The Fourth Way

Egyptian-American architect Kamal Amin spent 8 years training with Frank Lloyd Wright and remained with Wright's Taliesin Fellowship, modeled on Gurdjieff's Prieuré, for 18 years following Wright's death in 1959. Amin shows what a powerful influence Wright was, as well as recording the intense and mixed relationship he had with Wright's wife and widow, Olgivanna Lazovich Wright, an early pupil of Gurdjieff's. Among the many people Amin meets at Taliesin are Svetlana Stalin, Karl Menninger, Adlai Stevenson and Carl Sandburg.

A basic text of the secondary Fourth Way literature written by one of Mr. Gurdjieff's direct pupils. Margaret Anderson, co-editor of the legendary avant-garde literary magazine the Little Review, gives a sense of the times, the people, Gurdjieff and the teaching as he presented it.

Bennett's best book on Gurdjieff. Explores his mission and methods of teaching. Photos and illustrations.

These diary entries from John and Elizabeth Bennett cover the few months before Gurdjieff's death. The two diaries complement each other well: while J. G. Bennett is primarily focused on his inner struggles to implement Gurdjieff's teachings, Elizabeth Bennett gives a detailed account of the milieu and the psychology behind it, of which they were a part, describing the events and personalities around her as well as her own private difficulties and revelations. This 2008 edition contains new material—unpublished entries from Elizabeth Bennett's Paris diary and a foreword essay by George Bennett.

An esoteric history of the spiritual unfolding of life on this planet. Both a study of unconventional history and a vision of the workings of a higher intelligence on the Earth, and evidence for the historical existence of men who have in the past realized such a level of intelligence within themselves.

Starting from a point of practical study, Bennett expands upon such subjects as "I" and "Not I," "Intention and Action," and "Understanding versus Knowing." These talks were given at a particularly creative period of his life when he returned to the practice of techniques he had learned from Mr. Gurdjieff but was still strongly influenced by his experiences with Pak Subud.

A series of lectures focusing on what Bennett takes to be the essential meaning of Beelzebub's Tales.

Solange Claustres first met Mr. Gurdjieff in 1941 during the German occupation of France. He soon put her in the position of leading Movements classes. His devoted student until his death in 1949, for over 60 years she has lived his teaching, and for many years has led her own Work groups in France. A rare and valuable book destined to take its place among the classics of the Gurdjieff teaching.

A longtime student of P.D. Ouspensky's who, following his teacher's death, left England for Mexico to establish the teaching there. Collin's wife assembled and edited his notebooks, papers and talks following his death, and the result is this new cloth edition limited to 1,000 copies. Topics include sincerity and honesty, creativity, truth, marriage, the fourth dimension.

A close and longtime student of P. D. Ouspensky, sensing his teacher's impending death, Collin wrote an outline of the book in 1947 two months before Ouspensky's death. Later, moving to Mexico with his followers to live and teach, Collin completed the book in 1953. He believed it was "a direct result of what he (Ouspensky) was trying to achieve and show." Collin's aim was to reconcile man's inner and outer worlds and so view him and his inner life in the same way one views the universe. The book's 21 chapters are divided into seven sections of three chapters each. These cover: 1) the structure of the universe; 2) the sun and planets of the solar system; 3) man and the six processes governing him; 4) the sequence of civilizations and the cycles of growth, digestion, elimination, crime, healing, and regeneration.

A consummate writer and spiritual seeker, René Daumal's persistent questioning of life and its meaning led to serious and dangerous drug experiments that gave experiences but not the wisdom he sought. Finally, in the autumn of 1930 he met and became the pupil of Alexandre de Salzmann (portrayed as Pierre Sogol in Daumal's novel Mount Analogue). With de Salzmann's death, Daumal became a pupil of Jeanne de Salzmann who introduced him to Gurdjieff, with whom he remained in contact until his death from tuberculosis in 1944.

The ensemble, founded and directed by Levon Eskenian, brings together Armenia's leading folk instrumentalists to perform 17 pieces of ethnographically authentic arrangements of Gurdjieff's music for Eastern instruments

Rosemary Nott's contribution to the preservation and practice of the compositions of G.I. Gurdjieff and Thomas de Hartmann has been little recognized beyond those who knew her personally. In the early 1920s Rosemary Nott, already an accomplished musician, was introduced to this music at the Prieuré. Adopting de Hartmann as her mentor, she became a lifelong pupil of Gurdjieff and, together with her husband C. S. Nott, played a significant role in helping to establish Gurdjieff's work in England and the United States. Until her late seventies, she taught and played for the Gurdjieff Movements, worked with groups, and passed on her understanding to other pianists. This CD of 20 pieces running 55 minutes offers a unique opportunity to hear some of this music as understood by a pianist who studied directly with its creators.

