleza por cada uno de esos cerebros.

«So, my boy, ever since your favorites completely ceased consciously to actualize in their common presence being-partkdolgduty—owing to which alone there can arise in beings, from associations of various kinds, what is called a ‘sane comparative mentation’ as well as the possibility of conscious active manifestation—their separate brains, already associating quite independently, have engendered in one and the same common presence three being-impulses of different sources,» — Beelzebub declara la consecuencia de haber dejado de actualizar el *being-partkdolgduty*: sus cerebros separados, asociando ya con total independencia, engendran en una misma presencia común tres impulsos de fuentes distintas.

«And afterward— as is also proper to the presence of every kind of being without distinction of brain-system-these impressions, together with previous ones, form a totality of data which, thanks to accidental shocks, evoke an independent association in each of these separate brains.» — Beelzebub declara qué forman esas impresiones con las anteriores: una totalidad de datos que, por choques accidentales, evoca una asociación independiente en cada uno de esos cerebros separados.

«In my opinion, the absence of just that property has caused most of the anomalies that have resulted in your three-brained favorites becoming possessed of such a strange psyche.» — Beelzebub adjudica a la ausencia de esa propiedad la mayoría de las anomalías que dieron a sus favoritos una psique tan extraña.

«As regards this being-property called ‘ikhriltatzkakra,’ I must add that only this property gives beings the possibility of restraining themselves within the limits of the impulses and promptings evoked at any given moment» — Beelzebub declara qué da esa propiedad llamada *ikhriltatzkakra*: la posibilidad de contenerse dentro de los límites de los impulsos evocados en cada momento.

«Three-centered beings can acquire this being-property called ‘ikhriltatzkakra’ only after having personally acquired in their presence what is called ‘egoaïtoorassian will,’ which in turn can be obtained only thanks to being-partkdolgduty, that is, to conscious labor and intentional suffering.» — Beelzebub declara cómo se adquiere esa propiedad: solo tras haber adquirido la voluntad *egoaïtoorassian*, que a su vez solo se obtiene por el *being-partkdolgduty*, trabajo consciente y sufrimiento intencional.

«Here it is important to emphasize that the learned three-brained beings who belonged to the group of the mysterists in Babylon did indeed reproduce amazingly well and accurately the subjective features of the perceptions and manifestations of various types foreign to them.» — Beelzebub reconoce el logro de los misteristas de Babilonia: reproducían asombrosamente bien y con exactitud los rasgos subjetivos de las percepciones y manifestaciones de tipos ajenos a ellos.

«And having thought over everything in this way, he decides to gratify this urge of his as best he can by doing at least a ‘moral injury’ to that ‘trodokhakhoon,’ that is, by evoking in him associations of an offensive nature.» — Beelzebub relata la decisión del ser en estado *dartkhelkloostnian*: satisfacer ese impulso haciendo al menos un daño moral a aquel otro, evocándole asociaciones de carácter ofensivo.

«From that moment, the learned being who had spoken would assume the role of a physician because he had chanced to call his superior the ‘chief medical officer’ of the city, while the second learned being who had been called a ‘policeman’ would become a ‘policeman.’» — Beelzebub describe el reparto de papeles del rito: quien llamó a su superior jefe médico de la ciudad asumía el papel de médico, y el llamado policía se volvía policía.

«each participant had to manage while he was fulfilling that role to find some plausible pretext for going out to change into a corresponding costume.» — Beelzebub añade la regla del rito: cada participante debía hallar, mientras cumplía su papel, un pretexto plausible para salir a cambiarse al traje correspondiente.

«In accordance with the foresight of Great Nature, these ‘khlodistomaticules’ serve in the presence of beings as factors enabling the arising of the process of association at those moments» — Beelzebub declara para qué sirven los *khlodistomaticules* en la presencia de los seres, por previsión de la Gran Naturaleza.

«They were completely familiar with all this; that is, they knew from which vibrations data are formed in this or that brain of the beings, and for which» — Beelzebub declara qué conocían por completo esos sabios: de qué vibraciones se forman los datos en uno u otro cerebro de los seres.

«they combined the melodies so that the sequences of vibrations, on entering into the common presence of beings, would evoke the ‘vibroechonitanko’ in the ‘khlodistomaticules’ not of just one brain» — Beelzebub declara cómo combinaban las melodías: para que las secuencias de vibraciones evocaran el *vibroechonitanko* en los *khlodistomaticules* de más de un cerebro.

«And indeed, my boy, the sequence of sounds they combined did have an exceedingly strange effect on all the beings whose presence they entered.» — Beelzebub declara el efecto de esa secuencia de sonidos sobre todos los seres en cuya presencia entraba.

«the common presence of each of your contemporary favorites during the process of his existence consists, as it were, of three quite separate personalities» — Beelzebub declara en qué consiste la presencia común de cada uno de sus favoritos contemporáneos durante su existencia: tres personalidades del todo separadas.

«In short, what takes place in their psyche is just what our dear teacher Mullah Nasr Eddin defines by the term ‘a real mish-mash.’» — Beelzebub cita a Mullah Nasr Eddin, a quien llama su maestro, para nombrar lo que pasa en la psique de esos seres.

«And this happened because the sounds of their melodies, combined in a definite sequence, upon entering my common presence underwent ‘djartklom’ or, to put it in another way, the sounds were ‘sorted out’ and acted equally upon my ‘khlodistomaticules’ of all three sources, with the consequence that the associations in my three independent brains—coming from similar but differently natured series of impressions—although proceeding simultaneously and with an equal intensity, engendered in my presence three quite different promptings.» — Beelzebub relata lo que le ocurrió a él mismo: los sonidos sufrieron *djartklom* al entrar en su presencia, actuaron por igual sobre sus *khlodistomaticules* de las tres fuentes y engendraron tres promptings del todo distintos.

