In Search of the Miraculous: Fragments of an Unknown Teaching,
by P. D. Ouspensky The astonishing record of Ouspensky's
search for a system of universal knowledge,
the meaning of human existence, and of his eight years'
work as a pupil of Gurdijeff, one of the 20th century's
most profound and influential spiritual teachers. The
back cover of this book reads: 'This Book will change
your life.' Most cynics find such statements truly revolting.
Those brave enough to take the challenge will find an
introduction to a teaching, called the Work, which has
been handed down for generations. Ouspensky was responsible
for bringing much of the work to the English speaking world.
Certainly the most engaging of the text written by the Russian
mathametician and philosopher, this book belongs in every
transcendentalist's library. Published with Gurdjieff's approval
after Ouspensky's death in 1948, this book is the precise, clear
result of Ouspensky's long work in putting together in an honest
and impersonal form those 'Fragments of an Unknown Teaching' which
he received from Gurdjieff. It is a primary source for students
of the work ideas. Ouspensky's search for truth brought him in 1915
to his meeting in Moscow with Gurdjieff who revealed to him a system
of knowledge which Ouspensky recognised as a vital need for mankind
at the present time. This record of Ouspensky's work as Gurdjieff's
pupil is to be compared with Plato's representation of the life and
teaching of Socrates. Written with direct simplicity, this book conveys
the impression that not only did he discover a real knowledge about Man
and the Universe, but that a practical teaching for the conduct of life
is even now in existence. These are no theories of philosophy or psychology,
but a complete understanding of the problems of life and the most direct
instructions for the betterment of man's existence. Ouspensky describes the
conversations between Gurdjieff and his pupils with an exactness which
conveys a vivid picture of two of the most extraordinary men of their
generation. He dramatically relates the story of the preservation of
this teaching by Gurdjieff and his small circle through the period when
Tsarist Russia was destroyed.
Gurdjieff was born probably in 1866 of a Greek father and an Armenian mother in
Alexandropol (now Gumri), Armenia, a region where Eastern and Western cultures
mixed and often clashed. The environment of his childhood and early adolescence,
while suggesting a near-biblical patriarchal culture, is also marked by elements
not usually associated with these cultural traditions. The portrait Gurdjieff
draws of his father, a well-known ashokh, or bard, suggests some form of participation
in an oral tradition stretching back to mankind’s distant past. At the same time,
Gurdjieff speaks of having been exposed to all the forms of modern knowledge,
especially experimental science, which he explored with an impassioned diligence.
The influence of his father and certain of his early teachers contrasts very
sharply with the forces of modernity that he experienced as a child. This contrast,
however, is not easily describable. The difference is not simply that of ancient
versus modern worldviews or patterns of behavior, though it certainly includes
that. The impression, rather, is that these “remarkable men” of his early years
manifested a certain quality of personal presence or being. That the vital
difference between human beings is a matter of their level of being became
one of the fundamental elements in Gurdjieff’s teaching and is not reducible
to conventional psychological, behavioral, or cultural typologies.
