Customer Reviews

Meetings with Remarkable Men (All and Everything)

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

This is the most accessible of Gurdjieff's works and should be read by any student of the "essence of reality" or "timeless wisdom," concepts that can't be articulated without sounding like cliches. For this reason I give it five stars.

As mentioned by other reviewers, Gurdjieff is a master of "coyote wisdom." In the American Indian tradition, the coyote, as totem guide of a Shaman, is a trickster and there was none better than Gurdjieff. My most vivid recollection is a story about his teaching center in France where he was adulated by an obsequious woman. He picked up an iron bowl from the fire and told the woman, "Here, hold this." Her shock and pain may or may not have awakened her consciousness, but the technique is vintage Gurdjieff. I have met a number of serious students of Gurdjieff in my 60 short years and they stand out as having significantly more depth than most students of non-traditional paths. Recommended.

Overall, this book is fascinating reading for anyone. In particular, the chapter (60 plus pages) on "The Material Question" struck a note in me in the early 1960's and has resonated throughout my life and mind ever since. Taking it exactly as he presented it, I applied myself to this way of thinking, fully focusing on everything surrounding me. I opened my first small business and went at it with a perseverance and determination learned from Gurdjieff. I never looked back, and consider that one short novel of a chapter to have been the greatest influence on my material success.

olafaye

Meetings is an eloquently written story about the travels and experiences of Gurdjieff. Their are some great stories woven within that are like teachings to those who can read between the lines. It is a swift, fun read that I would recommend even to people who are unaware of the work of Gurdjieff.

When I was in college in the late 70's, my small circle of friends were philosophers, shaman, and spiritualists... which really means, we liked to discuss amongst ourselves the deep meaning of it all, around bong hits and Budweiser. WARNING: Budweiser is BAD for you, and I no longer drink alcohol!!! One of these friends loaned "Meetings With Remarkable Men" to me, and it made a lasting impression, just as David Carradine did in the TV series "Kung Fu", which kicked off the kung fu - Buddhist - Shaolin - Taoist journey for Americans, more than Bruce Lee was able to accomplish (Bruce Lee was all about martial arts, and didn't have a whole lot to offer the spiritually thirsty. His lack of dimension was his failing). Anyway, we sat around, smoking and drinking, discussing, and watching "Circle of Iron", and formulating the shape of civilization to come.

The other interesting aspect of "Meetings" is that it is an introduction to the trans-Caucasus, a geographic area with a diversity of cultures, religions, and ethnicity as colorful as the plumage of the peacock, which happens to be the embodiment of the Yzidi Lord of the World, Shaitan. One lasting impression was the scene from Gurdjieff's youth, when he witnessed the Yzidi boy being entrapped within a circle that bullying school children had inscribed around him. This event triggered Gurdjieff's quest for answers to life's eternal mysteries.

The book is a story of that quest for answers. It almost doesn't matter if the events actually happened or not. Read this book in the spirit of the late Gary Jennings's adventure fiction (The Journeyer, Spangle, Aztec) and you will have a better appreciation for this book as adventure fiction, if not spiritual revelation. "Meetings" is introductory, and prerequisite, to the Gurdjieff story. I would have to seriously disagree with another reviewer here, who claims that a beginner should first read "Beelzebub's Tales To His Grandson". I see no such obligation, and Beelzebub is something to read when, and if, the desire strikes you. In fact, my opinion of Mr. Gurdjieff was high until I DID read his other works. I also read biographies by J.G. Bennet, and of course, P. Ouspenski. I am sad whenever anyone wastes their own life enthralled by the ego of spiritual salesmen, maybe that is the lone wolf in me, who cannot paddle the length of the River in a single canoe.

Like others here, I am now persuaded that Gurdjieff was a con-man and egotist, and his teachings were probably often harmful and abusive, without consideration for the welfare and ego of those whom he pretended to impart deep wisdom. Compare with Aleister Crowley, who, though regarded as having an abrasive bedside manner and hopelessly self-absorbed, was still a mighty pillar of spiritual intelligence and wisdom (and produced a classic tarot card deck). That not withstanding, this one book is the only one of Gurdjieff's books I truly enjoy. "Beelzebub's Tales" may be a good story, and has some profound concepts, like the "three-brained beings", and what those three brains are within the human animal. Even now, researchers are beginning to query the role of the heart, which is a massive nexus of nerves, as having a role in our decision making processes. Gurdjieff recommended reading "Beelzebub" three times, but I could barely finish it the first time. On the other hand, "Meetings With Remarkable Men" is worth reading three times (although I have only read it twice), because it is as unpretentious as Beelzebub was pretentious.

Gurdjieff had a tough life, and his abilities, ways, cunning, these are what poor folk like myself admire about this book. And, as another reviewer discussed, the end chapter, "The Material Question" is a good case study of how to liberate funds from the wealthy for, well, art! Gurdjieff was an artist, and though enshrouded in esoteric spiritualism, his dance troupe is STILL a dance troupe, and any such artists are at the mercy of the beneficence of art afficionados with means.

