Opening: Collected Writings of William Segal, 1985-1997 [Hardcover]

William Segal (Author), Jon Pepper (Editor), Jan Pepper (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1998

"Opening" is intended for those who wish to know themselves, who want to understand better the human structure, its limitations, and its possibilities. Its aim is to prepare one for a more intelligent, to show a way toward fulfulling one's role as a true human being. It takes its wisdom from the work of G.I. Gurdjieff (d. 1949), the mystic who inspired artists and thinkers in the areas of philosophy, esotericism, dance, yoga, music and art. The writer and director Peter Brook made a film of Gurdjieff's most famous work, "Meetings with Remarkable Men" in 1976. Segal himself has been the subject of two films by American documentary maker Ken Burns, whose credits include television series, "The American West" and "The Civil War".

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

After years of quietude, several of the foremost students of famed mystic G.I. Gurdjieff or of his ideas have recently published books dealing in some measure with Gurdjieff's teaching, popularly known as "the Work." Last year saw John Pentland's Exchanges Within, and this year has come Peter Brook's autobiography, Threads of Time. Here is another, and quite extraordinary, presentation of one Gurdjieff student's understanding of spiritual search. Segal, judging by this book, is unusual not only for the subtlety and depth of his knowledge, and for his ability to manifest it through a variety of media--the book contains essays, aphorisms, prose poems, paintings and records of conversation (three interviews)--but also for his ability to relate comprehensions both Western (the initial essay, "Opening," begins with a quotation by Meister Eckhart) and Eastern (Zen influences abound) into his meditations, which seem guided primarily by Gurdjieff's monumental synthesis of Eastern and Western spiritualities. Each page in this volume offers a hint, an encouragement, a remembrance of a more profound level of awareness, perhaps attainable even while engaged in an act so heady as reading: "Quietly watching, anticipating nothing, I am open to what is here, now," Segal writes. "I look at myself reading these words.... Will the fragility of my attention survive the experience of turning this page?" Likely not; but the possibility, Segal artfully shows, may be actualized; and those who wish for that will find remarkable support in his beautifully composed words and pictures, which give a strong sense of truth, of having arisen from what Segal refers to as "the silence which is present in the stillness" within.

Copyright 1998 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 172 pages
• Publisher: Continuum International Publishing Group (September 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0826411037
• ISBN-13: 978-0826411037
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #682,283 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Nosce te ipsum, March 12, 2001

By 

David Pantano (Toronto, Ontario Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Opening: Collected Writings of William Segal, 1985-1997 (Hardcover)

No other book in quite some time has assaulted the perceptual foundations of conditioned self with such a thud as William Segal's Opening. Clear of all psycho-pompous fluff, the author painstakingly communicates with a minimalist Zen touch the subtle processes unlocking consciousness from the quotidian of programmed mentation. Opening is not so much a literary undertaking as it is a series of loosely connected revelations on psycho-spiritual matters including lyrical parables, conversations with spiritual aficionados, a dialogue with the Tibetan Master Chatral Rinpoche and an exegetic gem on the Buddhist Ten Oxherding Pictures. Opening is a treasure chest of spiritual insights, a testament to a sage realized in the quest to know thy self. Highly recommended for the serious spiritual seeker only.

18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Invaluable, June 1, 1999

By 

Mark Semon (Lewiston, ME USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Opening: Collected Writings of William Segal, 1985-1997 (Hardcover)

There are many, many books on "Spirituality, "New Age", "Religious Traditions", etc. Most are informative, but few offer substantial help to the seeker. Mr. Segal's book is one of those few. His words carry an energy that calms and opens, their content offers in-sights and practices which truly are helpful.

The presentation is in prose, poetry, sketches by the author, interviews with and by the author, and several photographs.

Practitioners of Zen (and others) will find Mr. Segal's rendering of the Ten Oxherding Picutres --both in prose and sketch -- incredible aids to experiencing the message and guidance they contain. Practitioners of Tibetan Buddhism (and others) will appreciate Mr. Segal's candid interview with Chatral Rinpoche. Followers of the Way of Mr. Gurdjieff will find substantial help throughout the book: in the interviews with Mr. Segal, reprinted from Parabola Magazine, as well as in his prose, poetry and sketches. Even the photographs of Mr. Segal can stir a higher energy within.

A book not to be missed.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An elegant book., October 28, 2007

By 

Johnno (Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Opening: Collected Writings of William Segal, 1985-1997 (Hardcover)

The French aviator, adventurer, and author Antoine de Saint-Exupery, probably best known for his classic children's book The Little Prince, was also an aircraft designer. He gave us perhaps the best definition of engineering elegance when he said "A designer knows he has achieved perfection not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away."

This is an elegant book.

Simple, concise, relevant and very, very lean. Mr. Segal has taken Ockham's razor to his studies and findings of Gurdjieff, Ouspensky and Zen Buddhism. A true work of precision.

The essays, poems, one line observations conversations and Ten Oxherding Pictures have a clarity and directness that is wonderful. One page will occupy one for a week.

Unfortunately it is out of print and high prices it commands indicate a book that book owners tend to hang on to. Snap one up when it becomes available and treasure it.