This is an in-depth exploration of the Lord's Prayer with a commentary by Meister Eckhart. According to Gurdjieff "Most ancient prayers have nothing in common with petitions; they are, as it were, 'recapitulations'. By repeating them aloud or to himself a man endeavors to experience what is in them—their content—with his mind and feeling, concentrating and reflecting on the real sense of each word—what it really means to him, how he can understand it. In this way, many ideas will become connected in his thinking and many thoughts relating to the words of the prayer will pass through his mind. And then it is precisely these thoughts which can do for him what he asks God to do." The prayer, according to Ouspensky, is divided into three and these three divisions are again triply divided.

A well-done re-enactment based on the book by P. D. Ouspensky.

The first comprehensive biography of the gifted French avant-garde writer and poet best known for his Mount Analogue and A Night of Serious Drinking. At sixteen he began to teach himself Sanskrit so as to penetrate to the essence of Hindu philosophy, but it was the teaching of Gurdjieff that changed his life. Madame de Salzmann's role as his teacher is depicted, as is Gurdjieff's presence, in the closing days of Daumal's life.

So impressed was Margaret Flinsch when at seventeen years old she first heard a reading of Mr. Gurdjieff's book that she went to the Prieuré to see him and has been a student of the Work ever since. Completed in her 101st year, she made the recording because of her belief that "listening is the path to the subconscious mind." This set of four CDs in MP3 format contains the whole of Gurdjieff's magnum opus. The CDs can be played on a computer or other device equipped to handle the MP3 format. They cannot be played on an ordinary audio CD player.

These are recollections by Fran Shaw, a student of Dr. de Salzmann (1923-2001), of talks on the Work given by him during summers in the Swiss alpine village of Chandolin. They cover the period 1993-2001. Cloth bound in dust jacket with marking ribbon and color photograph of Michel de Salzmann.

An architect and father of seven, Guillon has been involved in Work groups for forty years. In the 1960s his professional studies took him to France where he met and studied with Michel Conge, one Gurdjieffs pupils of the 1940s.

Gurdjieff's magnum opus, an esoteric jewel. Said A.R. Orage: "It is really an objective work of art, of literature of the highest kind; it is in the category of scripture." A must-read for all serious students of The Fourth Way.

An esoteric work in the form of autobiography written to furnish, as Gurdjieff says, "the material required for a new creation." Reveals the depth and intensity of Gurdjieff's search which attracted to him significant influences whom he calls, "remarkable men." With them he travelled throughout the Middle East, Africa, and Central Asia to find the origin of an ancient teaching.

The most esoteric of all Gurdjieff's writings. Material and exercises for the arising of objective and impartial mentation.

Gurdjieff's "First Appeal to Contemporary Humanity." Gives descriptions and outlines of his Three Series.

This new and long-awaited second edition references all editions of Beelzebub's Tales, including the classic edition of 1950 and the later 1992 and 1999 editions. It also includes page correlation with foreign language editions, as well as a pronunciation guide, background notes and missing or variant text.

The voices of seven speakers, four of whom were present at readings attended by Mr. Gurdjieff, pronounce each of the unusual words appearing in the First Series. Of the three remaining speakers, one spoke both Armenian and Persian as a child; another is fluent in English and Slovenian; and a third speaks only English. The CD-ROM plays on either a PC or MAC.

This beautiful hand-crafted volume with a corkskin cover and Egyptian papyrus endpapers gives all the prayers and hymns appearing in G.I. Gurdjieff's All and Everything. A unique offering showing a deep but little recognized part of Gurdjieff's teaching.

Compiled and produced by Gert Jan Blom, creator of the acclaimed Harmonic Development: The Complete Harmonium Recordings 1948–1949, the Oriental Suite is comprised of a 256-page hardcover book bundled with four newly recorded CDs. The CDs contain both the Paris orchestrations and the American versions of the eight public demonstrations of the Sacred Gymnastics and Movements at the Théâtre des Champs Elysées in Paris between December 13 and 25, 1923. The music, composed by Mr. Gurdjieff to accompany these dances, was orchestrated by Thomas de Hartmann and performed by an orchestra of 35 musicians. In January 1924 Gurdjieff and his students gave a series of public demonstrations in New York, Boston and Chicago. At Gurdjieff's request, de Hartmann adapted the full orchestral scores for a smaller ensemble in America. Both the Paris orchestrations and the American versions have been recorded for the first time by the Metropole Orchestra and the Little Orchestra. An addenda section features music intended for Gurdjieff's unfinished ballet The Struggle of the Magicians. The book is illustrated with many new photos and unique historical documents, as well as the recollections of people who were present for the demonstrations. Also included is the extensive press coverage generated during these public appearances. Among the recollections are those of P.D. Ouspensky, Olga de Hartmann, Anna Butkovsky-Hewitt, Tcheslaw Tchekhovitch, Jessmin Howarth, Denis Saurat and J.G. Bennett.

Largest collection of Pythagorean writings to ever appear in English. Many of Gurdjieff's teachings on music and numbers can be found in Pythagoras.

