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P. D. Ouspensky

In Search of the Miraculous (Harvest Book) Paperback – September 28, 2001

by P. D. Ouspensky (Author)

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A new edition of the groundbreaking spiritual treasure, with a foreword by bestselling author Marianne Williamson .

Since its original publication in 1949, In Search of the Miraculous has been hailed as the most valuable and reliable documentation of G. I. Gurdjieff's thoughts and universal view. This historic and influential work is considered by many to be a primer of mystical thought as expressed through the Work, a combination of Eastern philosophies that had for centuries been passed on orally from teacher to student. Gurdjieff's goal, to introduce the Work to the West, attracted many students, among them Ouspensky, an established mathematician, journalist, and, with the publication of In Search of the Miraculous, an eloquent and persuasive proselyte.

Ouspensky describes Gurdjieff's teachings in fascinating and accessible detail, providing what has proven to be a stellar introduction to the universal view of both student and teacher. It goes without saying that In Search of the Miraculous has inspired great thinkers and writers of ensuing spiritual movements, including Marianne Williamson, the highly acclaimed author of A Return to Love and Illuminata. In a new and never-before-published foreword, Williamson shares the influence of Ouspensky's book and Gurdjieff's teachings on the New Thought movement and her own life, providing a contemporary look at an already timeless classic.

Print length

399 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Mariner Books
Publication date

September 28, 2001
Dimensions

5.31 x 1.04 x 8 inches
ISBN-10

0156007460
ISBN-13

978-0156007467
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Editorial Reviews

Review

Fascinating and provocative."-The New York Times Book Review
A very provocative book that can lead to a complete reassessment of what a reader takes to be his knowledge."-Saturday Review

About the Author

P. D. Ouspensky was born in Moscow in 1878 and died in 1947. A highly respected intellectual and former student of G. I. Gurdjieff, he authored such critically acclaimed books as The Fourth Dimension, Tertium Organum, A New Model of the Universe, and In Search of the Miraculous, which was published posthumously.

Marianne Williamson is a philosopher, speaker, teacher, and author who lectures regularly about the application of spiritual principles to daily living. Her highly acclaimed and bestselling books include A Return to Love, A Woman's Worth, and Illuminata. She lives in Michigan.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Mariner Books; Revised edition (September 28, 2001)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 399 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0156007460
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0156007467
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 12 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.31 x 1.04 x 8 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #76,504 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #49 in Mysticism Christian Theology
- #102 in Philosophy History & Survey
- #106 in Mysticism (Books)

Customer Reviews:
460 ratings

Customer reviews

5 star		81%
4 star		7%
3 star		5%
2 star		2%
1 star		5%

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Top reviews from the United States

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R. Miller

Monumental work

Reviewed in the United States on December 26, 2018

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I read this months ago. I decided to give a 3 star review. Then I went back and looked and re-read about 30% of my highlights and realized that this is a book of monumental proportions the meaning of which cannot be grasped in a single reading. It also is a historic work, describing the dangers of life in Russia during the Russian Revolution, and the methods of the communists and others in destroying the fabric of that society. I do have at least 2 criticisms. The book is at times incomprehensible. Also, I've studied other occult tomes including Franz Hartmann's Magic White and Black. Hartmann describes things while remaining discreet and responsible with knowledge that should not be available to the masses. Ouspensky does likewise, but won't even describe his experience which is frustrating for this reader. Describing what his experience was is not the same as explaining how to arrive there. Looking back at the things I highlighted, I realize that there is an extraordinary amount of merit in the material and I will have to come back to it at another time when I have more free time. It is deserving of five stars.

25 people found this helpful

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Jim Richmond

So much more to life and existence than meets the eye!

Reviewed in the United States on July 15, 2019

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It can be easy to read book after book, soaking up knowledge and wisdom, convincing ourselves that more readings and more information will equal a better life somehow. But Gurdjieff - through Ouspensky - shows that we can deceive ourselves. We fool ourselves all our lives, and will continue to do so to the end, unless we step back, see ourselves clearly for a change, and wake up. So this book is different from most in that it puts usefulness on the same level as gaining knowledge and wisdom. It shows you that you must have both, and can't skimp out on putting it into practice, and changing your 'being'.

I love how the information is presented with zero preaching and zero ulterior motive or agenda. It's simply laid out for all to see, without pressure or games, confidently resting on its on laurels. That alone was refreshing.