«For instance, the localization of my consciousness or, as your favorites would say, my ‘thinking center,’ engendered in my common presence, let us suppose, the impulse of ‘joy’; the second localization in me, or my ‘feeling center,’ engendered the impulse called ‘sorrow’; and the localization of the body itself or, as once again your favorites would call it, my ‘moving center,’ engendered the impulse of ‘religiousness.’» — Beelzebub da el ejemplo de esos tres impulsos simultáneos: alegría en el centro del pensar, pena en el del sentir y religiosidad en el del movimiento.

«And it was just in these unaccustomed impulses, evoked in the beings by their instrumental and vocal melodies, that the learned members of that group indicated what they wished to transmit.» — Beelzebub declara dónde indicaban aquellos sabios lo que querían transmitir: justo en esos impulsos desacostumbrados evocados por sus melodías instrumentales y vocales.

«I shall now speak about certain facts, the knowledge of which will enable you to picture clearly to yourself and understand how greatly the ‘logical mentation’ in all these three-brained beings pleasing to you has deteriorated, and in so short a time that, without the least resistance on the part of their individuality, they have allowed themselves to become the ‘slaves’ of those few ‘nonentities’ among them who, having totally lost the divine impulse of Conscience, have created for their egoistic aims from this empty word ‘art’ that chanced to reach them an ‘unerring factor’ for the final atrophy in all of them of the data still surviving for conscious being.» — Beelzebub anuncia los hechos que muestran cuánto se deterioró la mentación lógica de esos seres: se han dejado volver esclavos de unas pocas nulidades que, perdido el impulso divino de la Conciencia, hicieron de la palabra vacía arte un factor infalible para atrofiar los datos que aún quedaban.

«Initiating you now into the impressions, kept secret from strangers, which became fixed in my common presence during my last stay in person on the surface of your planet as a result of my conscious perceptions of this contemporary ‘art’ of theirs, my ‘I,’ with a profound being-impulse of pity, must now emphatically state that of all the fragments of knowledge attained by the beings of the Babylonian civilization—fragments which, it must be admitted, were rich in content for the good of ordinary existence—absolutely» — Beelzebub declara lo que su *yo* debe afirmar con un impulso de piedad: de todos los fragmentos de conocimiento de la civilización babilónica, ricos en contenido para el bien de la existencia ordinaria, nada llegó.

«nothing has reached the beings of contemporary civilization apart from a few empty words without any inner content.» — Beelzebub completa esa afirmación: a los seres de la civilización contemporánea no llegó nada salvo unas pocas palabras vacías sin contenido interior.

«Not only did nothing whatever reach them of all the fragments of general knowledge which the learned beings of the club of the Adherents of Legomonism had indicated in ‘lawful inexactitudes’ in the sacred law of Heptaparaparshinokh or, as they called it, the ‘Law of Sevenfoldness,’ but in the interval of time between these two civilizations, their being-rumination has deteriorated so much that today they no longer know or even suspect the existence on their planet of this universal law.» — Beelzebub declara el alcance de la pérdida: hoy ni siquiera saben ni sospechan la existencia en su planeta de la ley universal del *Heptaparaparshinokh*.

«And as regards the word ‘art’ which, thanks to their strange Reason, has gotten ‘tangled up’ during this time with ‘the devil knows what,’ as they themselves would say, I must tell you that my special investigations made it clear to me that, among other words and expressions used by the learned beings of Babylon which automatically passed from generation to generation, this word ‘art’ happened to get into the vocabulary of certain three-brained beings, in whose presence the consequences of the properties of the organ kundabuffer had crystallized in a sequence and with a ‘reciprocal action’ that favored the arising of data in them for the being of ‘hasnamuss individuals.’» — Beelzebub declara en qué vocabulario cayó la palabra arte: el de ciertos seres en quienes las consecuencias del órgano *kundabuffer* se cristalizaron en una secuencia favorable al ser de individuos *hasnamuss*.

«And as these beings, for some reason or other, happened to like this word, they began using it for their egoistic aims, and gradually turned it into a ‘something’ which, though it still consists of ‘utter futility,’ has gradually been enveloped in a fairylike exterior, which now blinds every one of your favorites who keeps his attention on it a little longer than usual.» — Beelzebub declara qué hicieron con esa palabra: usarla para sus fines egoístas y volverla un algo que, siendo futilidad pura, quedó envuelto en un exterior de cuento de hadas que ciega a quien le fija la atención.

«You remember, I have told you that in Babylon both the hall and the demonstrations themselves of the learned beings belonging to the group of the mysterists were given the name ‘theater.’» — Beelzebub recuerda que en Babilonia se llamaba teatro tanto a la sala como a las demostraciones mismas de los sabios del grupo de los misteristas.

«As I have told you, a certain amount of information about the activities of the group of the mysterists reached the beings of the contemporary epoch who, wishing to imitate them also in this, began building special halls for this purpose, which they too called ‘theaters.’» — Beelzebub relata la imitación contemporánea: con la información que les llegó del grupo de los misteristas empezaron a levantar salas especiales que también llamaron teatros.

«These theaters have acquired the greatest importance in the ordinary process of existence of your favorites, and so they erect particularly imposing buildings for this purpose which, in most of their contemporary cities, rank among the most noteworthy constructions.» — Beelzebub declara la importancia que esos teatros adquirieron: se les erigen edificios imponentes que en la mayoría de sus ciudades están entre las construcciones más notables.