Details Gurdjieff's "Science of the Idiots" toasts. Floor plan of Gurdjieff's apartment. Meeting with John Pentland.

Jane Heap entered the Work in 1924 and by 1927 had been asked by Gurdjieff to lead a group in Montmartre. With Orage, she helped edit the English edition of Beezlebub's Tales to his Grandson. In 1935 Gurdjieff sent her to England to lead groups, which she did until her death in 1964. A.L. Staveley, a pupil of hers for 20 years, said, "She was an artist in words as well as materials of all kinds. The precision with which an idea was presented, the fact that it appeared as a picture rather than as verbal thought, was a little shock and entered a pupil as an unforgettable impression." After her death, her extensive notes were collected and a selection of these was published as The Notes of Jane Heap. This is a second selection.

Personal notes of a keen early student who Gurdjieff asked to teach. Gives real feeling and insight into the Work.

A biography of Ouspensky by an Australian writer and longtime member of the Work. It reveals, among many other things, that the austere manner in which Ouspensky delivered lectures was only a facet of his personality. In fact, he was warm-hearted in his personal dealings and had an extraordinary insight into people, as well as history and science.

The spiritual life story of Ethel Merston based on her diaries and recollections is an important historical work, as well as a keen insight into many of the seminal teachers of her times. Merston was one of Gurdjieff's first English pupils and lived at the Prieuré from 1922 until 1927. Her seriousness and organizational abilities led Gurdjieff to put her in charge in his absences. Fritz Peters gives a wonderful account of what she had to put up with (he gives her the name Miss Madison) in his Boyhood with Gurdjieff. In India, she lived at Ramana Maharshi's ashram for many years. She gives a first-person account of his death and also the meeting between The Mother and Sri Aurobindo and Anandamayi Ma (with whom she often traveled). She also attended many of Krishnamurti's talks and seminars in the 1930s, was a friend of Sunyata, Alain Daniélou, Krishna Prem and Swami Omananda. In the 1950s she was initiated into Subud by Pak Subuh at J. G. Bennett's Coombe Springs study house. At Mendham, she met again her friends from her Gurdjieff days—Mme de Salzmann, Mme Ouspensky, Olga de Hartmann and Peggy Flinsch—and was introduced to Lord John Pentland.

"The life of a seeker of truth, Ethel Merston, is recounted in this English language book. Her extraordinary quest for enlightenment which led her to meet many of the eminent spiritual figures of the last century: G. I. Gurdjieff (and others in the Fourth Way, to which she remained faithful her whole life—P. D. Ouspensky, J. G. Bennett, Mme de Salzmann and Lord Pentland), Krishnamurti, Anandamayi Ma, Sri Aurobindo and The Mother, Ramana Maharshi, to name only a few. We follow her on her voyage from bourgeois England to the heart of India, a voyage as much exterior as interior. Her journal, kept daily, serves as Ariadne's thread for the author of the biography, who presents Ethel Merston's impressions and comments restored to us in all their freshness, and what each encounter brought forth in her. With Gurdjieff, she learned of the separation between the "I" and the "it," that is to say to realize that "it" thinks in us, that "it" moves, that "it" reacts, all automatically. This teaching was for her a valuable tool of discrimination in all her future encounters. She wasn't touched by Krishnamurti's teaching, although she found in it emphases on the conditioned mental process familiar to her. Of particular interest are her direct accounts of a meeting between Krishnamurti and Anandamayi Ma, who questioned Krishnamurti about the reason for his refusal of gurus, and the meeting between Anandamayi Ma and The Mother of Auroville. But it is Ramana Maharshi who made the greatest impression on her: "The idea of time is only in your mind. It is not in the Self. There is no time for the Self. Time arises as an idea after the ego arises. You exist even in the absence of time and of space." Of this Ethel Merston wrote: "All was new for me." She would return regularly to Ramana Maharshi's ashram, even being present at his death. The biography makes clear the differences between the teachings, and the bearers of these teachings, as experienced by Ethel Merston. It is thus a first hand testimony of evolved beings, with strong references to contemporary spirituality, as well as the impressions of a woman animated by the wish to awaken, with her doubts, incomprehensions, rejections and resistances, and her flashes of understanding, her maturing. An interesting work, reflecting an epoch and a search."
—Revue 3e millénaire

"There are few comprehensive accounts of individual Western pioneers who were interested in Indian spirituality in the first part of the 20th century. Ethel Merston left an intimate record of her journey as she constantly questioned and searched for a remedy to relieve the malady of her soul. We owe to Mary Ellen Korman our appreciation for chronicling that time and bringing to life many of the people Ethel Merston encountered, and who we never quite knew as fellow seekers committed to the search for higher truths."
—The Mountain Path, The Journal of Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi

"I found Ethel Merston's life story fascinating. The narrative completely absorbed me and I was captivated from the first sentence by both substance as well as style. Ethel Merston was an exceptional individual and it is wonderful that her story has finally been told. An important work with considerable research."
—Ram Alexander, Editor, Death Must Die: A Western Woman's Life-Long Spiritual Quest with Shree Anandamayee Ma

"The prose is seamless. Mary Ellen Korman has done exemplary work combining her own writing with that of Miss Merston who kept a diary of her life, travels, and reflections. Passages from this diary and other works are introduced into the narrative. The two voices are one voice, rather like the chanting of one of those Tibetan monks who is able to intone both a tone and an overtone in one breath simultaneously."
—John Robert Colombo, author, Poems of Space and Time and O Rare Denis Saurat

 

Photos, appendices, notes, bibliography, index, 324 pp.

