Gurdjieff : an introduction to his life and ideas / John Shirley.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Shirley, John, 1953-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Gurdjieff, Georges Ivanovitch, 1872-1949.

Gurdjieff, Georges Ivanovitch.

Genre:

Biographies.

Physical Description:

301 pages ; 21 cm

Place of Publication:

New York : J.P. Tarcher/Penguin, 2004.

Summary:

Born in the shifting border between Turkey and Russia in 1866. G.I. Gurdjieff brought to the West a spiritual teaching of extraordinary depth and power. Man, Gurdjieff taught, exists in a state of waking sleep. But through rigorous work on himself, there exists hope that an individual, and eventually humanity, can awaken from the slumbering path being beaten toward destruction. In many respects -- from the concept of group meetings, to the mysterious symbol of the enneagram, to the critique of human beings existing as machines -- Gurdjieff's teaching represents the highest expression of the culture of spiritual search that has taken root in the West today. His is a complete teaching one that touches every aspect of the human psyche and of man's life on earth.

Many of those personally influenced by Gurdjieff -- including Frank Lloyd Wright, Katherine Mansfield, and P.D. Ouspensky -- are widely known: yet the sense of the greatness and mystery of Gurdjieff has only deepened with time. In Gurdjieff: An Introduction to His Life and Idens, novelist and storyteller John Shirley offers a lively, deeply felt exploration of the man and his thought. Shirley brings together much of what we know of Gurdjieff's early life and education. Surveying the teacher's methods and the lives of his leading pupils, Shirley delineates the importance of the oral tradition in Gurdjieff's teachings and how it is carried on today. Here is a much-needed, accessible introduction to the life of an enigmatic and incomparably important teacher.

Contents:

1 Where We're At and Where We Wish to Be 11

2 Meeting a Remarkable Man 41

3 The Search Begun 67

4 In Search of the Miraculous 111

5 Three Mirages: Progress, Evolution, and Unity 139

6 Finland and the Miraculous; The Caucasus and Revolutionary Psychosis 167

7 Beelzebub in France and America; G. I. Gurdjieff Beyond 205

8 "Gurdjieff. Not Will Die!" 271

Appendix A Farther up the Octave: Bibliographical Suggestions 277

Appendix B Are We "Food for the Moon"? 287

Appendix C The Octave and the Ray of Creation

and Theoretical Physics 289.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

1585422878

OCLC:

53007069