"Eight Meetings in Paris" by G.I. Gurdjieff

This is the second volume of the records of meetings in Paris, this time typeset and laid out clearly.  The format is pretty much the same as the previous typed booklet, students asking questions and Mr. G. and sometimes Mme de Saltzman, answering them.  The one line that flows uninterrupted through the booklet (only 39 pages) is that the students are lazy, do not work, are going to die like dogs, are not becoming of human beings and similar warm and fuzzy stuff Gurdjieff has been known to utter for most of his life. 

Be it as it may, there are plenty of good instructions in this booklet, given, of course, that one does not try the actual practical exercises on one's own.  The importance of incorporating the work in the daily life, professional and personal, without anyone (else) noticing is emphasized many times.  Also a question has been asked several time - whether one can still be ambitious, career-driven, running after money and promotions (free interpretation by the reviewer) and still do the work, not in fantasy, but in reality.

Gurdjieff gave a peculiar answer that all of that is ok, that one can even "kill a man" in the work, as long as it is a task that one has set for oneself to achieve as a part of the work, a part of an exercise.  This could be interpreted as advice that any worldly pursuit is OK as long as there is no lust for the result as a thing in itself, but only as a means to learning more about oneself and achieving additional self-consciousness.

There was a harsh criticism of the question of one student (asking something about the energy contained in the air), who came in only once in 3 months and Gurdjieff claimed that his questions insult the other students because he is not doing any actual work but only imagining.  Gurdjieff said "you cannot do this among other things" basically saying that the work should come first, before any other obligations or endeavors of any kind, personal or business, and everything is to be seen through the prism of the work.  

"Meetings in Paris" Vol I - G.I. Gurdjieff

This is the first volume of the records of Paris meetings - the one that is 68 pages, half-faded typewriter facsimile, not the typeset, 39 page volume called "Eight Meetings in Paris" which I call Vol II.  It is pretty hard to read as the ribbon on the typewriter was not of a high quality and pretty old, however, it is all legible with some effort.

The book is a typescript of the actual meetings between Gurdjieff and his students and the words flow well and the ideas are mundane and everyday, something anyone working on themselves are bound to encounter.  There are several exercises described, but it is not advisable doing exercises from teh Gurdjieff system from books.  A living link in the tradition is needed.

One interesting point that is repeated many times throughout the booklet is that one's parents should be one's God in the beginning.  Gurdjieff says that God will then take the place of the parents when they are gone, as we all will wither and pass away at one point.  Gurdjieff even makes a point that it completely doesn't matter what kind the parents are, good, bad, abuse, disinterested, etc.  This concept harkens back to the beginning of human civilization and only in the last couple of centuries it has been destroyed, almost out of recognition today. 

"Views from the Real World" by G.I. Gurdjieff

This book was assembled from the notes of the students (taken afterwards, as writing was forbidden during the meetings) of Gurdjieff in the Russian Empire and later in Germany, France and USA.  It is difficult to summarize the book as it touches on so many different subjects, but the main value is that Gurdjieff's advice is given directly, pertaining to actual problems and questions that occurred during the work.

Some of the explanations are so insightful yet witty and put in such a great format that it is almost impossible not to recognize oneself and one's own problems and delusions.  The emphasis on humans spending most of their lives in 'dreaming' which is to mean useless imagination, both pleasant and unpleasant really drives the point home even for those of us who would really like to deny it and imagine that we are not imagining.

The metaphor of the horse, cart, driver, passenger, reins, etc. is explained in great detail and rings more true the more one looks into it.  Also the "two rivers" metaphor is described in much more detail than in other books.

Some practical exercises and pointers are given, but by this time every serious student should have realized that practicing from books is not going to work.  A personal connection with the tradition and the living representatives is more than necessary, even though it is not nearly enough or sufficient, as the strength of our buffers is humongous.

After reading widely in the Gurdjieff lore, it is becoming my persuasion that it would be best to start with the books written from Gurdjieff's words, before reading any of the student's works, even Mme. De Saltzman's.  Probably best sequence would be (IMHO):

1. In the Search of the Miraculous
2. The Psychology of Man's possible Evolution
3. Views from the Real World
4. Paris Meetings Vol. 1
5. Paris Meetings Vol. 2
6. Herald of Coming Good
7. Beelzebub
8. Meetings
9. Life is Only Real when 'I AM'
10. (Students' Works)

This should at least help with the proper knowledge falling in proper places.

