2010/25

P. D. Ouspensky: In Search of the Miraculous (389p.)

In Search of the Miraculous is P. D. Ouspensky’s classic exposition of the ideas and work of Greek-Armenian mystic George Gurdjieff, who was Ouspensky’s teacher from 1915 to 1924, before Ouspensky amicably parted from the teacher but not from the teachings. It was published posthumously in 1949, two years after Ouspensky’s death.

Central in Gurdjieff’s system is ‘the fourth way’, which, like the way of the fakir (being able to control the physical body), the way of the monk (being able to control emotions), and the way of the yogi (being able to control the mind), allows for the practitioner to gain higher states of consciousness, but unlike the three other ways, does not require the practitioner to forsake his position in society, which makes ‘the fourth way’ more palatable for Westerners.

Half of the chapters are philosophic in nature and need to be taken cum grano salis; the other half deal with the psychological make-up of man and are of the highest order.

Gurdjieff’s ‘the fourth way’ is in essence a potpourri of various Eastern religious traditions with a bit of Christianity thrown in, although in bookstores Ouspensky’s In Search of the Miraculous will most often be found on the esotericism/spirituality shelves.

What Greece was to the West, India was to the East, and fortunately without all the intellectual clutter which has proven to be such a nuisance for (modern) Western man, and so anyone wanting to develop real knowledge (what is man? what is life? what is the world like?), will have to sooner or later sail eastward. In Search of the Miraculous is as good a place to start as any other.