There is much autobiographical information here, but G.'s intentions are never straightforward.
There is a deeper intention.
That is to inculcate into the reader the need to search for the meaning of life.
Along the way, he tells of many entertaining adventures in cultures and regions not familiar to the West and conveys the fascinating diversity and antiquity of this crossroads of religions, beliefs and ways of life.
Predictably there are those who find one objection or another to this book, and have come to conclusions without much basis.
It is a given that some will approach a book like this with skepticism and perhaps disapproval. Some of this is due to hearsay, concerning G.'s reputation as a "mystic" in the Rasputin/Crowley mold or some such nonsense.
One of G.'s methods was in fact to APPEAR as a charlatan, in order to put off just those people who form opinions too quickly and fail to doubt the limitations of their own perspective.
Those with a more open mind will be more receptive to more subtle intentions and sense a profound and urgent underlying teaching.
For those people - those who sense a meaning behind the entertaining anecdotes and storyline - the next step is to read the book IN SEARCH OF THE MIRACULOUS by P.D. Ouspensky, which gives the best account of the man G. and his manner of teaching in the first half of the 20th c.
But most of all, it is the best explication of the teachings themselves, and a book that to many people is the profoundest and most meaningful book they have ever read.

This book changed my life, or at least the way in which I thought about my life. I first read this book when I was in my late twenties (25 years ago). I didn't know what I wanted to do and had great lack of confidence that I could ever achieve much of anything. I was a mess.

This book gave me the courage to go forward and not worry about "failure." I got that my mind was inherently capable of figuring "it" out and overcoming obstacles to achieving goals that I set for myself. So far so good. I'm basically a one-handed person who has accomplished my dream of creating beautiful art -- as a jeweler! Go figger! Needless to say, there were a few obstacles on my path.

Read it, you'll like it. At the very least, it's a good adventure story.

A book that without doubt has the potential to inspire the reader to live consciously and purposefully. The stories of Gurdjieff's life is put forward in a very simple manner and yet allowing a powerful pattern of encouragement to emerge. Each chapter stands independently able to enlighten and entertain. Gurdjieff shows that the path to an ultimate aim is not straight but rather filled with al kinds of obstacles and delays. While emphasising the struggle to achieve, the seeker of truth provides also the answer on how to overcome obstacles. The teacher shows that sometimes survival requires ingenious solutions and at other times shrewd and calculated plans. Attainment requires the influence of resourceful people with inner qualities rather than external presentation. Gurdjieff demonstrates the inner qualities of people who know how to be restrained in the manifestations that proceed from their nature while conducting themselves justly and tolerantly towards weaknesses of others. The ultimate aim is to enlighten the reader of the inner qualities that constitute remarkable men. Gurdjieff succeeds to develop in his readers the desire to become remarkable men themselves. Men that will on their turn influence the rest of the lives of all they interact with. Ultimately the book aims to transfer an experiential understanding of what Gurdjieff, as a teacher, expect from his pupils as a result of his teaching.

Georges Gurdjieff called himself a teacher of dancing. In the 1920's in England and Paris and New York, he was the "guru" of the era. But more than a guru, Gurdjieff searched the East and Middle East for "the meaning of life". Meatings With Remarkable Men is the Second Book in his triology. It serves as an autobiography, but more importantly, it serves as Gurdjieff's perscription for psycological evolution. Later made into a film, this is a must read for anyone interested in the man many consider the only teacher of the Twentieth Century.

If you haven't read Beelzebub's Tales to his Grandson, or you haven't looked into Search for the Miraculous by Ouspensky, then please don't read this book. As evidenced by some of the other reviews here, you're not likely to understand it. Gurdjieff had a particular purpose in writing this book. It is second in a series. And lots of people think, "Hey, it's shorter than 1,000 pages and it's sort of an autobiography, so I'll start here." That's like running from home plate to second base when you hit the ball. You'll still be thrown out at first. If you want to learn how to think, feel, and walk for yourself, then start with Beelzebub. It will take a while, but every journey is a single step. Then delve into this land. If you really have to experience this first, go find Weir's film of this work; it will satisify your curiosity without harming your being. Of course many people will ignore this advice. G. was a self proclaimed teacher of dancing. Dance on.

I have deliberately left the title off this extract as the books scope is too massive to convey in the feeble medium of written text. Despite this I feel it necessary to say a few words on this phenomenal book. I have read the book twice and would recommend that it be read more than once, and every sentence is written with an absolute purpose to deliver concise meaning "there is no wasted wiseacring" so to say in the words of Gurdjieff. The text describes his adventures with truly astounding individuals who have the "courage" to literally carry out their convictions that are within. The questions that may trouble us about life and existence have caused this individual to travel the length and breadth of the world in consciousness expanding travels and deeply touching adventures with very original and common-sensical approaches to overwhelming circumstances (if this is unclear I appologise but words are not substantial). If you've ever craved an adventure in your life and wished to appease in your nature the questions not satisfied by worldly material pursuits this book will carry you in mind and spirit if not in body as well for you feel with Gurdjieff on every step of his life.