A direct student of Gurdjieff in the 1940s, Henriette Lannes was asked after his death by Madame de Salzmann to move to London to unite the four separate Work groups established there. For the next 30 years Mme Lannes lead what was to become the Gurdjieff Society of London. Here are 51 of her talks and selections from her meetings.

In this new translation of the gospel from the Coptic, Leloup, an Orthodox theologian and professor of theology, philosophy and psychology, shows that this text—long condemned by the Church as "the works of the flesh"—is really the sacred initiatic union between male and female principles that once was the heart of Christianity's sacred mystery.

An original and learned inquiry into psychological dimensions, higher levels of understanding as they relate to time, eternal recurrence and man's integration. A noted British psychologist, once the close student of Carl Jung and later Ouspensky, Nicoll led Fourth Way groups until his death in 1953.

A further elucidation of the themes explored in his The New Man, Nicoll examines the idea of sin which he takes in its original Greek meaning of missing the mark, as in a spear thrown at some object and failing to hit it. Subjects dealt with include the Parable of the Sower, the Grain of Mustard Seed, Metanoia, War in Heaven and Esoteric Schools.

Employing a rare example of intellectual intuition and erudition, Nicoll sifts the New Testament Gospels to reveal the esoteric teaching beneath their surface interpretation. Subjects include the idea of temptation, the Marriage at Cana, the Good Samaritan, Laborers in the Vineyard, Judas Iscariot, Sermon on the Mount, Necessity of Prayer, and the Kingdom of Heaven.

With his customary penetrating insight and lucid command of the English language A.R. Orage, the man Gurdjieff called "my brother," and the editor of All & Everything, provides a perspective and scale revealing riches previously considered inaccessible to all but initiates. Nott was Orage's good friend and a longtime student of Gurdjieff.

Two of Orage's most important writings are now back in print in one volume. Also included is "Talks with Katherine Mansfield at Fountainebleau," Gurdjieff's aphorisms and over 200 exercises which Gurdjieff gave.

Published in 1931, his first since Tertium Organum, Ouspensky here opens up the broad scale of his knowledge as he explores relativity, the fourth dimension, Christian symbolism, tarot, yoga, dreams, hypnotism, eternal recurrence, various psychological theories and the role of sex in evolution of man to superman.

Includes the original five lectures which Ouspensky gave outlining many of the major ideas of self-transformation and describes how a seeker must work simultaneously on his knowledge and his being to find inner unity and why, although his development depends on his own efforts, this is very difficult to achieve without guidance from a School. Also included is a lecture and question and answer session on September 23, 1937 in which Ouspensky discusses Fragments of and Unknown Teaching (later published as In Search of the Miraculous), and why he left Gurdjieff.

A new edition of Ouspensky's meetings held 1930 to 1947.

A new edition of extracts from Ouspensky's meetings 1928 to 1945.

The first critical assessment of the life of Adi Da Samraj and his teachings. Born he said in the "Bright," with his kundalini risen after only a few years of practice, Franklin Jones had a breakthrough into the pointless point of view. Young, hip, articulate and funny, this first American-born guru had a meteoric rise, bringing him thousands of seekers until the sex scandals brought a public shaming and his withdrawal to a Fijian island hermitage where he, now Adi Da Samraj, announced he was God Incarnate.

