Exchanges Within: Questions from Everday Life Selected from Gurdjieff Group Meetings With John Pentland in California 1955-1984

Examines the concepts behind the teaching of Gurdjieff.

Most traditional ways of self-knowledge, whether psychological, philosophical or spiritual, emphasize the necessity of direct work with a teacher. This work entails an exchange of energies but also of ideas and observations. The energies are recorded only in the being of the student, but the observations, expressed through words, may be recorded on paper. Because esoteric traditions reserve a portion of their teachings only for initiates, any publication of hitherto sequestered records of such exchanges is a notable event. This extraordinary book presents selections from several decades' worth of discussions conducted at group meetings between students and John Pentland, a leader of the Gurdjieff Work from the late 1940s until his death in 1984. The influential psycho-spiritual teachings introduced by G.I. Gurdjieff (1866-1949) emphasize "self-observation" and "self-remembering" engaged within a definite cosmology with the aim of self-transformation. The myriad selections here have been chosen with care to allow the teachings to unfold within the unruly Q&A format, and to impress upon readers the extreme difficulty, yet real possibility, of seeing themselves as they truly are, as a necessary first step in transformation. "The beginning of evolution of oneself is sincerity," Pentland says. Those who read these "exchanges within" with attention and an open mind are bound to be moved by Pentland's own sincerity, and to benefit from his ability to solicit and to respond to the question behind the question. As a document of the dynamic search for truth among teacher and student, this work fascinates; as an adept extension in written form of that search, it can galvanize.

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