Psychological Commentaries on the Teaching of Gurdjieff and Ouspensky

For those who have done the "Work" of finding out for themselves and extensively going the extra yard to realize what the truth actually may be. This 6 volume set is facinating,insightful and a first hand eval of the principals of the "Work". This is not an expose or a critcal analasys but a correspondence of ideas and values. Given the current state of disillusionment and the current "spin" and False Personality we are subject to by politicians and media these days this is a welcome read.

Consisting of nearly 2000 pages of psychological gems these lectures are well worth not only for reading but also for studying. To combine expert psychological understanding with the ideas of Gurdjieff does give a new angle to both. Dr. Nicoll's approach is practical and he draws help from suitable images to illustrate the points he is making. I would say that even just one of the volumes well studied would give ample material for daily practice.

Writers who expound the Work are not distinguished by the degree that they are original. They are distinguished by the degree of understanding they demonstrate for the ideas and practices and goals of the Work (universal ideas and practices and goals yet presented in a unique, practical language), and by their skill in communicating their understanding. Nicoll scores a solid 9 or 10 in both categories. For people who really catch-on to the Work Nicoll's Commentaries are really indispensable. It's true that most if not all that is in Nicoll's work can be found in Ouspensky's six main Work books (PSYCHOLOGY OF MAN'S POSSIBLE EVOLUTION, IN SEARCH OF THE MIRACULOUS, FOURTH WAY, CONSCIENCE, A FURTHER RECORD, RECORD OF MEETINGS), yet Nicoll has a different style of presenting it all that compliments Ouspensky's style. If you get to the point in your STUDY of the Work (which is as necessary as DOING the Work) where you have aquired an overall understanding of the language and the processes and goals and means to achieve the goals (a big accomplishment that Nicoll's Commentaries will help you to achieve), and then you move in to a more particular, in-depth study of individual topics then Nicoll's Commentaries will become a well-worn reference. His style of breaking down the language into topics and really going into each separate idea or practice, sometimes in multi-part essays (which would, by the way, be like finding gold if you were to stumble upon these essays in separate pamphlet form in out-of-the-way bookstores, and here they ALL are in this six-volume work...the goldmine itself available and ready to be easily taken for granted...), and his use of analogy and metaphor can really help you to achieve understanding of particular aspects of the Work that maybe you didn't connect with very deeply after meeting with it in one of Ouspensky's books. (I have to say, though, that Ouspensky's books are the purest spring for the ideas and practices and goals of the Work...) Boris Mouravieff's three-volume GNOSIS would be a good third source for these ideas.

These books are for people confused by, or struggling with life.If you know, somewhere deep with-in, that there is a much greater meaning to life than that which you behold on a daily basis, if you possess what the Author refers to as "magnetic center", than these volumes could be for you. It's safe to assume that, in todays world,the very idea of one questioning their relationship to life and the cosmos are largely non exsistant. This is why the world is in the condition that it is in.I couldn't possibly go into the psycology the books offer here. The information is serious. It is real. It's not for everybody. It wasn't intended to be.For me, when I hear more and more about children shooting children on play grounds, and life seems to slip further and further into what a sane person would call insanity, Maurice Nicole has provided a life line that i can hold on to tightly.

Maurice Nicoll, author, studied for years under Jung. In these texts--transcripts of a series of lectures he gave recounting the teachings of G and O--lies a most profound guideline known as "the Work." Passed down for hundreds of years, this current incarnation of Esoteric Christianity melds science with Eastern philosophy, creating a framework for TRULY CHANGING ONESELF and activating HIGHER CENTERS in ones being. Do not buy this if you just want some fluff to read. However if you are willing to put your a** to the grindstone and actually practise what is being taught here, you can expect to TRULY experience a whole new level of understanding of yourself and others, including how multiple "I"s exist within you and how most of your actions are sheerly mechanical REACTIONS to "life." This book opens your internal "eyes" and teaches you how to properly "observe" the invisible inner workings of your imagination and personality, to such an extent that you can actually change them. It teaches you that YOU are not your personality; in fact, personality is TO BE STRUGGLED AGAINST as is imagination, for they often lead us into lying to ourselves and sometimes to others. But don't buy this if you're not open-minded or willing to practise what is said, because this is very complex, text-book like material which requires true study to be of the slightest use." PS--nobody is paying me to write this. I truly believe this. E-mail me if you have any questions.