Views from the Real World

This book is a transliteration of G. speaking to an audience and answering their various questions. Moving, succinct, and of course, different from his other books.

There is no doubt that "In Search of the Miraculous" by Ouspensky is presenting Gurdjieff's ideas very much like they were delivered mainly in Russia in 1915-1918. However, the talks in "Views from the Real World" have for me even a more authentic tone, although the presentation is not systematic.Many of the talks in the "Views" are delivered in du Prieuré, Paris or New York in 1922-1924 and only one after his accident in 1924 (1930 in New York). The book has also over 30 pages of the article called "Glimpses of Truth" that Ouspensky was listening to when he was first introduced to Gurdjieff and the aphorisms that decorated the Study House in du Prieuré.A sample of what I mean by 'even a more authentic tone' is the way Gurdjieff explains in a talk called "Now I am sitting here..." the process of self-remembering, the technique used to access the state of consciousness, which he defines as 'self-consciousness', in which we are more awake than in our normal 'waking state'.He explains first how we can differenciate between sensations and feelings giving examples of sensations of the body, like warmth, posture and eating and the feelings resulting from memory of his mother and other similar feelings.On p. 239 he says:"For primary exercises in self-remembering the participation of all three centers is necessary, and we began to speak of the difference between feelings and sensations because it is necessary to have simultaneously both feeling and sensation.We can come to this exercise only with the participation of thought. The first thing is thought.... At the beginning all three need to be evoked aritificially.... I repeat: artificial things are necessary only in the beginning."

True account of 40 talks by Gurdjieff from his pupils and Jeanne de Salzmann. These talks provide a vital record of the fluid, 'search-demanding,' approach inherent in the oral tradition of his works. These supplement his writings and provide a glimpse of a teaching to be PRACTICED instead of 'grasped' as information.

This book was assembled by Gurdjieff's primary students in the years following his death, from their memories and notes of his talks. While it provides neither the brilliant structure and narrative of "In Search of the Miraculous," nor the transcendent genius of "Beelzebub's Tales," this book is one of the fundamental cornerstones of Fourth Way teachings. Reading the negative review that appears alongside this one is informative. This book does not provide a "new-age" easy-answer view of our situation. It instead puts forth an honest critique of who and how we are -- but more important, it points the way to the possibility of change. I personally rank this book next in importance behind Gurdjieff's "All and Everything" (Tales, Meetings, and Life is Real) and Ouspensky's "In Search." Of course, what is important is that one applies the ideas to ones life. Otherwise there are millions of volumes that are more fun or at least less of a challenge.

If you already have an inkling that life is all about acquiring a substance (for want of another word) that will last - here's a book that will outline the thought further and will prompt you to question your intentions and self-awareness in a very powerful way. It states the HOW as clearly as you could wish for.