A Voice at the Borders of Silence [Hardcover]

William Segal (Author), Marielle Bancou-Segal (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 6, 2003

A Voice at the Borders of Silence is the story of a life of passion lived at the forefront of intersecting avant-garde movements and spent in the unyielding pursuit of the ultimate self-understanding and awareness. In a lifetime that nearly coincided with the 20th century, William Segal left a legacy of insight, compassion, and intelligence-as a businessman and publisher, an artist, and as a seeker.

Segal was a disciple and interpreter of some of the most influential spiritual masters of the twentieth century; and above all, G. I. Gurdjieff, whose writings on self-realization formed the basis of his philosophy. This foundation in spiritual training enabled him to survive a near-fatal car crash and then to make a full recovery and renew his life's work with even greater vigor.

The many dimensions of Segal's life are explored through his own writings and art, and through interviews with those whose lives he influenced. With dozens of full-color reproductions of Segal's paintings and contributions by Ken Burns (who made Segal the subject of three documentaries), Robert Thurman, and Peter Brook, is an unforgettable memoir that will serve as a guidebook for anyone pursuing his or her own search for self-realization and understanding.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In recent years, there has been a stream of books that use a blend of ancient Buddhist truths and common sense to show busy Americans how they can open an "inner door," as the Dalai Lama expresses it. How intrigued the Dalai Lama would be to read this posthumous autobiography of William Segal. Surpassing any effort at practical or everyday spirituality in recent memory, this beautiful work shows what it means to live, as Segal called it, a "double life." Segal was, judging by this record, a gifted athlete, a tough and independent businessman, an accomplished artist-a true rugged individualist. Yet his whole, rich, varied career reportedly was suffused with an inner stillness, an openness and meaning, that came from a deep, lifelong spiritual practice. Pulled together by Segal's wife, Bancou-Segal, with the help of editor Magill, this memoir is a kind of gorgeous scrapbook that includes paintings, photographs, articles, diary entries and correspondence with artists, thinkers, businessmen and great spiritual teachers. "Bill was a man of many layers and if the outer layer was the man of today, the innermost core was an opening to eternity," writes one good friend, theater director Peter Brook, in a preface. Born in Macon, Ga., in 1904 to poor Romanian Jewish immigrant parents, Segal was an archetypal American success story. A football hero at New York University, he became the innovative publisher of 11 magazines, including the ground-breaking Gentry. He was also, among other things, a painter, writer and editor, an important promoter of trade with Japan and a connoisseur of art, wine, fashion and life. Above all, however, Segal was a seeker of truth-first as a student of P.D. Ouspensky and G.I. Gurdjieff and, later, D.T. Suzuki. By the end of his life at 96, he appears to have become a living embodiment of the Zen image of "the old man in the marketplace," conveying by his presence alone a sense of the wonder hidden within ordinary things. By all accounts soft-spoken and gracefully deliberate, Segal was, as the Buddhist scholar Robert Thurman writes in his foreword, a "quiet harbinger of enlightenment in the West." Bancou-Segal describes Segal as an "avant-garde American of the Twentieth Century," and this book does seem especially timely and important now. It reveals what we can really make of our lives in a society that cherishes the individual. Segal offers brilliant proof that our proverbial drive and ingenuity can be used for something greater than material gain, that our freedom can take us all the way to liberation.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About the Author

William Segal (1904-2000) was born in Macon, Georgia. After attending NYU on an athletic scholarship, he worked in magazine publishing, and soon started a series of publications that included Gentry and American Textiles, and in that capacity met such notables as D. T. Suzuki, P. D. Ouspensky, and G.I. Gurdjieff. An acclaimed painter, he had several gallery exhibitions, including a 1999 retrospective at the Tibet House in New York City. He died in 2000 at the age of ninety-six.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Overlook Hardcover; 1ST edition (November 6, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1585674427
• ISBN-13: 978-1585674428
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #261,484 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Sounds of Silence, March 16, 2004

By 

G. Bestick (Dobbs Ferry, NY USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: A Voice at the Borders of Silence (Hardcover)

What are we to make of William Segal? Born in 1904 to parents of modest means, his early life followed the classic trajectory of the self made American man. After attending college in New York on a football scholarship, he went into the magazine business and quickly became a successful entrepreneur, amassing a stable of design and lifestyle magazines. Business wealth brought him material rewards, the Park Avenue apartment, the country place in New Jersey, the house on Fire Island.

So far, a typical American success story. But there were other facets to William Segal. He was a painter of some talent who kept at it for over 60 years. He focused mainly on self portraits, part of his life's real work, which was looking for answers to the two big questions: who am I, and why am I here? His search led him to Ouspensky and eventually to Gurdjieff, and he stayed involved with the movement that grew up around Gurdjieff's teaching for over half a century. He also met and maintained friendships with several Buddhist scholars and spirtual leaders, from TD Suzuki to the Dalai Lama.

Throughout his long life (he lived to 96) he remained "the man in the marketplace" living fully in this world while seeking ways to transcend it. In one remarkable passage he talks about visiting and practicing at zen monasteries in Japan and then racing back to his day job as a business consultant to a Japanese conglomerate. He never ducked the hard question of how a material man engages in yet moves past the snares and delusions of everyday life. Indeed, one wishes the book talked in more depth about how he reconciled the grasping, sharp-elbowed world of American business with the state of non-grasping, timeless awaress he sought in his zen practice.

The secret to a rich life, this wise man tells us, is paying attention. Being fully engaged with your surroundings means you're always sitting down to a sensory banquet that nourishes your soul. Live in the world, says Segal, but learn to be still and to be receptive.

The book tells Segal's story through mix of photos, interviews, paintings, and reminiscences by the author and his distinguished friends. Reading it is like being led deeper into the woods until you come to a empty meadow, utterly still. In that stillness you can learn something truly important.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Invaluable Addition to texts on the Gurdjieff Work, January 6, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: A Voice at the Borders of Silence (Hardcover)

There is a wide variety of material in this book which consists of autobiographical fragments by William Segal, photographs, transcripts of interviews, previously published materials and exchanges between Mr. Segal and others who have spent decades seriously practicing Gurdjieff's Teaching. Of particular interest to those who have an interest in these ideas might be the exchanges on the future of the Gurdjieff Teaching and some of the "meditative practices". An inspiring book on many levels.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Artists Journey, July 10, 2011

By 

sinver - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Voice at the Borders of Silence (Hardcover)

I was introduced to William Segal by a program on PBS and was interested in learning more about his life and work. This book introduces you to the search for meaning and self expression in one man's life that so many of us wish for, but hesitate to embark on. A valuable and thought provoking read.