William Patrick Patterson's newest book, Adi Da Samraj: Realized or/and Deluded, is the first evenhanded and detailed exploration of one of the most enigmatic, self-styled spiritual gurus of the last half of the 20th century. America's first young, hip guru, Adi Da Samraj, né Franklin Jones (1939–2008), self-proclaimed Avatar of Avatars, not only of this age but all ages to come, had a meteoric rise and subsequent fall after devotees went public with his crazy wisdom teaching of sex, drugs and alcohol.
       Totally committed to spiritual realization, Jones took only six years to realize Sahaj Samadhi, the pointless point of view. Preceding this was a copious use of drugs, and then contentious relations with his two teachers, Albert Rudolph ("Rudi," later Swami Rudranada), a former student of Gurdjieff's Fourth Way, and Swami Muktananda.
       Intuiting that everyone unconsciously lived the Narcissus myth of separation and denial as he had, Jones founded what he believed was a radical new teaching combining elements of Kundalini Yoga, Fourth Way, Buddhism and Advaita Vedanta along with the acceptance of himself as God incarnate. To break through the narcissism that blocked devotees' spiritual realization, he persuaded them to enter into sexually shocking situations with himself and each other. Though experience proved this method hurt far more than helped, Adi Da insisted on what he called "sexual theatre," later renamed "sexual communion," until his last days on the remote Fijian island hermitage to which he had withdrawn.
       After tracing Adi Da's life from beginning to end, Patterson gives a penetrating analysis of the key concepts of the teaching before coming to the heart of the question—How can someone be realized at the highest level and act this way with his devotees? Adi Da always maintained that realization does not destroy "the person," so just who was his "person"? From a careful reading of Adi Da's books, Patterson gleans an assemblage of facts pointing to a hidden wound that usurped Adi Da's realization for its own ends, giving an archetypal example of "wrong crystallization." The esoteric and spiritual questions Adi Da Samraj—Realized or/and Deluded raises are acutely seminal and ones every seeker and adept needs to long ponder.
        —The Gurdjieff Journal

The seventh and final book in William Patrick Patterson's survey of The Fourth Way, Spiritual Survival warns of Technology's challenge and how it can spur us to awaken to a new integration of body, senses and mind. Explored in great and original depth is how the seminal teaching of G. I. Gurdjieff's Fourth Way—the teaching for our time—offers the esoteric keys and practices to self-awakening in a radically changing, high voltage and mercurial world-time.

"William Patrick Patterson's books become more profound and exciting as time goes on. Spiritual Survival is one of the best so far, full of wonderful insights."
—Colin Wilson, author, War Against Sleep

"Readers of Patterson's Eating the 'I', or any of his other books, would be aware of his brilliance as an author. Patterson, a student of the late Lord John Pentland—whom the spiritual teacher G.I. Gurdjieff personally appointed to lead the 'Work' in America—is the founder/director of The Gurdjieff Studies Program.

"Spiritual Survival is Patterson's seventh book on Gurdjieff's Fourth Way teachings, and, he confesses, is likely to be his last. While his previous six books dealt primarily with either the "introduction or establishment of the Fourth Way in the West... or [with] the arrogations and distortions of the teaching," Spiritual Survival "is on the teaching itself, as it has been practiced, experienced and understood."

"Patterson explains in the book's introduction that we live in a radically changing world-time, and are becoming increasingly dependent on technology, to the point where we are "in danger of losing our freedom to machines."

"But, rather than pointing the finger at technology itself—which he describes as a reflection of humanity—the real cause of danger is the "part of us that so identifies with technology that we allow our purpose and meaning as human beings to be defined and limited in this rational part's image so that, unwillingly, we will only want to become better machines."

"What Patterson's saying, in a nutshell, is that by becoming slaves to technology, we are giving more power to the mechanical side of ourselves, thereby hindering our spiritual growth (what Gurdjieff would refer to as a 'descending octave'). This is an important and timely message.

"Any thinking person would agree that humanity's dependence on technology is worrying—as can easily be observed by traveling on public transport, for example, with the majority of commuters listening to iPods or playing games on their mobile phones, completely oblivious to themselves and their environment.

"No wonder Gurdjieff remarked, "Man's slavery grows and increases. Man is becoming a Willing slave . . . He begins to grow fond of his slavery, to be proud of it."

"As an ardent follower of The Fourth Way, Patterson shares Gurdjieff's philosophy that man is a machine (more correctly, a bioplasmic machine), "working solely under the power of external influences." We believe ourselves to be conscious when in fact we are asleep.

"We also delude ourselves into thinking that we have a single, permanent, indivisible 'I', and are in complete control of our lives. In reality, taught Gurdjieff, we are not one 'I', but an assemblage of 'I's. In his own words: "[Man's] I changes as quickly as his thoughts, feelings, and moods, and he makes a profound mistake in considering himself always one and the same person; in reality, he is always a different person, not the one he was a moment ago."

"Students of The Fourth Way aim to develop real 'I', to become one, to live in essence not in false personality, gradually emerging from the state of sleep in which we live our lives. To achieve this, to cease being a machine, a number of practices are followed, the main one being 'self remembering', which is a meditative exercise that involves dividing one's attention between one's body (the subject) and one's external environment (the object).

"Patterson gives a brief explanation of the theory behind this practice. However, since this is not a 'how-to' book on the practices of The Fourth Way, but a 'taste' of what the teaching is about, the book is composed primarily of exchanges between Patterson and his students during Fourth Way meetings.

"Most of these exchanges, which are really questions and answers, relate to the very fundamentals of the teaching, and concern observations of the body and mind. To be honest, my initial reaction to this material was one of indifference. Gradually, though, my interest increased, and I began to grasp the true value of this information, even applying it to my own life.

"The questions asked by Patterson's students, although seemingly mundane, are extremely important since they concern issues of interest to everyone. Equally important and often profound are the answers Patterson gives to these questions.

