Publications on Gurdjieff's Teaching

There are many books about the Gurdjieff teaching so it is important to find ones which are useful in the search for truth.  However you wouldn’t expect to learn to play the piano or to develop a practical skill by simply reading a book about it.  Reading a book might help, but there’s much more to it, i.e. lots of practice and hard work.  Likewise with Gurdjieff’s teaching.  It’s not for nothing that his teaching is called ‘the Work’. 

Of all the books, the most important are those written by Gurdjieff himself.

 Note that many of the books written by some of Gurdjieff’s pupils are no longer in print.  Only those that are still available are listed. 

 1. Beelzebub's Tales to His Grandson - An Objectively Impartial Criticism of the Life of Man

Gurdjieff states the purpose of this first series of his writings as – To destroy, mercilessly, without any compromises whatsoever, in the mentation and feelings of the reader, the beliefs and views, by centuries rooted in him, about everything existing in the world.

All serious followers of Gurdjieff’s Work study this book.  Gurdjieff did not design this to be an easy read, i.e. to be taken in in an ordinary way. In his introduction he says the following:-

…… I shall expound my thoughts intentionally in such sequence and with such “logical confrontation,” that the essence of certain real notions may of themselves automatically, so to say, go from this “waking consciousness”—which most people in their ignorance mistake for the real consciousness, but which I affirm and experimentally prove is the fictitious one—into what you call the subconscious, which ought to be in my opinion the real human consciousness……..
      I decided to do this without fail so that this initial chapter of mine, predetermined as I have already said to awaken your consciousness, should fully justify its purpose, and reaching not only your, in my opinion, as yet only fictitious “consciousness,” but also your real consciousness, that is to say, what you call your subconscious, might, for the first time, compel you to reflect actively.

Gurdjieff states the purpose of this second series of his writings as – To acquaint the reader with the material required for a new creation and to prove the soundness and good quality of it.

This is a semi-autobiographical account of Gurdjieff’s own search for knowledge and truth.  To the average person this is a much easier book to read than Beelzebub’s Tales.  However, over time it is possible to discover multiple layers of meaning in it.  This also is a book to be studied.

This publication is a different book from the one Gurdjieff originally envisaged for the last part of his written teaching. He began this volume in November 1934 and unexplainedly stopped work on it five months later.  So it was never completed.  As such, it is not as important as the previous two books. It is probably better left until an understanding of the fundamentals has been reached.

 1. In Search of the Miraculous: Fragments of an Unknown Teaching

This book, by P. D. Ouspensky, remains an important book in the Gurdjieff literature.  It contains an honest and impersonal recording of this unknown teaching which he received from Gurdjieff.  One of Gurdjieff’s other pupils, C. S. Nott, describes it as follows:-

      “In Search of the Miraculous, while not in the category of objective art, is nevertheless a masterpiece of objective reporting of Gurdjieff’s talks in Russia.  As an introduction to Gurdjieff’s system it can never be equalled.”

Note that some of the epub and Kindle versions of this book are of poor quality and are without any of the diagrams and illustrations in the original printed book.  To find a good version search for  < In Search of the Miraculous: Complete with Diagrams >

This is a collection of early talks given by Gurdjieff in Moscow, Essentuki, Tiflis, Berlin, London, Paris, New York and Chicago as recollected by his pupils.  The lectures were given in the period 1917-1933.  Gurdjieff’s aphorisms, formerly inscribed above the walls of the study house at the Prieuré in Fontainebleau, are also included.

Henriette Lannes came to England after the Second World War and organised the Work of Gurdieff under the auspices of the Gurdieff Society. She succeeded in bringing together the separate groups who had been working with P. D. Ouspensky, J. G. Bennett, Maurice Nicoll and Jane Heap.
 Inside a Question shows Henriette Lannes’ approaches: the inner exercises she conveyed, the many questions she raised, the unswerving dedication she displayed and the constant reminders she presented.

This first book by C. S. Nott is an account of some years with Gurdjieff and A. R. Orage in New York and at the Prieuré .  It is not an exposition of the theory of Gurdjieff’s system; it is rather an account of the cumulative effect on one person of practical work under the direction of a Master, Mr. Gurdjieff.

This book is the sequel to ‘A Pupil’s Journal’ and relates events in the life of C. S. Nott from 1927 to 1949, both in Europe and America.  It covers his meetings with Gurdjieff in France, his friendship with A. R. Orage in England, and his contact with P. D. Ouspensky.