I'm reading (finally!!) G.I.Gurdjeiff's "Beelzebub's Tales to His Grandson", having put it off several times over almost a decade now because it requires a fair degree of application and concentration. It is certainly most difficult to read initially, and indeed the introduction is genuinely testing and tiresome, but I now assume this is for good reason ~ to deterr those who do not genuinely hunger for Arcane Truth. For those really interested in discovering esoteric knowledge, it is a veritable gold-mine.......once one discovers how to actually uncover it! I am now about a quarter through the 1135 pages, and it has become a most amazing revelation.
remember, B's tales is the first of three volumes of _all and everything_ nassruddin tales are available from sufis, ya know...
Nice one! Thanks gnrm23, very much appreciated vital info. I was 'getting around' to checking some of the peculiar names such as Mullah Nasr Eddin, but put it into the "fantastic imagination" basket. I've already got the 3rd series "Life is Real Only Then, When 'I Am'", so looking forward to the journey through Meetings with Remarkable Men. Have you read gurdjeiff?
"meetings" is the most ummmmm accessable of the 3 in the series... i have not plodded thru "B's tales"... have read some other writings on "the work" - ouspensky, orage, bennet, de ropp, a few others... what a trickster G was, heh...
I've read all of Gurdjieff's works and they are some of the most amazing books produced in the 20th century without any shadow of doubt. As you say, they require some concentration and application to read, and esp in the case of 'Beelzebub's Tales', it's well to follow G's advice and re-read the whole thing. There's just so much in there to absorb, and of course, G is 'playful' in the way he disguises meanings etc. I'd also reccommend P.D. Ouspensky's 'In Search of the Miraculous', in which he describes his work with Gurdjieff in Russia, and several works by J.G. Bennet, esp. 'Gudjieff - Making a New World', and 'The Masters of Wisdom'. Also - there is some great music produced by Gurdjieff in association with another pupil, Thomas De Hartman - piano music, but based on the music G heard in his numerous wanderings in Central Asia, Tibet and the Middle -East.
Well, Beelzebub's tales is massive (hidden content-wise), and really worth the effort (which is very easy, as it turns out ~ see below). I touched on Ouspensky quite a while ago, but maybe the time wasn't right. I'll certainly check out your other suggested authors 'down the track'. Briliant ~ thanks mate, that's excellent! Tell me BBB ~ did you learn how, or did the sentences leap out at you as is happening to me? I'm doing it a bit different to the 3 readings suggested by GIG because I believe that the steps 1,2, & 3 are both overt and covert instructions in the same way that the book contains overt (nonsensical) stuff that slectively prohibits dabblers while at the same time making the relevant material stand out in marked contrast for those "with eyes to see"!
I read 'Beelzebub' for the first time about 15 years ago, and indeed, a lot of it does 'leap out' from the page. I re-read the whole thing about 2 years later, and found that on my first reading, I'd missed quite a bit. As G himself said. 'Beelzebub' is a 'legonimism' - a text where much of the valuable material is hidden in the way you suggest from the meerly curious.
Thanks for the material help gnrm23 & BlackBillBlake ~ I really appreciate it! Thanks gnrm23 ~ I'll certainly be tracking these down Were you 'switched on' so to speak when you first read beelzebub's, I read 'Beelzebub' BlackBillBlake? Or did you discover that you needed to re-read later?
It (beelzebub) made a big impression on me on the first reading. But there is a hell of a lot to absorb - and on reading #2 I saw even more in there. I will probably give it another read through one of these days. But yes - I was switched on by it straight away.