I was surprised to see it hitting home in many spots, and explaining matters like I've never heard before. It's like wow! so obvious and so practical, but otherwise flying below the radar in our daily lives. It's a shame this isn't better known, but Gurdjieff explains exactly why it is so. So even that now clearly makes sense.

There are parts of the book that are more abstract and of lesser value (maybe 30% of the book), but what is straightforward is so poignant and powerful, that it more than offsets the more vague and every "far out" parts of the book. Even the more odd parts of the book are still interesting, and worth reading and pondering. Maybe over time those will gain value too. The loss of one star is for those sections, and the omission of many commas needed for proper grammatical pauses.

There is some history also included at the beginning and end of the book.

12 people found this helpful

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Blue Logician

I read it and dog-eared it so much, it fell apart ...

Reviewed in the United States on December 15, 2013

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One of the most remarkable discoveries one can make during a lifetime of stumbling and searching in darkness for the light switch to flip on and make sense out of life happened to me 30 years ago. Imagine a room you are perfectly familiar with in daylight turning at night into a virtual booby trap of stumbling over shoes, bumping against chairs, banging ones shin against footstools -- all familiar in the light, but not in darkness. And cursing. That is what my life had become 30 years ago -- long before Amazon existed -- when a friend recommended In Search of the Miraculous...Until then I was banging against the most ordinary things in life-- friendships, love affairs, colleagues at work who irritate me, bosses who blank, blank me off, etc. -- and hurting myself grievously. In Search was the light switch I turned on blindly, desperately 30 years ago... Chapter after remarkable chapter confirmed then what I know now: There is a light, we just have to find the light switch.

In Search of the Miraculous teaches us how to do precisely that -- by the power of the example of its author himself, mathematical philosopher Peter Ouspensky. It is Ouspensky's personal search, transformed into a manual for awakening conscience in the rest of us who try. And the light? Georg Gurdjieff's compression of the teachings of the Ancient Egyptians, the Desert Fathers, and Sufi Masters into a system of self-observation Ouspensky called the Fourth Way. Reading it over the years, ordinary objects in this room of blind mechanical ignorance I kept hurting myself on -- negative emotions, lying needlessly, negative imagination, resentment, greed, etc --, which is my life, slowly became visible, I could see and avoid them before being hurt by them. Nothing in the room changed, just my vision of it. Problem is too much of a good thing is sometimes not good for the thing itself. Entropy takes over. I read and dog-eared my one paperback copy of In Search of the Miraculous and re-read it so much, it fell apart, forcing me to buy this copy on Amazon I am reviewing for you now.

Buy it, read it, dog-ear it, re-read it again. Find the light switch within...

And if you flip on the switch and enjoy In Search, maybe you will enjoy another favorite of mine: Through the Eye of a Needle: Studies from An Ancient Hermetic Teaching

105 people found this helpful

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Ian kaplan

A great introduction to esoteric Christianity/4th way teachings

Reviewed in the United States on September 9, 2016

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A great introduction to esoteric Christianity/4th way teachings. This is a great read for one who is on the path and would like some literature to read in regards to the 4th way. Really helped me with greater comprehension and understanding of alchemical operations and self gnosis. Can leave one in a type of psychological vertigo but this ends as long as you continue tondo the work. I wouldn't recommend this for someone who just wants to delve into some philosophy or feed the intellect. This is a path of radical transformation and mystical death. Once you come to the path there is no going back. Your being brings you to this for a reason and to shun it later is a great spiritual tragedy. I love you all stay blessed.

33 people found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

Muse

A way for the "spiritual" householder

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 10, 2010

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P.D.Ouspensky was a proponent of G.I.Gurdjieff's teachings that he called "The Fourth Way" (which is a spiritual path other than the paths for yogis, monks or fakirs). Gurdjieff's writings are more "intellectually demanding" compared with that of Ouspensky.

In parallel with other spiritual traditions, Gurdjieff taught that one must expend considerable effort to effect the transformation that leads to spiritual awakening. The effort that one puts into practice Gurdjieff referred to as "The Work" or "Work on oneself". According to Gurdjieff, "...Working on oneself is not so difficult as wishing to work, taking the decision." Though Gurdjieff never put major significance on the term "Fourth Way" and never used the term in his writings, his pupil P.D. Ouspensky from 1924 to 1947 made the term and its use central to his own teaching of Gurdjieff's ideas.

Ouspensky wrote about Gurdjieff's teachings in a book originally entitled "Fragments of an Unknown Teaching", only published posthumously by his students in 1947 under the title "In Search of the Miraculous". While this volume has been criticized by some of those who have followed Gurdjieff's teachings as only a partial representation of the totality of his ideas, it nevertheless provides what is probably the most concise explanation of the material that was included.

