Gurdjieff International Review

Gurdjieff
International Review

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On Religion

An essay by A. R. Orage first issued in The New Republic (New York) XLV, Feb. 10, 1926 pp. 317–319. Orage characterizes religion as an ancient science that possessed the now lost art of self-observation. He concedes that self-knowledge is not the sole aim of religion, but emphasizes that it is at least "an implied pre-requisite of the main aim which appears to be the understanding and service of the Creator, God."

Economizing Our Energy

An essay by A. R. Orage first issued in a series titled "Fifteen Exercises in Practical Psychology" in Psychology Magazine (New York) between April 1925 and January 1926.

A. R. Orage: A Biographical Note

A short biography of Orage by C. S. Nott. A friend and companion of Orage's at Gurdjieff's Institute for the Harmonious Development of Man in the 1920's, Nott was eminently qualified to introduce Orage. He draws extended comments on Orage from Katherine Mansfield and John Cowper Powys.

Autobiographical Fragment
by P. D. Ouspensky

Written in 1935, Ouspensky's autobiographical glimpse was first published in the second enlarged edition of Ouspensky's The Psychology of Man's Possible Evolution (1974) Knopf, then in Remembering Pytor Demianovich Ouspensky (1978) a brochure compiled and edited by Merrily E. Taylor for Yale University Library. It was subsequently issued as an appendage to A Further Record: Extracts from Meetings, 1928–1945 (1986) Routledge and Kegan Paul.

The Essence of Ouspensky

Written by Bernard Bromage and first published in the Occult Observer (1949) London. This admiring sketch provides a synopsis of Tertium Organum and A New Model of the Universe, emphasizing Ouspensky's life-long interest in higher consciousness and the fourth dimension.

Rosamund Bland: Extracts from Nine Letters

Written in 1921, these letters highlight the beginning of P. D. Ouspensky's London period and the introduction of Gurdjieff's ideas into England (1952) Cape Town: Stourton Press, 73p, a limited edition of 300 copies. The author candidly describes the impact that Gurdjieffs ideas began to have on her life.

The Place of Art in the Writings of P. D. Ouspensky

First published in The Bridge (1978) London: No. 3, Professor Wallace Martin's essay summarizes the philosophy of Art that emerges in Ouspensky's writings.

Magic, Sacrifice and Tradition
Preliminary Notes

First published in his anthology, The Indestructible Question: Essays on Nature, Spirit and the Human Paradox, Jacob Needleman's essay examines how our failure to fully feel the contradictions of the human condition prevent us from experiencing the miraculous and how this idea has been forcefully expressed in Ouspensky's novel The Strange Life of Ivan Osokin. -