"So individually we are not important for the universe at all. We cannot speak even about humanity in relation to the universe – we can only speak about organic life. As I said, we are part of organic life, and organic life plays a certain part in the solar system, but it is a very big thing compared with us. We are used to thinking of ourselves individually, but very soon we lose this illusion. It is useful to think about different scales; take a thing on a wrong scale and you lose your way."
P.D. Ouspensky, a Russian philosopher and mystic, often explored ideas about human consciousness, the nature of existence, and our place in the cosmos, heavily influenced by his work with G.I. Gurdjieff and his own studies in esoteric thought. In the passage above, he’s addressing the concept of scale and perspective, urging us to reconsider our inflated sense of individual importance within the vastness of the universe.
What Ouspensky means here is that, on a cosmic level, individual human beings—or even humanity as a collective—are essentially insignificant. He suggests that we tend to overemphasize our personal roles or value in the grand scheme, but this is an illusion born from our limited, self-centered perception. Instead, he shifts the focus to "organic life" as a broader category, which includes humanity but also encompasses all living things on Earth. This organic life, as a whole, has a function or role within the solar system, but that role is still minor compared to the immense scale of the universe itself.
When he says, "We are part of organic life, and organic life plays a certain part in the solar system, but it is a very big thing compared with us," he’s pointing out a hierarchy of scale. Individuals are tiny fragments within the larger system of organic life, which itself is just a small piece of the solar system’s workings. The universe operates on magnitudes far beyond our personal existence, and we’re prone to misunderstanding reality when we judge it solely from our narrow, human perspective.
The idea of "thinking about different scales" is key. Ouspensky is encouraging a mental shift: if we evaluate ourselves or our problems using the wrong frame of reference—say, treating our individual lives as cosmically central—we distort the truth and "lose our way." For example, a personal crisis might feel monumental to you or me, but it’s trivial when viewed against the backdrop of planetary or universal processes. By adjusting our sense of proportion, we can shed the illusion of individual significance and align ourselves with a more accurate understanding of reality.
This reflects Ouspensky’s broader teachings, particularly his emphasis on self-observation and awakening from mechanical habits of thought. Here, he’s challenging the ego’s tendency to inflate its own importance and inviting us to see ourselves as part of a much larger, interconnected system—one where organic life serves a purpose, but that purpose isn’t centered on any single one of us. It’s a humbling perspective, meant to reorient our thinking toward the bigger picture.
© 2011 évolution exponentielle: Concerning the Jews: An Inquiry into Social Function and Historical Persecution