«This word was also passed down to your contemporary favorites from the Babylonian epoch, not as all the others were, that is, as empty words without any sense, but just as a distant echo of a word formerly used.» — Beelzebub declara cómo llegó la palabra *artist*: no como las demás, palabras vacías sin sentido, sino como el eco lejano de una palabra usada antes.

«You must know that at that time the learned members of the club of the Adherents of Legomonism were given a name by the other learned beings, who were well disposed toward them, a name which they adopted for themselves, and which your contemporary favorites would write as ‘Orpheist.’» — Beelzebub declara el nombre que los sabios bien dispuestos dieron a los miembros del club y que ellos adoptaron.

«This word was formed from distinct roots of words then in use, which in contemporary times would signify ‘right’ and ‘essence.’» — Beelzebub declara de qué raíces se formó esa palabra y qué significarían hoy.

«If someone was called that, it meant that he ‘rightly sensed the essence.’» — Beelzebub traduce qué quería decir llamar así a alguien.

«After the Babylonian period, this expression also passed automatically from generation to generation with almost the same meaning, but about two centuries ago, when certain beings with hasnamussian tendencies began wiseacring about that empty word ‘art,’ and when various ‘schools of art’ arose and everybody considered himself a follower of one or another of those schools, then, since they did not understand the genuine meaning of the word ‘art,’ and chiefly because one of these schools was named after a certain Orpheus, a figure invented by the ancient Greeks, they decided to coin a new word defining their ‘vocation’ more exactly.» — Beelzebub relata el equívoco: hace unos dos siglos, con las escuelas de arte y sin entender el sentido genuino de la palabra, y porque una escuela llevaba el nombre de Orfeo, figura inventada por los griegos antiguos, decidieron acuñar una palabra nueva.

«So in place of the expression ‘Orpheist’ they invented the word ‘artist,’ which was supposed to mean ‘he who is occupied with art.’» — Beelzebub da la palabra que inventaron en lugar de *Orpheist* y lo que suponían que significaba.

«In order that you may represent to yourself more clearly all the factors connected with this misunderstanding there, you must know first of all that before the second transapalnian catastrophe, when these favorites of yours still prepared themselves for responsible existence normally, as did all three-brained beings of our Great Universe, they had at their disposal for their ‘speech’—that is, for mutual intercourse through appropriate sounds, intentionally uttered—and could pronounce up to 341 different consonances or ‘letters.’» — Beelzebub da la cifra antigua: antes de la segunda catástrofe transapalniana podían pronunciar hasta 341 consonancias o letras distintas.

«But later on, when thanks as always to the same conditions of ordinary being-existence abnormally established by them, every property inherent in the presence of three-brained beings gradually deteriorated, this ‘being-ableness’ also deteriorated and at such a rate that the beings of the Babylonian period could use for their conversation only seventy-seven definite sounds.» — Beelzebub da la cifra babilónica: solo setenta y siete sonidos definidos para conversar.

«And thereafter the deterioration continued so rapidly that five centuries later your favorites could pronounce at most only thirty-six different ‘letters,’ and the beings of certain communities could not articulate even this small number of separate sounds.» — Beelzebub da la cifra de cinco siglos después: a lo sumo treinta y seis letras distintas, y algunas comunidades ni ese número.

«This ‘written compromise’ was that, in place of any sign or letter which they could not pronounce, even though they sensed the ‘flavor’ of its pronunciation, they decided to use a somewhat similar letter contained in their alphabet at the time; and so that everybody should understand that it was not that letter but quite another, they always wrote beside it a letter of the ancient Romans, still existing, but already meaningless, called in English ‘h’ and by the contemporary French ‘ahsh.’» — Beelzebub explica el compromiso escrito: para la letra que no podían pronunciar usaban otra parecida y al lado una letra romana ya sin sentido, llamada *h* en inglés y *ahsh* por los franceses de hoy.

«When this ‘written compromise’ was invented, there were about twenty-five of these ‘suspicious’ letters, but in the course of time, as their ability to pronounce deteriorated along with the increase of their wiseacring, the number of combined letters specially fabricated for such a ‘being-faculty’ diminished; and by the time the word ‘artist’ was invented only eight of these combinations remained; and in front of this notorious ‘h’ they wrote letters, partly ancient Greek and partly Latin, which produced the following: ‘th,’ ‘ph,’ ‘gh,’ ‘ch,’ ‘sch,’ ‘kh,’ ‘dh,’ and ‘oh.’» — Beelzebub da la cuenta de esas combinaciones: de unas veinticinco iniciales quedaban ocho cuando se inventó la palabra *artist*.

«The basis for the misunderstanding I mentioned was the compromising sign ‘ph.’» — Beelzebub declara cuál fue la base del equívoco: el signo de compromiso *ph*.

«And this was so because this sign appeared both in the word by which the learned mysterists were designated and in the word which stood for a personality invented by the ancient Greeks, with whose name, as I have already said, one of their ‘schools of art’ had been connected; the result was that the representatives of terrestrial art I spoke of, with their quite bob-tailed Reason, then thought that this word merely indicated the followers of the ‘historical personality’ Orpheus, and since many of them did not consider themselves his followers, they invented the word ‘artist’ in its place.» — Beelzebub explica el equívoco: ese signo estaba en el nombre de los misteristas sabios y en el de la personalidad inventada por los griegos, y de ahí que creyeran que la palabra solo designaba a los seguidores de Orfeo.

«Here it is interesting to note that your favorites of very ancient times used these two letters in the formation of words having two quite opposite meanings.» — Beelzebub señala que sus favoritos antiquísimos usaban esas dos letras para formar palabras de dos sentidos del todo opuestos.

