Life Is Real Only Then, When I Am (Compass) [Paperback]

G. I. Gurdjieff (Author)

Book Description

Series: Compass | Publication Date: August 1, 1999

This is one of the few records published by Gurdjieff in which he offers guidance to his 'community of seekers', the pupils from many countries who joined him in Paris and New York. The first section is mainly autobiographical, relating material crucial to an understanding of the nature and intensity of personal effort required for an all-inclusive work on oneself. This is followed by a series of talks which Gurdjieff gave to his pupils in New York in 1930, and then by a long, but incomplete, essay on 'The Outer and Inner World of Man'.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Gurdjieff was born in Alexandropol, and trained in Kars both as a priest and a physician. For some twenty years, he travelled in the remotest regions of Central Asia and the Middle East - this time was crucial in the moulding of his thought. With his party of followers, he was responsible for the opening of the Institute for the Harmonious Development of Man. Other key works available from Arkana: BEELZEBUB'S TALES TO HIS GRANDSON, VIEWS FROM THE REAL WORLD and MEETINGS WITH REMARKABLE MEN.

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics) (August 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0140195858
• ISBN-13: 978-0140195859
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #61,121 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #29 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Professionals & Academics > Philosophers

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars I Keep Returning to this Book, June 11, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Life Is Real Only Then, When I Am (Compass) (Paperback)

I agree with one reviewer that this book should be read only after the first series and the second series have been read. I agree with another reviewer that the core of Gudjieff's teaching, as far as it can be communicated in a book, is in "Beelzebub's Tales." I also agree with A.R. Orage that there are only three ways of influencing people, namely, magnetization, competition, and example. There is no question that Gurdjieff was a master at each and everyone of these three ways. As a genuine Teacher he opted, however, for the most demanding and most difficult of the three, the way of example. In this book he shows, by example, the inner-world struggle and outer-world struggle a person must necessarily go through in order to fulfil a purpose in life. That is why I keep returning to this book from time to time, particularly when I feel that I am beginning to loose my purpose in life. The book serves as a reminder of the inner and outer struggles I must endure, at my own level of existence and being, to be worthy one day, when the time arrives, of having what Gurdjieff referred to as "an honorable death."

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars It's worth the effort, as all intentional suffering is, December 15, 2000

By 

"ifyoubelieveinit" (Denver, Colorado USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Life Is Real Only Then, When I Am (Compass) (Paperback)

This book contains some direct and also very profound statements of one's tasks/commitments/obligations to truly be called a man/woman of the universe. In ways it's about his own self revelation and conveying that man/woman can fulfill one's destiry and achieve a purpose for our existence if we truly understand and are ready to suffer and make sacrifices. This is not a book for those who wish for an epiphany about how to BE. It requires effort and so does one's commitment to truly understand this book and the message deep within. It's a wonderful book if one takes the time, truly takes the time, to hear the message. We are a society who wishes for a quick fix and this book does not provide one. So for those who dismiss this book with all sorts of critisims, I say re-read it with your being, not your mind.

18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Recall Gurdjieff's wishes about reading in sequence, April 23, 2001

By 

Steve Adams (Denton, North Carolina) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Life Is Real Only Then, When I Am (Compass) (Paperback)

There are some pretty good reviews of this book, which somewhat surprises me given the nature of it and how poor some reviews are of Gurdjieff's first series or, for example, of Pentland's book. I wish to add that Gurdjieff himself, as many of you probably know, requested the reading of his books in sequence, and the third series in particular was to be reserved for his experienced pupils. Perhaps it is too strict to keep to this request - I don't presume to be the best judge. But in spite of being incomplete, this book - as others have indicated - has a depth to it that a superficial reading may not succeed in discriminating. I can vouch for that first hand: The first time I read this book was many years ago, and I was dissappointed. Fifteen years passed and I read it again. My being had changed some in the interim, even if not impressively. Yet it was a "different" reader, and it proved to be a different book. This time I was amazed that I had been so unimpressed the first time. I think it is a mistake to read this book only with the thinking center. This book cannot be understood that way. One must read it with the emotional center actively engaged. I do think Gurdjieff's request was not frivolous, and is worthy of respect and consideration. Like many fourth way books that are among the best, this book can be a mirror in which the being of a reader is more on display from a review than the merits - or lack of merit - of the book. These books are not always easy to review. Fortunately this one has not yet, as I write, suffered the kind of severe abuse and foolishness that some of the others have received from egos with exaggerated perceptions of their understanding.