The Fourth Way, through Ouspensky and others, was consequently taken up by Leon Maclaren (See "The Power Within" ISBN: 1439210306) who originally started what is now the School of Economic Science (which is not the academic London School of Economics)

The teaching is valid, and requires a lot of hard work at replacing much of what has become part of one's self in the history of one's own evolution. What needs replacing is what hinders or prevents one's own personal or spiritual growth. For those in need of positive change, it can be felt in ways such as a deeper (spiritual) discontent with one's own world or life. For them there is a higher, unnameable calling not being satisfied by conventional religions. When finding a disciplinary school such as the SES, it is as if they find themselves amongst "kindred spirits". Different Schools have different "collective personalities", and one has to find one suitable for oneself, preferably one that provides one with practical applications in one's life as a householder.

Relatively very few people feel this calling, and such people at times feel they are not part of the human race, seeing things in ways that most other people cannot see; it is not a feeling of madness, but a feeling of knowing without thinking. Some people get "shocked" to this level of knowing, such as through a traumatic experience (such as with drugs, a loss, or an accident), Unfortunately, for obscure reasons, such shocks may have shocked individuals into a lower level of consciousness, and may cause them continual subjection to general societies' opinionated, "herd mentality" controls (- this relates to Erich Fromm's "The Fear of Freedom")

Those who are on the verge of "higher knowing" will know what I mean here, and may search for teachings of the Fourth Way. Many such "seekers" may find that they vacillate in and out of such teachings, or hop from one such School to another, as they sense the hard work required to overcome their sloth ("Go to the ant, though sluggard ..."), or when their various inner (subconscious) personae fight to retain their existences. One will experience such things while trying to commit oneself to the disciplines of such teachings, so "Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself ..." (- from "Desiderata"), so as to avoid the inner resistances that cause the false reasonings that deny one's need for change.

There are readers who will detect something of the truths spoken of in the Fourth Way, but will not fully comprehend the profound significance of what (s)he has detected. I would suggest that (s)he go to the SES nearest to her/his geographic region and sense whether the Fourth Way is what (s)he needs. The disciplinary teaching is not for everyone, and it can elude those who think too much by searching in their own minds, unaware there is a "6th sense", other than thinking, which can lead them beyond reading and thinking about things that need to be put into practice, to be tested, understood, and realised (actualised). I speak from experience and observation of this fact. Those who feel for the truth more than they think about it usually find it easier to realise (actualise) their personal spiritual growth.

To get a sense of those from the "Old School" who were with Maclaren at the time of the School's development in the last century, examine the contents of the website at Maclaren Foundation website (- type in Maclaren Foundation as one word; Amazon deletes URLs in reviews), as well as read the book "The Heart of the Eastern Mystical Teaching" (ISBN: 0854240306), which gives background to such spiritual teachings as that of Gurdjieff, amongst others.
_______________________

33 people found this helpful

andy

In Search of the Miraculous

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 28, 2013

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An odd book which I would not have read but for the fact that it was recommended by a friend as a way to start understanding the ideas and beliefs behind the esoteric teaching known as 'The Fourth Way'. It is written rather like a diary recording the meeting between the author and a 'teacher' during the early 1900's at the time when Russia was going through tremendous upheavals.There are some unusual thoughts, ideas, suggestions which may or may not coincide with religous beliefs. It is not about religion, but there may appear to be overlaps. Best read with a very open mind. The content was as expected, but not an easy read or particuarly enjoyable, bit too rambling so only 3 stars, but it did explain what I wanted to know myself.

6 people found this helpful

Amazon Customer

We are still Searching after Reading it

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 17, 2018

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An interesting journey through the lives of two of the worlds best known mystics, but if you are looking for a miracle don’t expect to find it in the book.

One person found this helpful

PDM

Thought Provoking and Very Inspirational

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 7, 2019

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Great book and very deep spiritual teachings by the man Gurdjieff. Definitely worth a read although there were parts that I didn’t understand like the discussions about octaves and ray of creations which I just skipped over. But other than that it was very thought provoking and inspirational!

Lakeside

Errors in Kindle version

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 14, 2016

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In the Kindle edition of this book there are a large number of typos and formatting errors and it also does not contain the diagrams which I presume exist in the printed version . The Kindle book is readable but I would recommend buying a printed copy.

7 people found this helpful

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