«To be precise, they used the letter ‘theta’ in words expressing ideas relating to the idea of ‘good’ and the letter ‘delta’ in words relating to the idea of ‘evil’; as for example ‘theos, ‘ meaning ‘god,’ and ‘daimonion,’ meaning ‘demon.’» — Beelzebub precisa ese uso: *theta* en palabras ligadas a la idea de bien y *delta* en las ligadas a la idea de mal.

«The meaning of these two letters, as well as the ‘taste’ of their consonance, passed to all the beings of contemporary civilization, but for some reason or other they indicated these two different letters, having entirely opposite essences, by means of one and the same sign, namely, the sign ‘th.’» — Beelzebub declara qué hicieron los contemporáneos con esas dos letras de esencia opuesta: indicarlas con un mismo signo, *th*.

«The beings of a large contemporary community called ‘Russia,’ however hard they try, cannot pronounce these two letters at all, yet they are clearly aware of their difference; and whenever they have to use them in words expressing a definite idea, even though the sounds they make do not correspond to these letters in the least, they sense the difference between them correctly and never use one letter for the other.» — Beelzebub declara la particularidad de los rusos: no logran pronunciar esas dos letras y aun así sienten con claridad su diferencia y nunca usan una por otra.

«On the other hand, the beings of the contemporary community called ‘England’ still pronounce both these letters in almost the same way as the ancient Greeks; but they sense no difference in them, and for words of entirely opposite meanings, they employ, without the least embarrassment, one and the same conventional sign, in the form of their famous ‘th.’» — Beelzebub declara la particularidad inversa de los ingleses: las pronuncian casi como los griegos antiguos y no sienten diferencia alguna entre ellas.

«In this respect, contemporary theaters turned out to be admirably suited to your favorites, because it is very convenient and easy for them to show off, as they like to say, their ‘chic coiffures’ or the ‘specially tied knots of their cravats,’ or the daringly bared what are called ‘koopaitarian’ parts of their bodies, and so on and so forth, and at the same time stare at the ‘latest fashions’ brought out according to the edicts of those famous candidates for hasnamuss individuals.» — Beelzebub declara por qué les vinieron bien los teatros contemporáneos: es cómodo y fácil lucir allí el peinado, el nudo de la corbata o las partes desnudadas del cuerpo, y mirar a la vez las últimas modas.

«The strangeness of this need of theirs lies in the fact that they get satisfaction from the manifestation of astonishment on the part of others in regard to their external appearance, which they arrange to conform exactly with the demands of what is called ‘fashion,’ that maleficent custom that has existed ever since the Tikliamishian civilization and is now one of those being-factors which automatically leave them neither the time nor the possibility to see or sense reality.» — Beelzebub declara la extrañeza de esa necesidad: se satisfacen con el asombro ajeno ante su apariencia externa, ajustada a lo que llaman moda, costumbre maléfica que viene de la civilización de Tikliamish.

«And so, my boy, thanks to this criminal carelessness on the part of the midwife, the unfortunate new being acquires in his presence that predisposition to the strange ‘illness’ I mentioned.» — Beelzebub declara el origen que da a esa enfermedad: el descuido criminal de la partera, por el que el nuevo ser adquiere la predisposición.

«When one of these three-brained beings, who at his first breath has acquired this predisposition to ‘dramatizacring,’ reaches the age of a responsible being, if he should know how to write even a little and has the wish to do so, he suddenly gets this strange illness, and begins wiseacring on paper or, as is said there, ‘composing’ various ‘dramas.’» — Beelzebub describe cuándo se declara: llegado a la edad responsable, si sabe escribir aunque sea poco y tiene ganas, se pone a sabihondear en el papel componiendo dramas.

«The first is that, when this strange illness arises and begins to function in the presence of a being, particular vibrations are spread around him which act on those near him, as they say, exactly like the ‘smell of an old goat.’» — Beelzebub da el primer síntoma: al surgir esa enfermedad se difunden en torno al ser vibraciones particulares que actúan sobre los cercanos.

«The second is that, as a result of the change in the inner functioning of such a being, the exterior form of his planetary body undergoes the following changes: his nose is held aloft; his arms, as is said, ‘akimbo’; his speech is punctuated by a special little cough, and so on.» — Beelzebub da el segundo síntoma: la nariz en alto, los brazos en jarras, el habla puntuada por una tosecita especial.

«The third, that such a being is always terrified of certain perfectly harmless formations, natural or artificial, as for instance, a ‘mouse,’ a ‘clenched fist,’ the ‘stage manager’s wife,’ a ‘pimple on his own nose,’ ‘his own wife’s left slipper,’ and any number of other things.» — Beelzebub da el tercer síntoma: el terror ante formaciones perfectamente inofensivas, un ratón, un puño cerrado, la mujer del director de escena o un granito en la propia nariz.

«The fourth symptom causes him to lose entirely all capacity for understanding the psyche of beings like himself.» — Beelzebub da el cuarto síntoma: la pérdida entera de la capacidad de entender la psique de seres como él.

«The fifth consists in this, that inwardly and in his outer manifestations he criticizes everybody and everything that does not come from himself.» — Beelzebub da el quinto síntoma: criticar por dentro y por fuera a todo y a todos los que no vengan de él mismo.

«As for the sixth, the data necessary for the perception of anything objective are more atrophied in him than in all other terrestrial three-brained beings.» — Beelzebub da el sexto síntoma: los datos necesarios para percibir algo objetivo están en él más atrofiados que en cualquier otro terrestre de tres cerebros.

«And the seventh and last symptom is that there arise in him what are called ‘hemorrhoids,’ which are, by the way, the only thing he carries with modesty.» — Beelzebub da el séptimo y último síntoma.

