Of the Life Aligned: Reflections on the Teaching of G.I. Gurdjieff and the Perennial Order

Frank Sinclair, author of Without Benefit of Clergy: Some Personal Footnotes to the Gurdjieff Teaching, has written a searching sequel to his earlier account of a life devoted to the exploration of the perennial wisdom. Drawn as a young man to the Greek-Armenian esotericist G.I. Gurdjieff's ideas about the Great Knowledge-"the powerful ancient stream of true knowledge of being"-Sinclair has spent half a century in this vocation. The present book recounts his ponderings on the "unfolding reality" of the perennialist vision following a near-fatal brush with the "outer darkness" and the passing of his wife of almost 50 years. In the process, he delves into the timeless mysteries of life and death.

Frank Sinclair grew up in the shadow of Table Mountain, in Cape Town, South Africa, at "the fairest cape in all the circumference of the world" as the circumnavigator Sir Francis Drake described it. After completing his undergraduate studies at the University of Cape Town, he joined the editorial staff of the Cape Times in 1950. During his eight years at the Cape Times, he was a witness to many of the momentous changes taking place under the apartheid regime. In his late 20s, he settled in the United States to pursue his interest in the teaching of G.I. Gurdjieff. While becoming increasingly engaged in the activities of the Gurdjieff Foundation of New York-he was named co-president in 2000 and president in 2005-he also had a successful career in the business world. He has made his home on the waterfront in Grand View on Hudson, some 20 miles north of Manhattan, since 1967.