Recently I have been rather discouraged with some Online Gurdjieff groups and their efforts to diminish the role of P.D. Ouspensky in his super-efforts with George Gurdjieff in the last century to create this ‘Fourth Way’ system that I have been studying for many years. There seems to be an intentional effort to carry on the century-old feud between Gurdjieff’s groups and Ouspensky’s groups, after they parted ways in the early 1930’s. In my humble opinion, this misses the revelation that occurred, and is described in Ouspensky’s “In Search of the Miraculous” during Ouspensky’s initial initiation into Gurdjieff’s system/school. Consequently, I feel that many who are die-hard Gurdjieff disciples completely miss the miracle that was Ouspensky/Gurdjieff’s combined understanding. An understanding that I have always reasoned was Gurdjieff’s purpose on this planet, which was to give a fresh direction towards attaining consciousness in modern life.
These current Gurdjieff students tend to dismiss Ouspensky’s work, and instead focus on Gurdjieff’s “All and Everything” series of writings, including “Beelzabub’s Tales to His Grandson”, which is the pinnacle of George’s writing efforts. My argument is that, while it is a master effort by the master, it lacks the accessibility of Ouspensky’s work. Though it may include secrets that Gurdjieff’s groups claim are the “real” work, as opposed to Ouspensky’s marginal ideas, I think it misses the real mark of disseminating the essence of the system to as many seekers as possible, and therefore is counter to Gurdjieff’s original aim. I do completely disagree with their analysis, and feel that many of these modern Gurdjieff students do not understand basic Fourth Way ideas, like centers of gravity, many ’I’s, etc. In my many conversations on these different sites, I find myself having to explain basics that one at Robert Burton’s school would have been taken to task for not knowing. And, we all know what a lowly experience that place was, right??
My point is that we need to be taking the work of the Masters, and using it to enlarge ourselves, and expand our understanding of the Fourth Way, as a natural course. This idea is echoed in Joseph Azize’s new book on Gurdjieff, “Gurdjieff-Mysticism, Contemplation, and Exercises (Oxford studies in Western Esotericism)”, where he beautifully elaborates on The Work, and Gurdjieff. I highly recommend reading this new work.
He agrees that Ouspensky was Gurdjieff’s best spokesman, and goes into great detail on Gurdjieff’s ego getting in the way of his own success. I happen to love that part of Gurdjieff, the part that worked so hard at being hard to understand, but ultimately I feel it is currently threatening his own system. Thoughts?
The thing about this profession is that as a practitioner you can continue to mature and grow. I am thus running a private practice which is thriving and I do not plan to “retire” until my last breath goes out. I serve mostly children, adolescents and young adults, with a few older adults occasionally included.