Transcripts of Gurdjieff's Meetings 1941-1946

The words of Gurdjieff, wherever genuinely reported like in this book have a much higher and different impact than all other books written by those who came after him. And this is an invitation to read Gurdjieff own books before any other in order to get a better picture. Others have just helped building the frame. Now there are too many frames.A great book to open quite often as to remember!

This book is only to be recommended to those who are already steeped in Gurdjieff's teachings. The advice contained within the pages is aimed at particular students with particular questions, aims and difficulties. Those untutored in the ideas will gain little from the records and those with experience will still need to be alive to the possibility of inappropriate application of specifically-directed counsel.

If you know about Gurdjieff and are interested in his teaching, you'll enjoy this book. I did.

I'm sure this will be a five star book for content,but the price of some of these books is a little steep.I had accepted this on the other Gurdjieff books in this series that i have bought,as they were larger books,and in hardback.This one comes in at just over 200 pages,and paperback I would say it is overpriced.I know Gurdjieff was into the concept of paying for what you get,but i can't help feeling there's a little cashing in going on with some of these titles.This is not a book that should be priced at £18.00,in my opinion.

One of the reviews of this extract from Gurdjieff's works raises the question of understanding and lineage. The review does not say so but it does raise these two important subjects. Gurdjieff said, long ago, that there are two aspects to understanding. One is knowledge, and the other is something which is rarely mentioned in any western writings, that is, being.Knowledge we have plenty. Being we are not so well supplied. Being has to do with capacity and the fulfilment of potential. If for instance a person knows how to build a house but cannot build it, then his knowledge outstrips his capacity. If he knows how to build a house and can build a house, we can say he understands how to build a house. So one aspect of being is to be able to.When someone reads these extracts from Gurdjieff's writings, he was not there when the words were spoken, he does not know the context, he does not experience the atmosphere, and he may not have been through the same experiences as the people who were there at the time. He also may not be able, may not have the capacity, to carry out what is spoken about in these writings. To do all these things he must have worked on himself, and been guided by people who went before him, and are able to convey to him what is being spoken about. If these conditions are not in place in him, then what he reads is simply knowledge. And in this case the knowledge outweighs the being, and there is no understanding.This brings us to the question of lineage. In all crafts, in eastern martial arts such as tai chi and swordsmanship, in learning of many kinds, the question of who teaches you is important. I have decades of experience studying Gurdjieff, and to a lesser extent Tai Chi (Taiji). The question of who teaches or guides one along these paths is important, particularly when it concerns understanding the complex functionings which make up a human man or woman.Among the Chinese for instance, if a person says that he or she studied tai chi or swordsmanship or brushwork or medicine, the first question asked is,"Who was your teacher?" Though not stated, implicit in this question is the matter of have you learned from someone who understood this art or craft because this will indicate the authenticity of what you claim to be able to do. It will in fact be a clue to the possible understanding which you have: the ratio of your knowledge to your being.Today there are many knowledgeable people in the world, some of them with excellent intellects. But their knowledge and intellectual ability is only one part of what is necessary in order to understand. There is so much shouting and noise in the world of New Age Knowledge, to coin a phrase, that a little quiet thought does not go amiss. Sniping, criticism, back biting and all the rest of the noise on websites is not helpful. It wastes valuable time and energy.

These transcripts, now in book form after 62 years, are some of the most authentic we can come across from Mr. Gurdjieff. His own books were translated, edited and re-edited during his life and also after he died. The transcripts are a translation from French and what Mr. Gurdjieff said in these meetings was also during the meetings themselves translated to French. A careful study of these texts can be rewarding.Some years ago I was warned (by a senior member of a respected "official" Gurdjieff organisation) about publishing the texts on my website. (His words were an answer to my question why the transcripts had not been published.) I repeat the warning.He had three main arguments against publishing:* that there are enough authentic writings from Mr. Gurdjieff already available* that those reading the transcripts will think that they have understood something and therefore not make the efforts to work* that what was said was meant for those present and can easily be misunderstood by reading themI don't have to explain why I was truly amazed at this and disappointed! To understand is wrong, to misunderstand is also wrong and to add to the couple of thousand pages already published of authentic material from Mr. Gurdjieff is also wrong!Nevertheless - back to the book: to read anything it is wise to read slowly and like Mr. Gurdjieff advised about reading his main work Beelzebub's Tales to His Grandson (All and Everything): first as one is accustomed to read the newspapers, then as if aloud to oneself and then one can study. This way it is not so much only the head that understands; one of the main messages in the transcripts and the exercises described in it and also in the whole of the Gurdjieff Work.Mr. Gurdjieff said that his mission was "to live and teach so that there should be a new conception of God in the world, a change in the very meaning of the word" (the quote is in the A. R. Orage - A Memoir by Philip Mairet). This is for all of us to discover in the transcripts. When asked how he found his teaching he answered: "Perhaps I stole it!" Perhaps Mr.Gurdjieff "stole Christianity"! How could he do that?There is more material in the book than in the notes that I have been reading and for those who are studying it is therefore a must. It is good to keep in mind that "the head is a luxury and only a policeman".The important question, so aptly put by Reshad Feild is: who is the Gurdjieff of our time?

This book gives a real taste of what it was like to exchange words and ideas with G. His delightful sense of humour is often evident. What he is saying is for those people at that time and also the translation goes off the rails at times. Nevertheless those hungry for authentic writing on the Work will be fed.