Psychological Commentaries on the Teaching of Gurdjieff and Ouspensky Volume 5 [Paperback]

Maurice Nicoll (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 12, 1984

The Psychological Commentaries on the teaching of Gurdjieff and Ouspensky by Maurice Nicoll are the best, most in depth and easiest to understand books on the subject of Gurdjieff's and Ouspensky's teachings. Everyone interested in Gurdjieff's and Ouspensky's teachings should read all five volumes. Regardless of what spiritual path a person is on, the psychological commentaries can be a big help because they detail on a day-to-day basis the obstacles the false personality creates and how to conquer and remove those obstacles. Very few books have ever been written that go into great detail exposing the tricks the imaginary I uses to prevent people from succeeding in their spiritual goals. The psychological commentaries do just that. The Psychological Commentaries is the classic work on the fundamental ideas of Gurdjieff and Ouspensky, expounded by one of their foremost students. The Commentaries, concerned with the immediate processes of applying certain principles in daily life, have come to be known and loved by entire generations of people interested in the ongoing evolution of psychological transformation. One of the leading British psychologists of his time, Maurice Nicoll was a student of Jung, Gurdjieff, and Ouspensky. At the latter's request, he devoted the last twenty years of his life to passing on the ideas he had received from his teachers. This devotion culminated in the five volumes of the Psychological Commentaries on the teaching of Gurdjieff & Ouspensky. The ISBN's are: Volume One 978-0-9829651-5-3. Volume Two 978-0-9829651-6-0. Volume Three 978-0-9829651-7-7. Volume Four 978-0-9829651-8-4. Volume Five 978-0-9829651-9-1.

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 253 pages
• Publisher: Shambhala (August 12, 1984)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0877732884
• ISBN-13: 978-0877732884
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,695,851 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

48 of 53 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a Work goldmine, June 2, 2001

By 

ingrid888 (An Island) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Psychological Commentaries on the Teaching of Gurdjieff and Ouspensky, Vol. 1 (Hardcover)

Writers who expound the Work are not distinguished by the degree that they are original. They are distinguished by the degree of understanding they demonstrate for the ideas and practices and goals of the Work (universal ideas and practices and goals yet presented in a unique, practical language), and by their skill in communicating their understanding. Nicoll scores a solid 9 or 10 in both categories. For people who really catch-on to the Work Nicoll's Commentaries are really indispensable. It's true that most if not all that is in Nicoll's work can be found in Ouspensky's six main Work books (PSYCHOLOGY OF MAN'S POSSIBLE EVOLUTION, IN SEARCH OF THE MIRACULOUS, FOURTH WAY, CONSCIENCE, A FURTHER RECORD, RECORD OF MEETINGS), yet Nicoll has a different style of presenting it all that compliments Ouspensky's style. If you get to the point in your STUDY of the Work (which is as necessary as DOING the Work) where you have aquired an overall understanding of the language and the processes and goals and means to achieve the goals (a big accomplishment that Nicoll's Commentaries will help you to achieve), and then you move in to a more particular, in-depth study of individual topics then Nicoll's Commentaries will become a well-worn reference. His style of breaking down the language into topics and really going into each separate idea or practice, sometimes in multi-part essays (which would, by the way, be like finding gold if you were to stumble upon these essays in separate pamphlet form in out-of-the-way bookstores, and here they ALL are in this six-volume work...the goldmine itself available and ready to be easily taken for granted...), and his use of analogy and metaphor can really help you to achieve understanding of particular aspects of the Work that maybe you didn't connect with very deeply after meeting with it in one of Ouspensky's books. (I have to say, though, that Ouspensky's books are the purest spring for the ideas and practices and goals of the Work...) Boris Mouravieff's three-volume GNOSIS would be a good third source for these ideas.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Psychology of Inner Work, September 20, 2005

By 

Reijo Oksanen "Reijo Oksanen" (Switzerland) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Psychological Commentaries on the Teaching of Gurdjieff and Ouspensky (6 Volumes) (Hardcover)

Consisting of nearly 2000 pages of psychological gems these lectures are well worth not only for reading but also for studying.

To combine expert psychological understanding with the ideas of Gurdjieff does give a new angle to both.

Dr. Nicoll's approach is practical and he draws help from suitable images to illustrate the points he is making.

I would say that even just one of the volumes well studied would give ample material for daily practice.

21 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Do your*self* a favor. Get this book now., December 15, 1997

By 

[e-mail] (Austin, TX) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Psychological Commentaries on the Teaching of Gurdjieff and Ouspensky, Vol. 1 (Hardcover)

Maurice Nicoll, author, studied for years under Jung. In these texts--transcripts of a series of lectures he gave recounting the teachings of G and O--lies a most profound guideline known as "the Work." Passed down for hundreds of years, this current incarnation of Esoteric Christianity melds science with Eastern philosophy, creating a framework for TRULY CHANGING ONESELF and activating HIGHER CENTERS in ones being. Do not buy this if you just want some fluff to read. However if you are willing to put your a** to the grindstone and actually practise what is being taught here, you can expect to TRULY experience a whole new level of understanding of yourself and others, including how multiple "I"s exist within you and how most of your actions are sheerly mechanical REACTIONS to "life." This book opens your internal "eyes" and teaches you how to properly "observe" the invisible inner workings of your imagination and personality, to such an extent that you can actually change them. It teaches you that YOU are not your personality; in fact, personality is TO BE STRUGGLED AGAINST as is imagination, for they often lead us into lying to ourselves and sometimes to others. But don't buy this if you're not open-minded or willing to practise what is said, because this is very complex, text-book like material which requires true study to be of the slightest use." PS--nobody is paying me to write this. I truly believe this. E-mail me if you have any questions.