"One student mentions, for example, that they often find themselves "caught up in negative imagination about what may befall me and my family." Patterson responds: "Why the negativity? We must be getting something from it? If you observe, you'll see, strange as it may sound, we take pleasure in being negative."

"Another student asks: "If I'm asleep, then how do I live my life?" Patterson replies: "You don't live it, it lives you. Picture yourself in a sail boat asleep at the helm. Instead of being steered, the boat is taken by the currents and winds." One of the things I admire most about this book is its practical, no-nonsense approach to spiritual matters.

"Making up more than a third of the book's content are a collection of Fourth Way probes and essays. (Probes are spontaneous talks on various aspects of the teaching.) The latter were originally published in The Gurdjieff Journal, of which Patterson is the founder/editor.

"Topics discussed include 'Who is Mr. Gurdjieff?', 'The Question of Rebirth', and 'The Redeemed Beelzebub'. Those who already have a basic understanding of the teaching will find much food for thought in these essays.

"As is typical of Patterson, he writes with great intelligence and clarity, displaying a deep understanding of The Fourth Way.

"Those who would like to know more about the practical side of The Fourth Way, such as what is discussed during Fourth Way meetings, and what it means to apply the teaching to one's life, would be doing themselves a favor by reading this wonderful book.

"Of course, as Patterson explains, "One cannot practice the Fourth Way alone; it is absolutely necessary to have a teacher, and be involved in a group with other students. He reminds us repeatedly this is only an introduction to the teaching, "a taste of the possibility of self-transformation and transcendence."

"I have no doubt that Spiritual Survival will, just as Patterson intended, "serve as a bridge for a seeker wishing to become a candidate to enter The Fourth Way, an ancient living teaching, the teaching for our time."
—Louis Proud, New Dawn Magazine, September-October 2010

No softcover will be published.
Hardcover, notes, index, bibliography, 430 pp.

Since Castaneda's first book, The Teachings of Don Juan, readers have wondered about his sources. Here, shown concept-by-concept, is the primary source of Castaneda's ideas—Gurdjieff's Fourth Way. Also explored are don Juan's true identity, the meaning of Castaneda's "jump into the abyss," the life of the Nagual and his witches. Also included in full is the first reference to Nagualism, anthropologist Daniel Brinton's essay "Nagualism: A Study in Native American Folklore and History" written in 1894.

"Although inclined to skepticism about Castaneda, I found myself reading The Life & Teachings of Carlos Castaneda with total fascination. As it tells just about everything, I imagine this will be the definitive book on Castaneda."
—Colin Wilson, author, The Outsider and The Occult

"Patterson brings original insight into the forces and influences that formed Castaneda's sorceric adventure. Particularly interesting are the role of Anaïs Nin and the revelation of the source of many of Castaneda's supposedly sorceric ideas."
—Mary Ellen Korman, author, A Woman's Work: The Life of Ethel Merston

"A must read for anyone who has followed Carlos on his extraordinary journey. The way William Patrick Patterson expounds on Carlos' teachings is astounding!"
—Margaret Runyan, author, A Magical Journey with Carlos Castaneda

"This is the most brilliant and insightful rendering to date of the 'Ultimate Impeccable Warrior,' Carlos Castaneda, my father."
—C.J. Castaneda

 

Chronology, notes, index, appendices, 290 pp.

Expanded edition. Includes a gallery of 17 paintings depicting different stages in the journey.

"I am sure "Eating The 'I' will be one of the more important writings on the Gurdjieff Work, after Ouspensky's In Search of the Miraculous."
—Miguel Serrano, author, C.G. Jung and Hermann Hesse and The Serpent in Paradise

"Eating The 'I' gives as full a picture of the Work as it may be possible to get without joining it. It comes from a great depth and carries much conviction."
—Richard Smoley, Editor, Gnosis

"Patterson has two fine Irish gifts: a vivid memory and a storyteller's ear. Paced like a novel and filled with colorful characters, this spiritual autobiography is certain to appeal to those who want a rare and engaging inside glimpse of the Gurdjieff Work."
—Stephan Bodian, Editor, Yoga Journal

"For readers of New Dawn magazine, the enigmatic mystic and spiritual teacher G.I. Gurdjieff needs little introduction. Like many others, I was first introduced to Gurdjieff's ideas through P.D Ouspensky's In Search of the Miraculous, a work of great clarity and accessibility. Ouspensky's book, which many consider a spiritual classic, helped bring the teachings of The Fourth Way to a wider audience.

"Comparable in importance is William Patrick Patterson's Eating the 'I', first published in 1991 and republished several times since. An authority on Gurdjieff's teachings, Patterson is the founder and director of The Gurdjieff Studies Program, and has written a number of important books on the Fourth Way. Eating the 'I' is a spiritual autobiography that reads with the fluidity and beauty of a novel. It covers the time that Patterson spent as a member of the Gurdjieff Foundation of New York, run by the late Lord John Pentland, and the profound inner transformation he underwent as a result. Appointed by Gurdjieff to lead the Work in America, Pentland was president of the Gurdjieff Foundation from 1973 until his death in 1984.

