Gurdjieff and Hypnosis: A Hermeneutic Study »

Mohammad H. Tamdgidi is Associate Professor of Sociology, teaching social theory at the University of Massachusetts Boston. He has previously authored Advancing Utopistics: The Three Component Parts and Errors of Marxism (2007) and is founding editor of Human Architecture: Journal of the Sociology of Self-Knowledge, a publication of OKCIR: The Omar Khayyam Center for Integrative Research in Utopia, Mysticism, and Science (Utopystics) which serves to frame his research, teaching, and professional initiatives.Tamdgidi has edited various collections on Paulo Freire, Edward Said, Gloria Anzaldúa, Frantz Fanon, and Thich Nhat Hanh, and his writings have appeared in Sociological Spectrum, Review (Journal of the Fernand Braudel Center for the Study of Economies, Historical Systems, and Civilizations), Humanity & Society, Contemporary Sociology, and several other edited volumes.

Human enlightenment and liberation, mystics have long advised, require spiritual awakening from the hypnotic sleep of everyday life. This book explores the life and ideas of the enigmatic twentieth century philosopher, mystic, and teacher of esoteric dances George Ivanovitch Gurdjieff (1872?-1949), performing a hermeneutic textual analysis of all his published writings to illuminate the place of hypnosis in his teaching. The hermeneutic approach captures both the aim for an in-depth textual analysis, and the notion that the intent is to interpret the text using its own symbolic and meaning structures.

Systematically explored for the first time is Gurdjieff's "objective art" of literary hypnotism intended as a major conduit for the transmission of his teachings on the philosophy, theory, and practice of personal self-knowledge and harmonious human development. In the process, the nature and function of the 'mystical' shell hiding the rational kernel of Gurdjieff's teaching are explained-shedding new light on why his mysticism is "mystical," and Gurdjieff so "enigmatic," in the first place.

The book includes a Foreword by J. Walter Driscoll, a major bibliographer and scholar of Gurdjieff studies.

List of Figures

List of Abbreviations

Foreword J. Walter Driscoll Driscoll, J. Walter

Introduction Gurdjieff, Hypnosis, and Hermeneutics 1

Ch. 1 Philosophy: Ontology of the Harmonious Universe 28

Ch. 2 Philosophy: Psychology of A "Tetartocosmos" 52

Ch. 3 Philosophy: Epistemology of "Three-brained Beings" 70

Ch. 4 The "Organ Kundabuffer" Theory Of Human Disharmonization 88

Ch. 5 The Practice of "harmonious Development of Man" 113

Ch. 6 Life is Real Only Then, When "I Am" Not Hypnotized 137

Ch. 7 Meetings With The Remarkable Hypnotist 177

Ch. 8 Beelzebub's Hypnotic Tales to His Grandson 207

Conclusion Gurdjieff's Roundabout Yezidi Circle 224

Appendix Textual Chronology of Gurdjieff's Life 237

Bibliography 253

Index 259