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Talks with a Devil

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One of the most introspective glimpses into the drama of human existence, this is a book for those who seek insight. What amazed me, as I first casually perused its pages, was the peculiar way in which it was presented, as if from the viewpoint of a devil, or demon, or something of that sort. I recommend this book for readers who prefer to read their books for the purpose of contemplation, and discourage any who might simply "collect" this book for its rarity. It is a novel packed with subtle philosophical wealth, and it is high upon my list of international masterpieces.

Ouspensky presents an original and very readable study of the human mechanism . Consideration of the way we live our lives can be unpalatable when directly confronting negative aspects of our behaviour such as eating and drinking to excess or unsatisfactory handling of our time or relationships . This book presents these matters and others in an absorbing account of the problems faced by the Devil and his assistants in striving to assist human beings to relate more fully to the material world.

The story is amusing while giving insights which are not immediately apparent . Much of the enjoyment of the book comes after reading of it is completed.

A great book dealing with the possibilities and the power of human nature. It is highly metaphorical making you perceive the way people should guide their lives in a unique, very spiritual and inspiring way. Both stories are great but I really enjoyed the second one which divides people in two categories: the ones which keep in thouch with their spirituality and perceive life as a unique experience involving self-discipline, universal understanding and completion of the soul. On the other side are the narrow-minded people who are strained by social, economical and materialistic prejudices...worn off (without having the conception of that) are merely happy with their lives...being tottaly incorporated with the materialistic way of life and having no idea about what is happening behind the 'scene'. An inspiring book!!

These two tales came as a surprise. I've been working with G. and O. for three decades and had never come across these two tales. Essentially two short novella teaching stories. They are a wonderful addition to the work tradition and belong in any serious student's library.

(My remarks below are limited to the second of the two tales: Reading time ~1 hour.)

Ouspensky was a fair novelist. The tale opens as a grumpy European traveler realizes he will not be getting to sleep, due to the intense heat and humidity of the Indian climate. Then, lo and behold - it's the devil! And the devil, for reasons not too clear, shares his thoughts on humanity with the traveler. Ouspensky makes an interesting point that one man's meat is another devil's poison. Terrestrial daemons are busily concerned with keeping our interests occupied with the immediate here-and-now. For them, any spiritual attainment by human beings is mysterious and frightening, and so they help us - to their way of thinking - by surreptitiously bending our ways to their ways. The story is clean and imaginative with very little pretence. It wakes you up - just a little - so there'll be no need for devils to bother you on completion.

The book actually contains two parts:
- The Inventor
- The Benevolent Devil

The two allegories examine the two problems that the evolution of mankind faces:
- Mankind's inventiveness does harm with the intention of doing good. (We can put a man on the moon, yet we cannot even solve socio-economic problems on earth)
- Along with the first allegory, mankind's inability to see (from its level of consciousness) the consequences of its inventiveness make it vulnerable to opposition (from the "devil") when it perceives what is wrong with the outcome of its intentions, and tries to right the wrong. We might all know of occasions where others & we have been punished (or even killed) by ignorant fellow beings for doing the right things. The fate of Mahatma Gandhi is one of many known or unknown examples.

The introduction in the book was written by J G Bennett (himself an author) who had helped with the Russian translations & editing of many of Ouspensky's works. He briefly describes Ouspensky's mental & geographical searchings, as well as Ouspensky's encounters with G. I. Gurdjieff (originator of the concept of the "Fourth Way" - see Wikipedia). Unlike Ouspensky at the time of writing this book, Gurdjieff looked upon matter & energy as interchangeable, long before Einstein's equations had been understood (We don't always need formulae to know something is true!). Gurdjieff also understood "evil" as having creative purpose in evolution, without duality of good & evil; akin to acknowledging "God", being omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient, & being everything, is responsible for all things, even what we perceive at our dualistic level of understanding as being good or bad.

Ouspensky spells "devil" in lower case, indicating the plurality of demonhood, referring to "a devil" as one of many (that we may encounter in our nature)

The uninitiated reader must understand that the reasoning required to comprehend these concepts (with the limitations of the language we use in our minds) must be of a level that goes beyond 2-dimensional ("flat-earth") thinking. The newcomer to this way of thinking must abandon dogma to perceive things afresh in order to understand. (S)he needs only examine Dr. Edward de Bono's exposition of lateral thinking (by paradigm shift) to perceive that there are ways of reasoning that are beyond linear thinking.

All that we need understand & know can be done right here on our beloved planet earth (that is able to sustain our exploration of the universe sublime). Ouspensky tries to explain this by way of the allegories presented in this book. He presents the demonkind as being benevolent in that it challenges mankind to develop itself beyond the level of evolution in which it currently finds itself.

There is always more than meets the eye, and as yet there are very few of us who can sustain a higher level of observation for any great length of time (continuously). We may catch glimpses of this ability to sustain this higher level of observation before slipping back into a relative state akin to sleepwalking. Consciousness explorers such as Ouspensky try to explain this. Those familiar with the Socratic method of reasoning might be familiar with one of Plato's dialogues where 3 men in a pitch-dark cave try to conceive what they can only perceive by touch. It can be very much like that for those who cannot understand what they have not experienced before. It can in deed be a lonely path for those who can, for there are not many who do, and Ouspensky spoke of this too.
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P.D. Ouspensky's Talks With A Devil provides two allegories about the devil: one in which the devil of technology is faced with science, the other where a man battles against the devil for his soul. These two stories by the philosopher and student of Gurdjieff's teachings provides an similar tales which explore devils' interests in human affairs.