A Study of Gurdjieff's Teaching (Jonathan Cape Paperback)

229 Pages·1975·1.019 MB·English

by  Kenneth Walker

JONATHAN CAPE
PAPERBACK
JCP 30
A STUDY OF GURDJIEFF’S TEACHING

KENNETH WALKER
A Study of
Gurdjieff’s Teaching
JONATHAN CAPE
THIRTY BEDFORD SQUARE LONDON
FIRST PUBLISHED 1957
THIS PAPERBACK EDITION FIRST PUBLISHED 1965
REPRINTED 19675 1969, 1973
ISBN 0 224 609 I 2 2
JONATHAN CAPE, 3O BEDFORD SQUARE, LONDON WCI
Condition of Sale
This book is sold subject to the condition that it
shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent,
re-sold, hired out, or otherwise circulated with­
out the publisher’s prior consent, in any form of
binding or cover other than that in which it
is published and without a similar condition
including this condition being imposed on the
subsequent purchaser.
Printed in Great Britain by
Fletcher & Son Ltd, Norwich
and bound by
Richard Clay (The Chaucer Press) Ltd, Bungay, Suffolk
CONTENTS
PREFACE page 7
I GURDJIEFF AND OUSPENSKY 11
II MAN´S SEVERAL MINDS 19
III MAN IS ASLEEP 35
IV KNOWLEDGE AND BEING 52
V THE SEARCH FOR A SELF 71
VI ESSENCE AND PERSONALITY 86
VII THE TWO GREAT COSMIC LAWS 99
vii THOUGHTS ON THE RAY OF CREATION 118
IX THE THREE-STORIED FACTORY 133
X THE POSSIBILITY OF EVOLUTION IN MAN 149
XI THE STEP DIAGRAM AND THE ENNEAGRAM 162
XII THE IDEA OF ESOTERICISM 178
XIII RELIGION 194
XIV SAYINGS OF GURDJIEFF 209
BIBLIOGRAPHY 217
INDEX 219

DIAGRAMS
1 SEVEN CENTRES IN MAN page 22
2 THE RAY OF CREATION 101
3 THE LATERAL OCTAVE OF LIFE 128
4 THE FIRST TWO TRIADS IN THEO CTAVE OF
FOOD DIGESTION 136
5 THE THREEK INDS OF FOOD 137
6 TRANSFORMATION OF THE THREE KINDS OF
FOOD 139
7 MECHANICAL AND DEVELOPED MAN COM­
PARED 158
8 THE STEP DIAGRAM l66
9 THE ENNEAGRAM 173
10 THE ENNEAGRAM REPRESENTING FOOD DI­
GESTION 174
11 INFLUENCES TO WHICH AN INDIVIDUAL MAN
IS SUBJECTED l8o
12 THE ESOTERIC CIRCLES 187
I dedicate this book to those members of Gurdjieff’s
Paris Group who have given such valuable assistance to
Gurdjieff’s followers in this country
PREFACE
In a criticism of a recent work of mine, Mr. Cyril Connolly
remarked that for the last ten years I had been trying to
write the same book with varying success. He was right, for
almost every word I have written since the publication of
Diagnosis of Man in 1942 has reflected one or another aspect
of Gurdjieff´s teaching, a teaching which forms a complete,
consistent and integrated whole. And now all of these pre­
vious efforts are culminating in an attempt to give a fuller
account of the psycho-philosophical system which has im­
parted to my books the sameness of which Mr. Connolly
complains. I therefore regard this present work as being
much more important than any of its predecessors, whatever
its fate may be and however unfavourable the criticisms that
it receives. That it will be handled very roughly by some of
my critics is highly probable, for no one has ever greeted
Gurdjieff’s teaching with indifference. He has either felt that
there was something big in it or else has reacted very vio­
lently against it, for, like other religious teachers — I regard
Gurdjieff as such — he startled his hearers rather than
soothed them.
The account of Gurdjieff’s teaching contained in this book
is very far from being complete. It was not my intention to
give a full report of it, but to comment on those parts of his
system of knowledge which have made a particularly deep
impression on me or which I have felt to be of special
importance.
I have many acknowledgements to make, and there is no
person to whom I am so deeply indebted as to Gurdjieff’s
chief interpreter, P. D. Ouspensky. Had it not been for his
7