Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1415995 in Books
• Published on: 1992-04
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 253 pages

Customer Reviews

Serious and sincere elucidation by a humble seeker
Not a biography of Gurdjieff, but an elucidatory analysis on the development and significance of Gurdjieff's ideas and how they relate to the modern world. Bennett does his valiant best to wade through the obfuscation of Gurdjieff's teaching, to make it as clear as is humanly possible, without surrending his master's conviction that any struggle for insight can only come at a huge price both personally and spiritually. The book reveals volumes of obscure names, concepts and vocabulary, that will require intense study on the part of the reader, and sow the seeds of debate. Still I am not convinced that Gurdjieff was much more than a guy who read some esoteric books and had a bunch of unrelated bits of wisdom to proffer. For one thing, Bennett shows us that all of Gurdjieff's stories in Meetings With Remarkable Men were mere fables - fictional characters created by G. to get a point across. Learning this took a lot of the wind out my assumption that G. was some kind of well-travelled mystic seer. Nay, no real proof is ever given that G. ever studied with, or even visited the places inhabited by, those secret orders he professed to know about. Thus, the more I learn about him the less I trust anything which comes straight from his mouth, which is not the way to instill faith in a student. Bennett however is straightforward, his approach to teaching being more suited to how we in the West interpret our world. For that I can say that I learned a lot that I would never have gleaned from either G. or Ouspensky. Bennett fortunately gives us the meat and potatoes of the final "meaning of life" according to Gurdjieff, so to speak, probably the most valuable aspect of the book. In the end ironically, while G's philosophy has lost much of its charm (not because ignorance is bliss, but rather that the substance of his viewpoint is hard to swallow - and still leaves questions unanswered), Bennett's plight and search for insight have piqued my interest enough to want to explore his writing in more depth.

a must for those interested in Gurdjieff
This book offers well-researched background information on Gurdjieff and his ideas. A previous review indicated that this book either proves or strongly suggests that Gurdjieff's adventures as a "seeker" in the "Meetings" book were mere fantasy or fable. This excellent book by Bennett does not suggest this at all. But it does point out inconsistencies in terms of the specifics and does not hide the fact that exaggeration may have been employed in the retelling of Gurdjieff's travels. Overall: this is a well-written and thought provoking presentation of G.'s ideas, as well as the man himself.

Bennett's best
This book covers some theories about how Gurdjieff recieved his knowledge. Specifically from Naq'shabandi sufi orders, and Tibet.

My personal favourite from Bennett...as Bennett was chosen by Gurdjieff, as one of the few people who could realistically carry on the "work", and "initiate" others.