Stairway to the stars : Sufism, Gurdjieff, and the inner tradition of mankind

101 Pages·2010·0.43 MB·English

by  Gorman

STAIRWAY TO THE STARS

STAIRWAY TO THE STARS
Sufism, Gurdjieff and the Inner
Tradition of Mankind
Max Gorman
First published in 2010 by
Aeon Books Ltd
118 Finchley Road
London NW3 5HT
Copyright © 2010 by Max Gorman
The right of Max Gorman to be identified as the author of this work has
been asserted in accordance with §§ 77 and 78 of the Copyright Design and
Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in
a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior
written permission of the publisher.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A C.I.P. for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN-13: 978-1-90465-832-0
Typeset by Vikatan Publishing Solutions (P) Ltd., Chennai, India
Printed in Great Britain
www.aeonbooks.co.uk
O silver trumpets, be you lifted up
And cry to the great race that is to come.
Long-throated swans among the waves of time
Sing loudly, for beyond the wall of the world
It waits, and it may hear, and come to us.
W.B. Yeats

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I am grateful to Aubrey Wolton who suggested, and encouraged me
to write this book.
I also wish to thank Cathy Shepherd for her patient and excellent
typing of the manuscript.
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CONTENTS
CHAPTER ONE
Prelude 1
CHAPTER TWO
The message of the mystic 7
CHAPTER THREE
Towards the recognition of sleep 11
CHAPTER FOUR
The meaning of esotericism 19
CHAPTER FIVE
The inner circle of humanity 25
CHAPTER SIX
The way 31
CHAPTER SEVEN
The mystery schools 35
CHAPTER EIGHT
The Gnostics 41
CHAPTER NINE
The art of alchemy 53
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