The Inner Journey: Views from the Gurdjieff Work: Including the DVD Meetings with Remarkable Men »

The Gurdjieff tradition, commonly referred to as "The Work,” describes people’s daily lives as completely mechanical, conducted asleep. Gurdjieff's intent, as with many sacred traditions, was literally to aid in one's awakening. The tools for doing this are many but integrated. The various methods of "The Work" are intended to specifically integrate a person’s physical, emotional, and intellectual centers into a fourth way of consciousness. Like Zen, this tradition has been an oral one emphasizing the relationship of teacher to student. But there have also been extensive writings on this tradition, and The Inner Journey collects some of the best of these in the form of essays, interviews, and fables. To expand readers’ experience and understanding of both Gurdjieff's life and his teachings, the book is bundled with the feature film Meetings with Remarkable Men, Peter Brook’s critically acclaimed adaptation of the early years of Gurdjieff’s search for meaning.

General Series Introduction     vi
The Call of the Tradition     xi
Introduction     xiv
Man's Possibilities Are Very Great     1
The Awakening of Thought   Jeanne de Salzmann     2
Why Sleepest Thou, O Lord?   Henri Tracol     4
The Secret Dimension   Peter Brook     10
The Unending Hunger   Martha Heyneman     15
Beyond Words   William Segal     28
A Question of Balance   Henri Tracol     30
On Love   A. R. Orage     41
The Mystery of Rebirth   Henri Tracol     50
The Freedom of Children   Henry Barnes   Margaret Flinsch     61
Remember Yourself Always and Everywhere     77
The Life of Sleeping Men   P. D. Ouspensky     78
Living Time   Maurice Nicoll     83
The Search for Being   Pauline de Dampierre     87
Another Axis Within   Paul Reynard     102
Inviting Heaven into Hell   William Segal     113
Remembering the Self   P. D. Ouspensky     122
First Question   Ravi Ravindra     131
To a Man Who Is Searching with All His Being ...     133
The Thinking of a Man   Lord John Pentland     134
Without Sleep, No Awakening   Henri Tracol     136
Mount Analogue: Traces   Rene Daumal     140
The Way of Blame   Michel Waldberg     143
The Sound of Gurdjieff   Laurence Rosenthal     154
Segal-san   Roger Lipsey     159
Footnote to the Gurdjieff Literature   Michel de Salzmann     164
Brother Ahl and Brother Sez   G. I. Gurdjieff     175
Spiritual Masters: Linking Heaven and Earth   William Segal     177
The Nature of a Threshold   William Segal     189
The Transparent Veil of Symbolism   P. D. Ouspensky     194
That Day ... the Truth Will Be Born     203
A Quiet Life or to Work on Oneself   P. D. Ouspensky     204
Holy War   Rene Daumal     206
Awaken to the Question   Michel de Salzmann     212
Because You Are My Friend   Rene Daumal     218
The Taste for Things That Are True   Henri Tracol     220
Sacrifice and Will    Christopher Fremantle     225
The History of the Hollow-Men and the Bitter Rose   Rene Daumal     229
The Human Place   Pauline de Dampierre     233
Birth of a Sculpture   Henri Tracol     241
Unfolding   William Segal     244
Intentional Blending   G. I. Gurdjieff     245
The First Initiation   G. I. Gurdjieff     249
Only He Will Be Called and Will Become the Son of God Who Acquires in Himself Conscience     253
There Are Two Rivers   G. I. Gurdjieff     254
The Search for Lucidity   Michel de Salzmann     255
Becoming Aware of Genuine Being-Duty   G. I. Gurdjieff     267
The Horse, the Carriage and the Driver   G. I. Gurdjieff     270
The Center of Our Need   Pauline de Dampierre     274
I Am Dead Because I Lack Desire   Rene Daumal     284
Learning to Pray   G. I. Gurdjieff     285
A Child's Ground of Discovery   Margaret Flinsch     287
On Becoming a Real Man   G. I. Gurdjieff     294
Remembering   P. L. Travers     295
Payment   P. D. Ouspensky     298
The Transmission of Content   Paul Reynard     300
The Source of That Which Does Not Change     309
The Stairway   P. D. Ouspensky     310
Esoteric Christianity   P. D. Ouspensky     315
Liberation Leads to Liberation   G. I. Gurdjieff     319
Fear and the Ego   Michel de Salzmann     324
A Film and a Legend   Peter Brook     325
The Force of Attention   William Segal     332
Something Else   P. L. Travers     334
The True Human Body   Jacob Needleman     337
Food for Transformation   P. D. Ouspensky     346
Contributor Profiles     350
For Further Reading     354
Chapter Citations and Photography Credits     357