Tuesday 7 December 2010

Gurdjieff Heritage Society Book Excerpts

References to “The Fourth Way,” “The Enneagram,” “Harmonious Development,” and so forth, appear everywhere nowadays and the name of G. I. Gurdjieff, the man who originally introduced most of these concepts to the West in the early 1900s, is often used as a commercial attention grabber.

The 1985 publication of Gurdjieff: An Annotated Bibliography, a 363-page volume, drove this home to many of us. Identifying and briefly summarizing the existing books and articles about this philosopher and writer, who had died in 1949 almost completely unknown except to a small coterie of pupils and admirers, it lists the astonishing number of one thousand seven hundred and forty- three publications (in English and French) And every year the list increases.

Unfortunately, of the now almost three thousand publications about Gurdjieff and his work presently available, one can with discrimination and a clear conscience recommend only a very small percentage to the serious reader. Most of them are inept, misguided or, worse, sometimes really destructive. The saleability of the Gurdjieff name has resulted in an avalanche of spurious imitations. Hundreds of writings and public presentations are offered nowadays by people who never knew the man himself or had direct experience of his teaching. However they realize that by using his name they increase credibility and sales for their own work.

Seems like this group or society is making a valuable contribution

No comments:

Post a Comment