The Psychology of Man's Possible Evolution

In spite of his difficulty in accepting Gurdjieff as an authentic teacher Ouspensky kept in contact with Gurdjieff from 1915 until their last meeting in France 1930. He started lecturing the 'system' already in the twenties in Constantinople and continued until close to his death in 1947.(By the way I have yet to see a negative review with an e-mail address!)When you take this book for what it is - a short introduction to the psychology of an extensive 'system for personal development' - then it certainly serves its purpose. The book was written to be read aloud to people waiting for Ouspensky to start his lectures. His audiences ranged from just a handful of people to some hundreds. 'The Psychology' gives you an overview of the psychology of Gurdjieff's teaching.

When you have had your first 'education' by the way of years of "ordinary" life; when you have been exposed to thousands of works of literature, art, science, religion--and these have created a hunger in you; at a certain point, you may be ready to receive a certain quality of knowledge. When you do, when you recognize its value and if you apply it to your daily life, you yourself can truly change. This book, in the hands of one who seeks, can be a key to the start of a path to a larger and richer world. How well do you *really* know yourself? Are you willing to go digging? The world is waiting, and a man named Piotr Demianovich Ouspensky saw fit to help you know both it, and yourself, in ways you never guessed.Yes, there are books that can truly change lives. This is one of them. Do not read if your aim is only to remain comfortable. I wish you the best on your Way.

I just scrolled through the reviews and am pleased to see divergent views, regardless of how misguided they may be. But. . . Laws of Manu? Cult? Wha-a-a. . . ?All of O's writing is top-notch. True or false? Was he "right" or "wrong?" Who could possibly know. I can say, however, that his words have a quality that invariably focuses my mind and makes the madness and poison of the Tom Consumer world seem manageable. Either one gets this point, or one does not. There is no point in trying to convince anyone in this regard. O realized that he was alive and he ran with it. He put something out there and I am here to report that it was worthwhile. Thanks P.D.There's a cut-off point in life where one realizes that what is regarded as "normal" is all one big farce: law, business, carefully manufactured consent. . . Some people make the cut-off. Others still deal in fear and guilt. No point in debating with those who fall short, though it's interesting to see them display their "vision" in a forum such as this.As soon as you see someone wax intellectual on this, showing off "credentials" and using "philosophical" language, lean back and have a good laugh. You'll know it's time when you feel the skin tightening around your skull.

Some people have very negative opinions of Ouspensky and his books but for reasons that rarely have anything to do with the books themselves or the knowledge they contain. Usually they are associating everything with a bad experience they had in one cult or another that probably exploited all or some of the knowledge in books like the Psychology of Man's Possible Evolution, or, they're working from some uniquely conceived intellectual fetish like the 'Laws of Manu' and how their tradition is attempting to renew itself and strike terror into Democratic Man, or whatever... There's nothing about the Laws of Manu in this book by Ouspensky, nor is there anything having to do with cults or cult manipulation. The book itself explains very clearly the basic psychological side of what has come to be known as the Work, which is simply the universal ideas and practices of inner, spiritual development put into a very clear and precise and practical language. Aside from its unique terminology it is the inner meaning and goals of the New Testament, Stoic philosophy and some Buddhist literature (just to name a few examples from the full spectrum of universal influences...) This book doesn't contain the cosmological side of the Work which provide the metaphor and models for understanding the psychological side of the Work, but that can be found in Ouspensky's other major books the Fourth Way and In Search of the Miraculous. All these books require real effort in the area of study to learn the language that they contain as-well-as enough of a development in your life in the areas of physical activity, creative activity and the absorbtion of the lowest to the highest influences in the realms of art, philosophy, music, imaginative literature, history, religion and science. At first you're fighting your own ignorance. Later you fight your own laziness. The ultimate goal is to, in a very practical and real way, build your inner, spiritual body which requires conscious efforts in the right direction (a right direction that it is very possible to find on your own without the 'guidance' of a group or so-called school, in fact Ouspensky himself said late in his life that this Work could be learned on one's own without a school ['school' as that word is understood by the common schools associated with the Fourth Way, yet in the Work 'school' has a higher meaning as well, and is found in your everyday surroundings and the friction of going up against what in the Work is called the General Law...]) Learning a book like the Psychology of Man's Possible Evolution puts you on the road to the whole experience.

A spare, terse distillation of the no-nonsense call to waking up in the manner of the 4th Way, which takes place not in the monastery, but in the ordinary conditions of life. Basically, Gurdjieff's transmission of esoteric understanding through Ouspensky's language.