"At the beginning of the book, Patterson describes how he came to become a student of the strict and intimidating Pentland. Having gone bankrupt in a failed business deal, Patterson, depressed, unemployed and unmotivated, began to question his true identity. He asked himself, "Who was this 'I'?" Not long afterwards, and quite auspiciously, Patterson met a writer by the name of Peter Rowley, who happened to know Pentland. Through Rowley, Patterson arranged to have a meeting with Pentland.

"The meeting affected Patterson in a powerful way, forcing him to look at himself with greater honesty. In a compelling and often amusing manner, Patterson gives a detailed account of what took place during the many regular meetings he attended as a member of Pentland's group. He describes Pentland as a remarkable teacher, possessed of great wisdom and insight: "His answers were always spare, precise, right to the point, yet they weren't linear. They always seemed to come from a place above the question. He always gave a perspective I'd never considered."

"Eating the 'I' is an extremely honest book, filled with sadness, love, lust, humour, joy, conflict and everything else that makes us human.

"Patterson bears his soul, revealing the many 'I's' that make up his character for, as Gurdjieff taught, we are not one 'I', but many.

"Since the Fourth Way is the way of transformation in ordinary life—Patterson's spiritual journey, his journey of 'self remembrance', concerns the events of his everyday existence, including his relationship with his wife, his difficulties at work and so on.

"By following Patterson's remarkable journey, one gets a sense of how, by properly applying the teachings of The Fourth Way, it is possible to live in a higher state of awareness and control. Which is not to imply, of course, that Patterson's path is an easy one; quite the opposite, in fact. Patterson encounters a number of difficulties and obstacles on the spiritual path, all of which test and challenge him. Thankfully, Patterson does not pretend to be a saint; nor does he pretend that Pentland is a saint. Unlike most of us, who would rather not reveal our weaknesses and faults, Patterson is extremely candid in every respect.

"As the book reveals, Patterson's relationship with Pentland was not an easy one. Throughout the book, he struggles to form a closer bond with his teacher, whom he occasionally refers to as his 'spiritual father'. He even questions Pentland's authority on a number of occasions. Like Gurdjieff before him, Pentland's role was that of a 'mirror', who helped his students to see themselves as they actually are, not as they imagined themselves to be.

"What makes this book particularly charming are its many humorous anecdotes, all of them well told and extremely entertaining.

"One of my favorites is when Patterson, in an attempt to combat his mechanical conditioning by using a technique called 'acting otherwise', tries to arrange the cheapest funeral possible for his late father, an act that goes against his nature. He describes the incident: "Visibly shocked, even a might horrified at my lack of respect for the nature of the occasion, the undertaker's pop eyes stared into mine. I must be the cruelest, most heartless son-of-a bitch on earth. But such judgments did not sell coffins."

"This is, without a doubt, one of the most compelling books I have ever read. Patterson is an extremely gifted author and a brilliant storyteller, incapable of writing a dull sentence.

"Eating the 'I' is a delightful gem of a read. I cannot recommend it enough. Few spiritual books have captured my interest and attention with such force. Even for those who have little interest in the teachings of the Fourth Way, it is bound to entertain and enlighten."
—Louis Proud, New Dawn Magazine, November-December 2010

This is the first book to examine the Rope, the ladies-only group of spiritual seekers, all lesbians except one, that G.I. Gurdjieff formed on Paris' Left Bank. During his thirty-seven years of work in the West, Gurdjieff's creation of the Rope remains his most enigmatic. The conclusions reached by the author about why Gurdjieff created the Rope are as original as they are surprising and will be of serious interest to those involved with feminine spirituality in all its many forms.

Explores the teacher-student relationship as seen through the lives of Gurdjieff and Uspenskii.

"The tension between the richly contrasting personalities of Gurdjieff and Uspenskii is a cameo of the problems with which the personal transformation tradition has had to contend....[A] finely-told chronicle of a classic event in occult history, set against the backdrop of overwhelming dramatic, historic events, effectively set into the narrative as date-lines."
—Robert S. Ellwood, Chairman, Dept. of Religion, University of Southern California.

Notes, references, index, 336 pp.

The Greek translation.

The first book to examine the spiritual theft and appropriation that marks our time. A detailed and well-documented study, it illustrates how the enneagram movement commercialized an ancient alchemical symbol, how Robert Burton, founder of The Fellowship of Friends, arrogated The Fourth Way teaching, and how Boris Mouravieff plagiarized and tried to appropriate it.

