The Power Within: Leon MacLaren, A Memoir of His Life and Work - Softcover

Tolley, Dorine

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1439210306 ISBN 13: 9781439210307

Publisher: BookSurge Publishing, 2009

Synopsis

The Power Within: Leon MacLaren A Memoir of His Life and Work by Dorine Tolley examines the life and legacy of one of the world’s great thinkers and spiritual teachers. This very personal biography follows MacLaren from his youth through to his last days, casting a light on the teachings, the man, and the profound influence both had on thousands of supporters and adherents who were part of the movement he began: The School of Economic Science. Building on the ancient mystery schools and the legacies of the great G. I. Gurdjieff and P. D. Ouspensky, MacLaren finally met his true master HH Shantananda Saraswati. From this great spiritual teacher, MacLaren received the ancient knowledge of Advaita Vedanta, or the underlying single universal consciousness, a pillar of his future teachings. Written in masterful prose and told from the perspective of the ultimate insider, The Power Within demystifies one of the leaders of the Western mystery tradition, while painting a compelling human portrait.

About this title

About the Author:

Dorine Tolley was born in 1947, in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. She holds a Masters Degree in English and Literature from Amsterdam University. She is co-translator of the Corpus Hermeticum of Hermes Trismegistus (the Egyptian sage), which was published as The Way of Hermes in 1999 by Duckworth publishers, United Kingdom. Dorine’s parents were followers of P.D. Ouspensky and G.I. Gurdjieff, protagonists of the Fourth Way teaching in the early Twentieth Century, so early on she was exposed to the mystery school teachings of the Western masters. At twenty-four she became personal assistant to Leon MacLaren and for the next twenty-two years traveled with him worldwide visiting all the overseas branches of The School of Economic Science. After MacLaren’s death in 1994, Dorine returned home to Amsterdam. She subsequently married and lives with her husband Nigel Tolley in Sydney, Australia.

Review:

This book will interest those who knew Leon MacLaren; those who had some acquaintance not with him but with his pupils or the School of Economic Science; those with an interest in Gurdjieff and Ouspensky, or in Advaita in its Western manifestations; and students of esoteric and even "New Age" movements; and the merely curious. All of these people will find something new here. And perhaps most of all, this is the first book of dealing with Leon MacLaren and his achievement by someone with first hand knowledge. Another feature of the book is the photographs and the extracts from Leon MacLaren's letters at the back of the book.

The importance of this book, therefore, in understanding Gurdjieff's legacy after his death can hardly be underestimated. It is the first fair glimpse into the entire west wing of the castle.

What emerges very clearly is that Leon MacLaren could relate anything in life to the largest and highest purposes. To put it another way, he seems never to have forgotten his aim. Even when Leon MacLaren made errors, and Dorine Tolley does not air-brush these away, there was an integrity in his errors.

One of the beauties of Dorine Tolley's approach is that it is loving, understanding and impartial all at once. She describes Leon MacLaren in such a way that one appreciates his individuality, and yet sees that it cannot be imitated. If individuality cannot be imitated, yet it can inspire us to seek our own individuality.

The treatment of Leon MacLaren's death is given the weight it deserves. When reading a good biography, one can never fail to ask: how did they live so as to die? When they died, who departed? As Gurdjieff said, anyone can take as an aim the goal of dying an honourable death, not like a dog. It seems that Leon MacLaren did that. And with the aid of this book, one can follow the course of this man's life, a man whom one would not hesitate to say was one of "Ashiata's renewals". --Joseph Azize

This book will interest those who knew Leon MacLaren; those who had some acquaintance not with him but with his pupils or the School of Economic Science; those with an interest in Gurdjieff and Ouspensky, or in Advaita in its Western manifestations; and students of esoteric and even "New Age" movements; and the merely curious. All of these people will find something new here. And perhaps most of all, this is the first book of dealing with Leon MacLaren and his achievement by someone with first hand knowledge. Another feature of the book is the photographs and the extracts from Leon MacLaren's letters at the back of the book.

The importance of this book, therefore, in understanding Gurdjieff's legacy after his death can hardly be underestimated. It is the first fair glimpse into the entire west wing of the castle.

What emerges very clearly is that Leon MacLaren could relate anything in life to the largest and highest purposes. To put it another way, he seems never to have forgotten his aim. Even when Leon MacLaren made errors, and Dorine Tolley does not air-brush these away, there was an integrity in his errors.

One of the beauties of Dorine Tolley's approach is that it is loving, understanding and impartial all at once. She describes Leon MacLaren in such a way that one appreciates his individuality, and yet sees that it cannot be imitated. If individuality cannot be imitated, yet it can inspire us to seek our own individuality.

The treatment of Leon MacLaren's death is given the weight it deserves. When reading a good biography, one can never fail to ask: how did they live so as to die? When they died, who departed? As Gurdjieff said, anyone can take as an aim the goal of dying an honourable death, not like a dog. It seems that Leon MacLaren did that. And with the aid of this book, one can follow the course of this man's life, a man whom one would not hesitate to say was one of "Ashiata's renewals". --Joseph Azize, author

About this edition

• Publisher: BookSurge Publishing
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 1439210306
• ISBN 13: 9781439210307
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 384