Talks With a Devil

Rating:
Summary: Excellent brainstorming!!
Review: A great book dealing with the possibilities and the power of human nature. It is highly metaphorical making you perceive the way people should guide their lives in a unique, very spiritual and inspiring way. Both stories are great but I really enjoyed the second one which divides people in two categories: the ones which keep in thouch with their spirituality and perceive life as a unique experience involving self-discipline, universal understanding and completion of the soul. On the other side are the narrow-minded people who are strained by social, economical and materialistic prejudices...worn off (without having the conception of that) are merely happy with their lives...being tottaly incorporated with the materialistic way of life and having no idea about what is happening behind the 'scene'. An inspiring book!!

Rating:
Summary: A study of Human Motivation
Review: Ouspensky presents an original and very readable study of the human mechanism . Consideration of the way we live our lives can be unpalatable when directly confronting negative aspects of our behaviour such as eating and drinking to excess or unsatisfactory handling of our time or relationships . This book presents these matters and others in an absorbing account of the problems faced by the Devil and his assistants in striving to assist human beings to relate more fully to the material world.

The story is amusing while giving insights which are not immediately apparent . Much of the enjoyment of the book comes after reading of it is completed.

Rating:
Summary: A study of Human Motivation
Review: Ouspensky presents an original and very readable study of the human mechanism . Consideration of the way we live our lives can be unpalatable when directly confronting negative aspects of our behaviour such as eating and drinking to excess or unsatisfactory handling of our time or relationships . This book presents these matters and others in an absorbing account of the problems faced by the Devil and his assistants in striving to assist human beings to relate more fully to the material world.

The story is amusing while giving insights which are not immediately apparent . Much of the enjoyment of the book comes after reading of it is completed.

Rating:
Summary: Two terrific allegories about the devil in human affairs.
Review: P.D. Ouspensky's Talks With A Devil provides two allegories about the devil: one in which the devil of technology is faced with science, the other where a man battles against the devil for his soul. These two stories by the philosopher and student of Gurdjieff's teachings provides an similar tales which explore devils' interests in human affairs.

Rating:
Summary: Suddenly a new book by Ouspensky
Review: These two tales came as a surprise. I've been working with G. and O. for three decades and had never come across these two tales. Essentially two short novella teaching stories. They are a wonderful addition to the work tradition and belong in any serious student's library.

Rating:
Summary: Suddenly a new book by Ouspensky
Review: These two tales came as a surprise. I've been working with G. and O. for three decades and had never come across these two tales. Essentially two short novella teaching stories. They are a wonderful addition to the work tradition and belong in any serious student's library.

Rating:
Summary: The Devil made me buy this dress
Review: [I will limit my remarks to the second of the two tales: reading time ~1 hour.]

Uspenskii was not a bad writer.. The tale opens as our grumpy European traveller realizes he will not be getting to sleep, due to the intense heat (or is it the humidity?) of the Indian climate.

When, lo and behold! - it's the DEVIL!

And the devil - for reasons not too clear, shares his thoughts on humanity with the traveller, our protagonist.

Uspenskii makes an interesting point that one man's meat is another devil's poison. Terrestrial daemons are busily concerned with keeping our interests occupied with the immediate here-and-now. For them, any spiritual release is mysterious and frightening, and so they help us - to their way of thinking - by surreptitiously bending our ways to their ways.

I enjoyed this story with clean, enjoyable prose, and very little pretence. It wakes you up - just a little! - so there'll be no need for devils to bother you upon completion!