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Rating: 
Summary: The Authentic Voice
Review: There is no doubt that "In Search of the Miraculous" by Ouspensky is presenting Gurdjieff's ideas very much like they were delivered mainly in Russia in 1915-1918. However, the talks in "Views from the Real World" have for me even a more authentic tone, although the presentation is not systematic.Many of the talks in the "Views" are delivered in du Prieuré, Paris or New York in 1922-1924 and only one after his accident in 1924 (1930 in New York). The book has also over 30 pages of the article called "Glimpses of Truth" that Ouspensky was listening to when he was first introduced to Gurdjieff and the aphorisms that decorated the Study House in du Prieuré. A sample of what I mean by 'even a more authentic tone' is the way Gurdjieff explains in a talk called "Now I am sitting here..." the process of self-remembering, the technique used to access the state of consciousness, which he defines as 'self-consciousness', in which we are more awake than in our normal 'waking state'. He explains first how we can differenciate between sensations and feelings giving examples of sensations of the body, like warmth, posture and eating and the feelings resulting from memory of his mother and other similar feelings. On p. 239 he says: "For primary exercises in self-remembering the participation of all three centers is necessary, and we began to speak of the difference between feelings and sensations because it is necessary to have simultaneously both feeling and sensation. We can come to this exercise only with the participation of thought. The first thing is thought.... At the beginning all three need to be evoked aritificially.... I repeat: artificial things are necessary only in the beginning."
Rating:
Summary: The Authentic Voice
Review: There is no doubt that "In Search of the Miraculous" by Ouspensky is presenting Gurdjieff's ideas very much like they were delivered mainly in Russia in 1915-1918. However, the talks in "Views from the Real World" have for me even a more authentic tone, although the presentation is not systematic. Many of the talks in the "Views" are delivered in du Prieuré, Paris or New York in 1922-1924 and only one after his accident in 1924 (1930 in New York). The book has also over 30 pages of the article called "Glimpses of Truth" that Ouspensky was listening to when he was first introduced to Gurdjieff and the aphorisms that decorated the Study House in du Prieuré. A sample of what I mean by 'even a more authentic tone' is the way Gurdjieff explains in a talk called "Now I am sitting here..." the process of self-remembering, the technique used to access the state of consciousness, which he defines as 'self-consciousness', in which we are more awake than in our normal 'waking state'. He explains first how we can differenciate between sensations and feelings giving examples of sensations of the body, like warmth, posture and eating and the feelings resulting from memory of his mother and other similar feelings. On p. 239 he says: "For primary exercises in self-remembering the participation of all three centers is necessary, and we began to speak of the difference between feelings and sensations because it is necessary to have simultaneously both feeling and sensation. We can come to this exercise only with the participation of thought. The first thing is thought.... At the beginning all three need to be evoked aritificially.... I repeat: artificial things are necessary only in the beginning."
Rating:
Summary: Q&A
Review: This book is a transliteration of G. speaking to an audience and answering their various questions. Moving, succinct, and of course, different from his other books.
Rating:
Summary: My view of Views
Review: This book is one of the books that should be read by all who are seriously interested in the work of attaining self knowledge. I can personally say that John Pentland (who was instrumental in publishing this book) was a man in the real sense of the word, free from dependance on any one's teachings. I knew Lord (John) Pentland and he was one of the great humans I have been fortunate enough to meet in my life. While he understood the teachings of Gurdjieff he had his own way of working and did not in any way or form practice or engage in any sort of cultism. Quite possibly Lord Pentland was present at some of the meetings from which this book is sourced.
Rating:
Summary: My view of Views
Review: This book is one of the books that should be read by all who are seriously interested in the work of attaining self knowledge. I can personally say that John Pentland (who was instrumental in publishing this book) was a man in the real sense of the word, free from dependance on any one's teachings. I knew Lord (John) Pentland and he was one of the great humans I have been fortunate enough to meet in my life. While he understood the teachings of Gurdjieff he had his own way of working and did not in any way or form practice or engage in any sort of cultism. Quite possibly Lord Pentland was present at some of the meetings from which this book is sourced.
Rating:
Summary: before the deterioration
Review: True account of 40 talks by Gurdjieff from his pupils and Jeanne de Salzmann. These talks provide a vital record of the fluid, 'search-demanding,' approach inherent in the oral tradition of his works. These supplement his writings and provide a glimpse of a teaching to be PRACTICED instead of 'grasped' as information.
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