«Further, it usually happens that if the sick being has an uncle who is a member of one or another of their parliaments, or has struck up an acquaintance with the widow of a former ‘businessman’ or, if for some reason the period of his preparation for becoming a responsible being has been spent in an environment or in conditions where he has automatically acquired the property called ‘slipping in without soap,’ a ‘producer’—or, as he is sometimes called, an ‘angel’—takes his ‘play’ and orders ‘artists’ or ‘actors’ to ‘reproduce’ it exactly as it was wiseacred by this being who has fallen ill with the strange illness of ‘dramatizacring.’» — Beelzebub describe cómo llega el drama a escena: un productor —a veces llamado ángel— toma la obra y ordena a los artistas o actores reproducirla tal como la sabihondeó el enfermo.

«And these contemporary actors first reproduce this work among themselves, without spectators, and do this over and over again until it corresponds exactly to the indications of the sick being and the orders of the ‘director’; and finally, when all this proceeds without the participation of the consciousness and feelings of the actors, who are completely transformed into» — Beelzebub describe el ensayo: repiten la obra entre ellos hasta que corresponde exactamente a las indicaciones del enfermo y a las órdenes del director, y finalmente sin participación de su conciencia ni de sus sentimientos.

«Thus from all I have just said, you can easily conclude that these theaters, apart from many definitely maleficent consequences, which I shall soon describe in detail, cannot of course contribute anything toward that lofty aim of the Babylonian learned beings when they created for the first time that form of conscious representation of perceptions and of the associative reactions to them of other beings like themselves.» — Beelzebub declara la conclusión sobre esos teatros: nada pueden aportar al fin elevado de los sabios babilónicos que crearon aquella forma de representación consciente.

«All the same, it must be admitted that these theaters and contemporary actors, of course accidentally, did provide for the process of their ordinary being-existence one ‘not-so-bad’ result.» — Beelzebub concede que esos teatros y actores dieron, por accidente, un resultado no tan malo para la existencia ordinaria de esos seres.

«Thereupon there was acquired and still remains in the process of their existence the particularity that if, as they say, they ‘sleep well,’ they will ‘be awake well’ and, vice versa, if their ‘waking state’ is bad they will also ‘sleep badly.’» — Beelzebub declara la particularidad que quedó en su existencia: si duermen bien estarán bien despiertos, y si su vigilia es mala también dormirán mal.

«And so, my boy, since in recent times they have been existing very abnormally, the established automatic tempo that previously had more or less helped the appropriate associations to proceed in them has also undergone a change, so that now they sleep badly and when awake are even worse off than before.» — Beelzebub declara el estado presente: como existen muy anormalmente, cambió el tempo automático que antes ayudaba a las asociaciones, y ahora duermen mal y despiertos están aún peor.

«After the need to actualize being-partkdolgduty had entirely disappeared from the presence of most of them, and all the associations of unavoidably perceived shocks began to flow during their waking state only from various ‘already automatized series of former imprints’ made up of ‘impressions experienced long ago’ and endlessly repeated, there disappeared in them even the instinctive need to receive all sorts of new shocks—vital for three-brained beings—which issue either from their inner, separately spiritualized being-parts or from corresponding perceptions coming from without for conscious associations, namely, for those being-associations upon which depends the» — Beelzebub declara qué desapareció en ellos: hasta la necesidad instintiva de recibir choques nuevos, vitales para los seres de tres cerebros, tras haberse borrado la necesidad de actualizar el *being-partkdolgduty*.

«But although these contemporary theaters with all that goes on in them happen to be an excellent means for helping your favorites to sleep better—of course only for today—the objectively evil consequences they entail for beings, particularly for the rising generation, are incalculable.» — Beelzebub declara el saldo: aunque esos teatros ayuden a dormir mejor, y solo por hoy, las consecuencias objetivamente malas para los seres, sobre todo para la generación que sube, son incalculables.

«The greatest harm done by these theaters is that they serve as an additional factor for the complete destruction in three-brained beings of all possibilities of ever feeling a need proper to them called the ‘need for real perceptions.’» — Beelzebub declara el mayor daño de esos teatros: son un factor más para destruir en los seres de tres cerebros toda posibilidad de sentir la necesidad de percepciones reales.

«Although these maleficent radiations have gradually become the lot, or the specific attribute, of the representatives of all branches of their art, my detailed ‘physico-chemical investigations’ definitely showed me that they are always most pernicious in those contemporary artists or actors who perform in these theaters of theirs.» — Beelzebub declara el resultado de sus investigaciones físico-químicas: esas radiaciones maléficas son siempre más perniciosas en los artistas o actores que actúan en sus teatros.

«The noxious effect on all the rest of your favorites of the totality of the radiations given off by these actors has become distinctly noticeable in their present civilization, particularly during recent times.» — Beelzebub declara que el efecto nocivo de la totalidad de esas radiaciones se ha vuelto claramente notable en la civilización presente.

«Although in previous epochs certain of the ordinary beings there also took up that profession, on the one hand, data for ‘hasnamussian properties’ did not always become completely crystallized in the presence of every one of them, and on the other hand, the other beings instinctively sensed the maleficent influence radiating from these professionals and hence were on their guard and took great care to behave toward them in a corresponding manner.» — Beelzebub declara la diferencia con épocas anteriores: no siempre se cristalizaban en cada uno de ellos los datos de las propiedades *hasnamussian*, y los demás sentían instintivamente su influencia maléfica y se guardaban.

«Indeed, in former centuries these artists or actors were relegated by other beings everywhere to the lowest caste and were regarded with contempt.» — Beelzebub declara el trato que recibían en siglos pasados: relegados en todas partes a la casta más baja y mirados con desprecio.

