Warrior's Way: The Challenging Life Games

I first read "The Master Game" when I was 23 years old in college. It opened the door for me. First to the realization that I was playing "Top Cock on Dung Hill", and then opened my eyes to Gurdjieff, Ouspensky, Bennett, Orage, and all of the other printed material related to the "Way" including my introduction to the "enneagram". This auto-biography by De Ropp about how he got to where he went was enlightening and helped me with my own sense of frustration from having not moved fast enough to obtain my own personal "clarity". It is refreshing and a blessing along another "Warrior's" way.

along with "The Master Game". His primary work is a must read, and this book fills out the influences and some information of the people that shaped his thought. This book serves as a good example of one "walking the walk", and from one that has much worth listening to. For anyone needing a "guide", his works make the journey so much more comprehensible and understandable.

These memoirs are a one of a kind collection of first person accounts of one man's life and experiences in The Work. De Ropp gives a unique perspective in a very human yet objective and scientific fashion on the Gurdjieff work, the Ouspensky 4th way, and meetings with many of the key players and major authors in the field. I was surprised that he spent an entire chapter discussing the Castaneda material. There was no mention at all of E.J. Gold even though IDHHB is the publisher. I wish that De Ropp would have included a bit more discussion of the Enneagram and how it was used by Gurdjieff and Ouspensky. Overall, I think this book is essential reading for those interested in "The Work".

Written before his masterpiece "Self-Completion", this book is about his own search, his own pitfalls, and sheds a very interesting light onto his view of Gurdjieff, Bennett etc. Very interesting his comments about when he sent some of his pupils to England, and the very intesting "transformation" most of them went through. De Ropp is so down to earth, and his warnings are of a positive kind, and his humor is wonderful.

I first read The Warrior's Way in the mid-1980's and continue to reread portions periodically to others. This remarkable autobiographical account provides a source of renewed inspiration and empathy for those who seek inner development. Reading this book may reveal hints of how to personally awaken to, understand, and play life's challenging games. Even though de Ropp's experiences might be removed from those of his readers, his life voyage is a source of many lessons learned and uncommon insights. De Ropp relates and frankly assesses his direct interaction with many remarkable people and their systems of belief, including: J. G. Bennett, Gerald Heard, Aldous Huxley, Ken Kesey, Ouspensky and the Gurdjieff groups, Timothy Leary, Charles Lindbergh, Alan Watts, Ralph Vaughn Williams, and others. During the past 15 years I've given more than a dozen copies of this book to various people. This book is not for everyone. Its not for those who are content to live life as a slave, or are satisfied with the lower life games of material wealth. Many such will dislike this book. Others, a few, may find this a truly remarkable life account, from which much can be learned (especially in the first and last thirds). De Ropp is also the author "The Master Game", "Self Completion", and several works on the biochemistry of the mind.