"Stairway to Subud" by Anthony Bright-Paul

"Stairway to Subud" is an auto-biography of Anthony Bright-Paul starting from his elementary education in Christian boarding schools, to living under J.G. Bennett in Coombe Springs and practicing Gurdjieff's system, to finally ending being "opened" in Subud and spending the rest of his life with this connection.  Although the book is primarily intended to describe the author's life in Subud, it contains probably the most detailed description of the life at Coombe Springs and the Bennett Gurdjieff group there, which consists of about 45% of the book.

The author describes the eventual stagnation under Bennett's leadership who himself did not know what to do next when Mohammed Subuh appeared from Indonesia through Hussein Rofe and became the new raison de vivre.  Although Bennett will eventually leave Subud as well, and embark on a series of findings of different gurus and teachings until his death, many other Gurdjieff students, like the author, will find in Subud what they always looked for.

The second half of the book explains some of the basic concepts of Subud like the Latihan Kejuwan, the spiritual exercise, the concepts of Jiwa and Nafsu, etc.  The spread of Subud outside the Gurdjieff circles until the Gurdjieffian roots became irrelevant, even a bother, is described in great detail, as well as some of the internal strife.  Towards the end the book becomes more autobiographical and describes mostly the author's life and meetings with old friends from Gurdjieff groups and early Subud groups.

The book is rich in many excerpts and voluminous quotations from other books on Subud and from the writings of Pak Subuh and J.G. Bennett.  It excels in presenting the daily atmosphere in Coombe Springs, of which this is the only detailed account, so it can be compared to the several accounts of the life at the Prieure under Gurdjieff himself. 

"Teachings of Gurdjieff - A Pupil's Journal" by C. S. Nott

CS Nott's book is well known for the wealth of information it provides, first-hand, that could not be otherwise found in other books when first published in 1961 by Penguin Arkana.  Nott's book is divided in three parts: the first part details his first stay at the Prieure at Fonteainbleu, the middle part is an extensive commentary on Gurdjieff's "Beelzebub's tales to his grandson" as gathered from Orage's talks in New York City and the third part, and the shortest, describes the second stay of Nott and his wife at the Prieure during which the author experiences a sort of "enlightenment" which takes him to the "next octave" as expressed in the Gurdjieffian Method.

Nott's book is deeply colored with Puritanic ethical and religious references, peppered with quotes (some page-length) from "The Pilgrim's Progress" and the main protagonist Christian.  This may turn off some readers who are not familiar with the Pilgrim/Puritan/Protestant worldview, but others might find the references clear and familiar.

Nott describes himself as a physical worker, not a man of books of of philosophical inclinations.  This makes his perspective unique from those of the other contemporary pupils, many of which went on to write books about their personal experiences after Mr. Gurdjieff's death.  Nott dug a large amount of trenches around La Prieure and had his final enlightenment there after a prolonged digging spell.  Mr. G. adapted his method to suit the capabilities and preferences of the student at hand, as the main principles are the same whether approached through the purely physical, the emotional or the intellectual aspects.

There are lots of advanced concepts like "pondering" being discussed and the book has probably more value as a personal record than a teaching textbook.

"Gurdjieff Unveiled" by Seymour Ginsburg

I was very excited about this book, especially the first few chapters, which are probably the most straightforward explanation of some of the basic concepts of Gurdjieff's teaching.   Ginsburg sublimates much of Ouspenky's "In Search of the Miraculous" and extracts only the framework and practical exercises, while not including the humongous cosmology which boggles the mind at first reading.  The first few chapters are organized as weekly lessons for starting Gurdjieffian groups with weekly exercises, proposed discussions and other practical advice.

Problems appear in the second half of the book, the two major ones being the Theosophical bend and the obsessions with dreams.  The third problem, which raises its ugly head in the last few chapters, is Ginsburg explaining how the people in the Work are "special" and not like "ordinary" people, even goes so far to use the offensive word "moron."  Ego tripping is definitely a sign that the Work is not working.

Ginsburg seems to be a proud Theosophists, member and officer of the Theosophical Society, and often connects Gurdjieff's statements with those of Helena Blavatsky and Charles Leadbeatter (a known child molester, exiled from England because of his pedophilia).  He tries to justify his transgression by saying that Mr. G also read Blavatsky.  Yes he did, and he wrote that 90% of what Blavatsky was writing was pure fantasy and had no basis in reality.  He also made great fun of the Theosophists with their serious but worthless books and famously joked that Theosophists are only useful for their money.  It is true that many people in the Work have been Theosophists before, however they usually discarded that nonsense once they advanced.  Ginsburg goes so far as to connect Sinnet's "Mahatma Letters" with Gurdjieffian tradition, which is completely ludicrious, having those letters proven as fraud, and written by Blavatsky herself, already during her lifetime.

The dreaming and obsession with dream interpretation is another pointer that Ginsburg's is a devolving octave, not evolving.  Mr. Gurgjieff famously insisted many, many times, in no ambiguous words (which was a rarity for him) that dreams area garbage and a waste of time.  He claimed that it took him 20 years to learn how not to dream at all, and that should be the goal of every aspiring seeker.   Ginsburg makes weak connections with what Gurgjieff mentioned in passing to Margaret Anderson about dreams, but that is just one remark, even if it is true, as opposed to an entire body of work directing the reader to supress dreaming altogether.

The problem with Ginsburg mainly is that if you do the dream journals, dream groups, meditations, etc. etc. one pretty much ends up with a full life, full of activities that "seem" spiritual, but are actually just another product of the head-brain, invented to support an illusion of doing "something."  Gurdjieff's system main emphasis is on "shocks," that is insults, offenses, life dangers, humiliations, "rubbing against each other" and feeling the brunt of our animalistic mechanical egotistic natures.  With Ginsburg's advice everyone is sitting happily in a circle, imagining they are doing something and living in an imaginary dream world, none of which has any objective existence or value.