«But on the continent that is now the chief place of what is called their ‘cultured existence,’ contemporary beings not only inwardly consider these actors to be on the same level as themselves, but even copy their outer appearance, and at the present time imitate them in everything.» — Beelzebub declara el trato de hoy en el continente de su existencia culta: los tienen por iguales, copian su apariencia externa y los imitan en todo.

«A good example of what I have just said is the custom, now followed by your favorites, of shaving the beard and moustache.» — Beelzebub da el ejemplo de esa imitación: la costumbre, hoy seguida por sus favoritos, de afeitarse la barba y el bigote.

«You should know that in past epochs these terrestrial professional actors always had to go about during the process of their ordinary existence with moustaches and beards shaved off.» — Beelzebub declara el origen: en épocas pasadas los actores profesionales tenían que andar siempre con el bigote y la barba afeitados.

«petty criminals who, after trial by seven elderly beings of the given district, had been found guilty of some ‘immorality’ or ‘crime’ belonging to one of four previously established categories—the sort of criminals with whom all their ‘prisons’ are usually crammed today—had always to go about everywhere for a definite term with one of four sides of their heads shaven; and furthermore, any such convicted being was obliged to uncover his head whenever he met or spoke with others.» — Beelzebub describe la medida de justicia de Tikliamish sobre los criminales menores: media cabeza rapada por un término definido, tras juicio de siete ancianos del distrito, y la obligación de descubrirse ante los demás.

«It is interesting to note that there then existed another law, comparable to the one about shaving the head, in regard to the immoral behavior of women.» — Beelzebub declara que existía otra ley comparable sobre la conducta inmoral de las mujeres.

«In regard to the women, a decree existed that was also very strictly enforced, subject in this instance to the jurisdiction of seven elderly local women who had earned respect by their previous conduct.» — Beelzebub declara la jurisdicción de esa ley: siete mujeres mayores del lugar que se habían ganado el respeto por su conducta anterior.

«For instance, if all the neighbors noticed that some woman had behaved negligently and without due regard to her family duties, and if the seven elderly women confirmed it, then, according to this law, for a definite term wherever she went she had to appear with painted lips.» — Beelzebub da el primer caso: la mujer descuidada de sus deberes familiares debía andar por un término definido con los labios pintados.

«And if various women noticed that she had begun to manifest a weakening of her maternal instinct toward her children, she was condemned according to this law to go about everywhere, also for a definite term, with the left half of her face made up and painted white and red.» — Beelzebub da el segundo caso: la que manifestaba debilitamiento del instinto materno debía andar con la mitad izquierda de la cara maquillada de blanco y rojo.

«And if, following the same procedure, it was established that a woman manifested an inclination to avert the possibility of conceiving a new being for the prolongation of her species, she was condemned to appear before others with her face made up and also painted white and red, but this time only on the right half.» — Beelzebub da el tercer caso: la que mostraba inclinación a evitar la concepción, con la mitad derecha.

«And as for a woman who attempted to violate her ‘chief wifely duty,’ that is, who deceived or even had the intention of deceiving her legal husband or who attempted to destroy a new being conceived in her, she was obliged by the same procedure, and also for a definite term, to go about everywhere made up and painted white and red, this time over the whole of her face.» — Beelzebub da el cuarto caso: la que faltaba a su deber conyugal principal, con la cara entera maquillada de blanco y rojo.

«Your Right Reverence: All your explanations concerning terrestrial art and those three-brained beings who are, so to say, its representatives, and particularly your elu cidations about the contemporary ‘comedians’ or actors, have prompted me to make use of the impressions fixed in my common presence and perceived during my last stay on the surface of the planet Earth, in order to give our dear Hassein some good and practical advice.» — Ahoon declara ante Beelzebub que esas explicaciones lo mueven a dar a Hassein un consejo práctico con las impresiones fijadas en su presencia durante su última estancia en la Tierra.

«You must know that the three-brained beings of contemporary civilization not only adorn this present-day art with a false halo and, particularly during the last few decades, treat its so-called ‘adepts’ as equals and imitate them in their exterior manifestations but also, always and everywhere, unduly encourage and exalt them.» — Ahoon declara qué hacen los seres de la civilización contemporánea con ese arte: le ponen un halo falso, tratan a sus adeptos como iguales, los imitan y los alientan y exaltan sin medida.

«And in these contemporary representatives of art themselves, who as regards their genuine essence are really almost nonentities, there appears of itself, without any being-consciousness on their part, a false assurance that they are not like all the rest but, as they call themselves, ‘beings of a higher order’; and the result is that in the common presence of these types the crystallization of the consequences of the properties of the organ kundabuffer proceeds more intensively than in the presence of all the other three-brained beings there.» — Ahoon declara el efecto sobre esos representantes del arte: la falsa seguridad de ser seres de un orden superior, con lo que la cristalización de las consecuencias del órgano *kundabuffer* procede en ellos más intensamente.

«Furthermore, in regard to these unfortunate three-brained beings, the surrounding abnormal conditions of ordinary being-existence are already established in such a way that there are bound to be crystallized in their common presence and to become an inseparable part of their general psyche those consequences of the properties of the organ kundabuffer they now call ‘swaggering,’ ‘pride,’ ‘self-love,’ ‘vanity,’ ‘self-conceit,’ ‘self-infatuation,’ ‘envy,’ ‘hate,’ ‘touchiness,’ and so on and so forth.» — Ahoon enumera las consecuencias del órgano *kundabuffer* que se cristalizan y se vuelven parte inseparable de su psique general.

