In Search of the Miraculous: Fragments of an Unknown Teaching

Of all the attempts made by Gurdjieff's pupils to introduce his evolutionary system of ideas through writing, In Search of the Miraculous arguably stands formost. First published in 1949, the book continues to be a real help to the work. It may be surprising to some that Ouspensky received from Gurdjieff the material organized in this book over a period of only three years, from 1915 to 1918. After his relatively brief but apparently intensive initiation into various aspects of the teaching, Ouspensky separated himself from his teacher for personal reasons while other pupils remained with Gurdjieff to receive advanced instruction for many years until Gurdjieff's death in 1949. People continue to seek out the Gurdjieff work today under the influence of Ouspensky's extraordinary book. It should be required reading for anyone interested in Gurdjieff. The serious student, by entering into the practical work, which extends the process of learning beyond the intellectual study of ideas, may eventually come to discover what the book's subtitle expresses. Evidently charged with the power to influence in the mind an unprecedented vision of reality, the ideas Ouspensky detailed must be seen as "fragments" of a teaching meant to inform not only the mind but also the feeling, the body and ultimately the whole of oneself. While the truths Gurdjieff wished for people to receive cannot be assimilated through intellectual study alone, these true ideas, if heard, may strike the first note of an octave of real understanding, the further development of which will require, among other things, a long and patient self-examination conducted under special conditions.

Truely profound. G. I. Gurdjieff - a difficult subject. He was a Russian/Turkistani/Armenian/Ousbeck (they didn't really have countries there when he lived) mystic - but a rather hard nosed one, lived 1880 - 1947, I believe. Started a movement called "The Work". best intro - "In Search of the Miraculous" by his student PD Ouspensky, Uspenski, Ouspenskj, Ospenski (depending on how they translate the Russian), who had a photographic memory. If you get and read this book it WILL change your life. Truely profound. Mr G's ideas, presented by Ouspensky, are nothing less than the central idea behind all religions. The essence, when you throw away the bull...waste, superstition and the outer trappings, the unifying spiritual essence behind the mystical traditions of all religions. Christainity, Kaballa (Judaism), Vedanta, Sufiism, Taoism, Buddhism etc. Unfortunately, Mr G got fed up with his bonehead students and didn't tell all he knew...(pay particular attention to the subtitle) Having said that, those who have EYES will SEE, those who don't, will scoff. The Work is based on the following principles: We are asleep We have no continuous Self. We are machines. We believe we can "do" things, change things, that we have "Will" but that is an illusion, we only react. Until we understand these ideas and apply them to ourselves we have no possibility of change. Unlike "new-Agey" books, it will NOT flatter the reader's ego. This is a recursive book. It cannot be understood with one reading. It's ideas will only reveal themselves gradually with many readings , preferably with the help of a local "Work" group, who can give you exercises. Reading the book will change your essence, changing your essence will allow you to understand more, next time you read! This has nothing whatsoever to do with drugs, LSD, (as stated below) it is the opposite of drugs. One of the central idea is that we are all asleep. When you are asleep and you dream that you are awake, you cannot understand this. This book points the way to becoming awake. (Keep in mind that many of the reviews here are written by people who didn't understand what they read or had no experience with a real Work group (or a one that had grudges against the group he was formerly a member of). There is very little of use to be found in reading these reviews - and much to be found in reading "In Search...")