"A lucid and compelling account of conflict and charlatanism surrounding one of the most important alternative spiritual movements of our day. Indeed, one sees the crisis unfold before one's eyes, for the author does not hesitate to charge those he finds responsible for debasement of the message of George Gurdjieff with opportunism and self-inflation. This book is important as a 'white paper' for those concerned about the broader Gurdjieff movement, and as a case study for all students of contemporary spiritual movements."
—Robert S. Ellwood, Chairman, Dept. of Religion, University of Southern California.

 

Notes, references, index, appendices, 156 pp.

The Japanese translation.

Selections, questions, and answers of Gurdjieff group meetings led by the remarkable man that Gurdjieff chose to lead the Work in America, Lord John Pentland.

A member of the early Bennett groups in London, Phillpotts was among those who visited Mr. Gurdjieff at his Paris apartment at war's end. She gives vivid impressions of meeting Gurdjieff, the dinners and travels with him. Says Peter Brook, "Her book brings the objective and the subjective together giving a ground through which precious memories of the Work in its early and soon-to-be forgotten period can be shared."

Practical applications of self-observation and self-remembering. Pogson, a former student and secretary to Maurice Nicoll, gives accounts of work sessions.

Like her My Life With a Brahman Family and Shakti Lizelle Reymond gives an account of her five years of communal living with Sri Anirvan, a spiritual master of Samkhya, whose teachings were much in accord with Gurdjieff. Included are a number of his talks and essays showing a rare depth and precision of spiritual understanding.

The only first-person account to date of what it was like to attend J.G. Bennett's 10-month residential course at Sherborne Academy for Continuous Education, Sherborne, England.

Having survived a near death experience and shortly afterward the death of his wife of many years, to both of which he renders a stirring and perceptive account, Sinclair then speaks of a direct experiencing of "the [Meister] Eckhartian understanding that all mediation must be alien to God, or better yet, alien to the Supreme Principle, the Absolute. Inextricably related to this is Eckhart's profound understanding that the ground of things is nothingness, the abyss of the Godhead. This is the unfolding reality that informs what I have written."

Intimate and personal account of the author's many years within the Gurdjieff Foundation of New York and his relations with Lord Pentland, president of the foundation, as well as William Segal, Martin Benson and Thomas Forman, as well as Mme de Salzmann who he takes as his teacher. Includes stories of his introduction to the Work with Fairfax Hall in South Africa. This second edition includes an interview with Parabola, a favorable review by David Appelbaum, and a trenchant and searing one by James Moore which raises many questions.

How to focus attention in practical ways during everyday life is explored in these three volumes by A.L. Staveley at her work groups. A pupil of Jane Heap's in London during the Second World War, Mrs. Staveley also met G.I. Gurdjieff afterward and attended his meetings and dinners.

Volume III of 3 volumes.

A pupil of Jane Heap in London from 1939–1959, Annie Lou Staveley met Gurdjieff after the Second World War. She gives a vivid first-hand portrait of Gurdjieff and the way in which he taught in these closing years. "If you were brave enough," she writes, "desperate enough, alert enough—or even, on occasion, surprised enough—you might see a reflection of what he saw at that moment for yourself; that is, the human condition as it appeared in one atom of humanity—yourself."

The first of what will likely be many academic attempts—this one serious—by those not in the Work at a hermeneutics of Gurdjieff's books which takes as its key the core of Gurdjieff's teaching—the enneagram—in an attempt at a systematic exploration of Gurdjieff's "objective art" of literary hypnotism. "In the ocean of literature on Gurdjieff," says B. Nicolescu who himself has never been in the Work, "the brilliant book of Mohammad Tamdgidi has a very special place."

The sage of Samos, initiate of the mysteries and transmitter of ancient wisdom, Pythagoras was a pivotal figure in all Western philosophy and esoteric thought. This classic gives not only the life of the sage but excerpts of his teachings on harmonic science, dietetic medicine, friendship, and the soul's former lives. It also includes fragments of his ethical writings and a collection of his sentences. Thomas Taylor is widely acclaimed for his authoritative translations of the Platonists.

Tchekhovitch, a former wrestler and officer in the Tsar's army, first met Gurdjieff in Constantinople in 1920. A devoted pupil, he traveled with him to the Prieuré and remained in contact until the end of Gurdjieff's life. These disarmingly simple anecdotes reveal how Gurdjieff used the circumstances of ordinary life to bring people to real life. His recollections of the last days of Julia Osipovna, Gurdjieff's wife, are a treasure in themselves. These direct and fresh perceptions make these days live again.

Founding the School of Economic Science based on the economic principles of the American economist Henry George, the irrepressible and always controversial Leon MacLaren later adopted the teachings of Gurdjieff and Ouspensky before finally encompassing Advaita Vedanta.

Dr. William Welch was a longtime student of Gurdjieff and a noted Fourth Way teacher. This project, the first of its kind, was begun in 1992 and lasted three years, two years before his death. This set of four CDs in MP3 format contains the whole of Gurdjieff's magnum opus. The CDs can be played on a computer or other device equipped to handle the MP3 format. They cannot be played on an ordinary audio CD player.