«These enumerated consequences are particularly conspicuous and most rigidly crystallized in those representatives of art who are ‘manipulators’ in the contemporary theaters, and this is because these ‘manipulators,’ who are always interpreting the roles of certain of their fellow men with a being and significance far superior to their own, and who in themselves, as I have already said, are almost nonentities, gradually acquire, with their wholly automatized Reason, a false view of themselves.» — Ahoon declara en quiénes son más conspicuas esas consecuencias: los manipuladores de los teatros contemporáneos, que interpretan papeles de seres muy superiores a ellos y adquieren una idea falsa de sí.

«Although every one of them in his genuine essence is almost what is called a ‘nonentity,’ that is, something utterly empty but enveloped in a certain visibility, they have gradually acquired such an opinion of themselves, by dint of repeating always and everywhere their favorite exclamations such as, ‘What genius!’ ‘What talent!’ ‘What a gift!’ and any number of other expressions as empty as themselves, that it is as if, among similar beings around them, only they are of ‘divine origin’—only they are ‘almost gods.’» — Ahoon declara la opinión que han llegado a tener de sí mismos, a fuerza de repetir sus exclamaciones favoritas: como si solo ellos fueran de origen divino y casi dioses.

«And the second fact is that during their formation these recently arisen types acquire an inner presence that permits them, quite unconsciously on their part, just as easily to become somebody’s slave as through accidental outer conditions to become his worst enemy.» — Ahoon declara el segundo hecho sobre esos tipos: adquieren una presencia interior que les permite volverse esclavos de alguien tan fácilmente como su peor enemigo por condiciones externas accidentales.

«That is why I advise you to be very much on guard not to make enemies among them, so as not to stir up a lot of trouble for yourself in carrying out your affairs.» — Ahoon aconseja a Hassein guardarse de hacerse enemigos entre ellos, para no complicarse sus asuntos.

«Any truth makes these terrestrial types extremely indignant, and their animosity toward others almost always begins from this indignation.» — Ahoon declara qué los indigna en extremo y de dónde arranca casi siempre su animosidad hacia otros.

«You must only say to their face the sort of things that ‘tickle’ those consequences of the properties of the organ kundabuffer, infallibly crystallized in them, which I have already enumerated, namely, ‘envy,’ ‘pride,’ ‘self-love,’ ‘vanity,’ ‘lying,’ and so on.» — Ahoon declara qué se les debe decir a la cara: solo aquello que cosquillee las consecuencias del órgano *kundabuffer* cristalizadas en ellos.

«Suppose that one of these representatives of art has a face like a crocodile, be sure to tell him that he is the living picture of a bird of paradise.» — Ahoon da el primer ejemplo de ese halago.

«If one of them is as stupid as a cork, say that he has the mind of Pythagoras.» — Ahoon da el segundo ejemplo.

«If he has behaved in a certain matter like a ‘super-idiot,’ tell him that even that cunning fellow Lucifer could not have handled it better.» — Ahoon da el tercer ejemplo.

«Only remember one thing ... never tell the truth.» — Ahoon cierra su consejo con la única cosa que Hassein debe recordar.

«Indeed, my boy, to the great sorrow of everything existing in the Universe, scarcely anything has survived from the results of their labors, and hence nothing has been inherited by your contemporary favorites.» — Beelzebub declara el saldo de las labores de aquellos sabios babilónicos: casi nada sobrevivió de sus resultados y nada heredaron sus favoritos contemporáneos.

«The information they indicated in the manner I described passed from generation to generation for only a few of their centuries.» — Beelzebub da la duración de esa transmisión: solo unos pocos siglos de los suyos.

«It must also be noted that the second reason I mentioned led to the gradual decline and the almost total disappearance of that new form established in the Babylonian era for the transmission of information and various fragments of knowledge to later generations through the beings they called ‘initiates of art.’» — Beelzebub declara la consecuencia de la segunda razón: el declive y la desaparición casi total de la forma establecida en la era babilónica de transmitir conocimiento por los llamados iniciados del arte.

«‘Tikloonias’ were formerly known on that planet as ‘pythonesses,’ but the contemporary ones are called ‘mediums.’» — Beelzebub da los dos nombres de las *tikloonias*: pitonisas antes, médiums hoy.

«The point is that two of the branches of knowledge connected with the conscious productions of the beings of the Babylonian period chanced upon favorable conditions and certain of their elements passed from generation to generation, partly consciously through the beings transmitting them, and partly automatically.» — Beelzebub declara que dos de esas ramas dieron con condiciones favorables y ciertos elementos suyos pasaron de generación en generación, en parte conscientemente y en parte de modo automático.

«This branch that reached beings of contemporary times is called ‘sacred dances.’» — Beelzebub nombra la rama que llegó casi sin cambio a los seres contemporáneos.

«The transmission of this branch of knowledge from generation to generation proceeded almost everywhere and, although gradually coming to an end with the flow of time, it continued until quite recently at a regular tempo, both consciously and automatically, among the beings of a community called ‘Persia.’» — Beelzebub declara dónde siguió esa transmisión hasta hace muy poco, a tempo regular y de modo consciente y automático.

«It must be remarked that in spite of all this, quite a number of the works of Babylonian times did reach the beings of contemporary civilization, chiefly the beings breeding on the continent of Europe.» — Beelzebub acota que bastantes obras de tiempos babilónicos sí llegaron a los seres contemporáneos, sobre todo a los de Europa.

«But these beings, without suspecting the ‘well of wisdom’ concealed in these works—which were not ‘originals’ but only partially decayed copies made by their recent ancestors, who were not yet complete ‘plagiarists’—and without taking the appropriate practical measures to safeguard them, simply stuffed them into what are called ‘museums.’» — Beelzebub declara qué hicieron con ellas: sin sospechar el pozo de sabiduría que ocultaban esas copias parcialmente estropeadas, y sin medidas para preservarlas, las metieron en museos.