Gurdjieff represents one of the most important metaphysicians of the 20th Century. His philosophy and system of development is hard to pin down. It contains austerities, rituals, magic and astrology as well as a melange of theoretical and rational teachings designed to awaken the individual from a mechanistic state that we are all unwittingly embroiled in. Ouspensky was one of Gurdjieff's foremost pupils and this book is a succinct presentation of all of Gudjieff's major teachings.The book should be a revelation to the receptive beginner by which is meant someone not satisfied with conventional modes of knowing and understanding and above all conventional solutions to what are ultimately unconventional problems. His teachings apparently have their roots in Sufism and other magical systems but have a very close parallel to Buddhism, notably mindfulness or "Self remembrance" as a method of waking up. People familiar with esoteric methods will find much to celebrate in this book.The book is also biographic and traces Gurdjieff and his students' departure from the old Russian Empire at the time of the revolution during the First World War. A time of crisis that adds to his teachings. The book finally marks a point of departure between G and Ouspensky.Gurdjieff was not a great writer and his teachings are best represented by his pupils except for the specialists who could actually wade through G's own writings like Beelzebub's Tails which is rather complex and abstruse. He approved Ouspensky's primary rendition which this book represents. Whereas Ouspensky does not possibly convey the great warmth that G possessed, this book is the best starting point for a beginner compared to more modern biographic commentaries. Further interest can be added to by an excellent series of books summarising G's teachings in the form of collected talks (by his students) published by Arkarna Penguin (e.g. Meetings with remarkable men on G's formative years).

Having read just about everything written by or about Gurdjieff, Ouspensky, Collin, Orage, Nicoll, and countless disciples, spin-offs, Sufis, etc., etc., and having been drawn by them into spending years in a Gurdjieff "school," and being familiar with the traditions on which the Gurdjieff approach was based, I take a lot of the "fourth way" material with a large grain of salt. The core of the "work" is a powerful methodology, but no more so than, say, vipassana, zen, dzogchen or other solid, meditation-based tradition. There is nothing about the fourth way that is any more "esoteric" than these other traditions (that's right, nothing). The biggest difference is that Gurdjieff left behind a legacy of fraudulent teachers and cults, whereas there are many Buddhist and other groups that are reliable. (Certainly, Buddhist and other groups, being made up of people, have their flaws, and there are things to be learned in some (not all!) Gurdjieff groups, decades of hard-won experience allows me to say that the Gurdjieff tradition is peculiar in attracting power-hungry charlatans who exploit the "rascal sage" idea to gather suckers around themselves.) Even groups that are not necessarily exploitative or fraudulent tend to attract people who like the idea of being "esoteric," to use a term Ouspensky liked, but which was far more appropriate eighty years ago than it is today. That is, they like to imagine they've contacted the "real" inner work--as opposed to those dupes who imagine any other traditions can lead to awakening. In other words, the ego-driven, cult mentality that turns useful information into its opposite. Regardless, I strongly recommend In Search of the Miraculous. It's the single best book on Gurdjieff's work ever written. It's reasonably comprehensive on the important theories and methods. It's clear -- no Beelzebub's Talesian mumbo-jumbo. It includes enough of Ouspensky's personal comments and experiences to make an entertaining story, but it isn't a self-indulgent book about the author ("and then he said this to me, and then I said that to him.") I find Ouspensky's other works overly dry and intellectual, but this one is both fun and profound. (And if you happen to buy a copy that has a bookmark in it from a purported Gurdjieff "school" -- toss the bookmark. Trust me about that.)

I discovered this amazing gem in a used book store and interestingly read it at the same time I read Kuhn's "Structure of Scientific Revolutions". I couldn't possibly heap too much praise on either of these books. Both are life-transforming for those of a scientific bent, and for others too. I opened Ouspensky at random and started reading about the distribution of knowledge among people. He cured me of untold anxiety concerning why so few people have a clue when he said that knowledge has power only to the extent it is concentrated in a few people, how the mass of humanity freely discards what little knowledge is allotted them, and particularly how at certain times humanity discards vast amounts of knowledge in favor of mass insanity. He was of course thinking of the Great War but the parallels to today are beyond scary as we face the potential of World War in the Balkans, at the same time that vast amounts of truth concerning for example the importance of nutrition in human disease is being discarded in favor of the "disease" of genetic determinism. This distribution of knowledge observation is both a depressing (since it's totally observably true) and an exhilerating discovery (I no longer feel personally responsible for illuminating anyone since I know the mass of humanity doesn't want knowledge, only answers; an immediate present need associated with their own pleasure principle gratification.)And that was just opening it at random! The stuff on the fourth way also was incredible, especially since I had been grappeling with that for some. Though I know that illumination may never come except for brief glimpses, I now know at least by using the fourth way (working on your body, mind, and faith simultaneously), I am on the only truly practical path to illumination.