«This monk Ignatius was about to share his ‘discovery’ with other monks like himself, that is, with two of his so-called ‘brethren’—with whom he, as a specialist, had been sent by his abbot to direct the laying of the ‘foundations of a temple’ that later became famous—when for some trifling reason ensuing from the crystallized consequences of one of the properties of the organ kundabuffer called ‘envy,’ he was murdered while asleep, and his planetary body was thrown into the expanse of water surrounding the small island on which it was proposed to erect that temple.» — Beelzebub relata el fin del monje Ignatius: a punto de compartir su hallazgo con dos hermanos suyos, fue asesinado mientras dormía por envidia, y su cuerpo planetario arrojado al agua que rodeaba la isla donde se proyectaba el templo.

«The temple I referred to exists there even until today and is called, it seems, the abbey of ‘Mont Saint-Michel.’» — Beelzebub da el nombre que ese templo lleva hoy.

«On this continent of Europe several other inquiring beings also happened to notice lawful inexactitudes in the works of various branches of art that had reached them from ancient times; but no sooner did they find the key to the understanding of these inexactitudes than their existence came to an end.» — Beelzebub relata que otros seres inquisitivos de Europa también notaron inexactitudes lícitas en obras antiguas y que su existencia acababa apenas hallaban la clave para entenderlas.

«This specific characteristic of theirs is that whenever one of these beings notices some ‘lawful illogicality’ in the productions that have come down from ancient times and begins to work in his branch of art in quite a new manner, perhaps in order to make this lawful illogicality clear to himself in practice, most of the beings around him occupied professionally in the same branch at once become his followers and begin doing supposedly the same thing, but of course without either aim or sense.» — Beelzebub declara la característica específica de esos seres: en cuanto uno trabaja de un modo nuevo por una ilogicidad lícita que notó, los demás del mismo ramo se vuelven sus seguidores y hacen supuestamente lo mismo, sin fin ni sentido.

«Although this phenomenon exists among the representatives of all branches of contemporary art, for some reason or other the beings occupied in the branch they call ‘painting’ are most susceptible to it.» — Beelzebub declara en qué rama del arte contemporáneo es más susceptible ese fenómeno.

«Hence it is that at the present time there exist among these professionals a great many ‘new movements in painting’ which have arisen in this way and have nothing in common.» — Beelzebub declara el resultado: muchos movimientos nuevos de pintura surgidos así y sin nada en común entre sí.

«I visited that planet for the sixth time just before I received my full pardon, with permission to leave that very remote solar system situated almost beyond reach of the direct emanations of the Most Holy Sun Absolute, that is, just before my return here to the center of the Universe—to the place of my arising —in the very bosom of our Common Uni-Being Endlessness.» — Beelzebub sitúa su sexta visita: justo antes de su perdón pleno y del permiso de dejar aquel sistema solar remoto y volver al centro del Universo.

«This time, as it turned out, I had to exist among these peculiar beings for a fairly long period, namely, a little less than a year of our time or, by their time calculation, more than three hundred years.» — Beelzebub da la duración de esa estancia: poco menos de un año de los suyos, más de trescientos años terrestres.

«You must know that after my fifth visit to that planet of yours I continued as before to observe from time to time the existence of the three-brained beings there. I observed them most attentively during those periods when their chief particularity was taking place among them, namely, during the ‘processes of reciprocal destruction.’» — Beelzebub declara cuándo observaba con más atención a esos seres: durante los procesos de destrucción recíproca.

«And I observed them so attentively at these periods because I wished to clarify for myself, beyond all doubt, the causes of the periodic manifestations of that utterly horrifying need of their strange, not to say phenomenal, psyche.» — Beelzebub declara por qué observaba tan atentamente esos periodos: aclararse las causas de las manifestaciones periódicas de esa necesidad horrorosa de su psique.

«my sixth descent; that is, I saw that without moving from their places they did something with a certain object out of which came a tiny puff of smoke, whereupon a being from the opposite side immediately fell down either totally destroyed or with one or another part of his planetary body mutilated or destroyed forever.» — Beelzebub describe el medio nuevo que vio en su sexto descenso: sin moverse hacían algo con un objeto del que salía una bocanada de humo, y un ser del lado opuesto caía destruido o mutilado.

«This observation greatly astonished me, as I had never seen such a means of reciprocal destruction before, and no data had as yet crystallized in my presence for a confrontative logical explanation of their possible use of such a means for destroying the existence of other beings like themselves.» — Beelzebub declara su asombro: nunca había visto tal medio de destrucción recíproca y no tenía datos para una explicación lógica confrontativa de su uso.

«Until then I had explained to myself that the beings of any given epoch did not acquire such an abnormal particularity of their psyche all by themselves, but that this horrible periodic being-need was acquired and gradually assimilated over the course of very many of their centuries, as always thanks to the abnormal conditions of existence established by the beings of earlier generations, and that this being-need, owing to external circumstances not depending upon them, had finally become inherent in the contemporary three-brained beings, and it was therefore inevitable for them to occupy themselves with this.» — Beelzebub declara la explicación que se daba hasta entonces: esa necesidad de ser se adquirió y se asimiló a lo largo de muchísimos siglos por las condiciones anormales establecidas por generaciones anteriores.

«And indeed, my boy, at the start of these processes, they usually refrain instinctively from such unnatural behavior.» — Beelzebub declara qué hacen al empezar esos procesos: se abstienen instintivamente de esa conducta antinatural.