"The Struggle of the Magicians" a Ballet Scenario by G.I. Gurdjieff

This is a little booklet, about 44 pages, and is one of the earliest texts that Gurdjieff wrote.  Actually, it was his ad in a newspaper in Moscow about staging this ballet that started his first school with students who were Muscovites.

The ballet has several acts, alternating between showing the life of Gafar, the rich prince, who is infatuated with Zainab, a beautiful 20 year old female student of the White Magician.  The White Magician's school is shown and when Gaffar cannot get Zainab with money and fame, he turns to the Black Magician, whose school is also shown, as anti-thesis to the concepts in the White one. 

Eventually the Black Magician casts a spell on Zainab to submit herself to Gafar, but the White Magician breaks the spell, and the ballet ends with Gafar, although initially angry, actually submitting to the White Magician. 

Probably the most important part, for me, was one of the last sentences of the the siget: "Lord Creator, and all you His assistants. help us to be able to remember ourselves at all times in order that we may avoid involuntary actions, as only through them - can evil manifest itself." 

Automatic, mechanical, involuntary actions being the root of evil and by remembering ourselves at all times, we prevent yet another outlet for evil. 

"Life is Only Real When 'I AM'" by G.I. Gurdjieff

This is the third and final book of the All and Everything trilogy and, by Gurdjieff's own words, should be a primer of development of a new reality for the student who had his old reality destroyed by Beelzebub's Tales.  If that is so, then all that has flown way over my head.

The first 2/3 of the book is mostly an exposition of the organizing of Gurdjieff's American groups, chiefly in NYC and the problems arising from Orage leading them.  Gurdjieff does some funny experiments with the Orage groups, getting them to sign an affidavit that they will cut all connections to Orage.  The funny part was that Orage signed the affidavit too (cutting connections to himself? old self? died to the old self?) and subsequently the Orage followers in NYC were made to pay fines to re-join the newly formed group by Gurdjieff, the highest fines being charged to people who willingly gave up on Orage on Gurdjieff's request.

The English translation is not very good, which adds additional comprehension problems, in addition to Gurdjieff's (intentional?) convoluted writing style.  For example there are expressions which are literally translated from Russian like 'honeyed' which have no idiomatic meaning in English of the same strength/context they do in Russian. 

The last third of the book talks about some practical exercises, which are described only cursorily, and some further theoretical expositions of his system.  Probably the most oft repeated phrases in the entire book are "my ideas" and "by me." 

The most interesting part is the last chapter, which is a separate essay on the "Outer and Inner World of Man" which indeed is written very well and is very interesting, but ends mid-sentence just when things are getting very, very interesting.

I guess there's a meaning in that too, but I just don't get it. 

"The Herald Of Coming Good" by G.I. Gurdjieff

This booklet was supposed to be a pamphlet announcing the "All and Everything" series (none of which was published during Gurdjieff's life, not even the first part - Beelzebub) in 1933 and explaining how the upcoming series should be read.  Gurdjieff, of course, forgot himself writing, especially when complaining about the 'criminally lazy' people who he trained and who did not give him the expected assistance, and myriad of other pet peeves, so the booklet/pamphlet got to about 87 pages. 

The two appendices to the book were added at random times after the main part was 'sent' to the publisher, though they are dated March and April 1933, while the actual publishing of the booklet happened in August 1933. 

The booklet repeats some parts found in "Beelzebub's tales to his grandson" and is written in the same long-winded fashion, with page-long single-sentence paragraphs with dozens of digressions and grammar changes, making it just as unreadable as Beelzebub (or maybe the correct way of putting it is 'just as readable'). 

"The Psychology of Man's Possible Evolution" by Peter Ouspensky

This is a short book - no more than a 100 pages in most editions.  It contains five lectures given by Ouspensky to his pupils in England.  There is little to be said about the book itself, except that it expouses similar concepts to those found in Fragments of Unknown Teaching, but in a more general and explanatory way.  In the same vein though, the explanations in this book are much more theoretical, on purpose, than the material in Fragments Of Unknown Teaching.

The First Lecture sets the stage for exposition of latter, more complicated ideas of Gurdjieff.  The Second Lecture is probably the most valuable, although not the longest, and talks about the different types of consciusness, the different types of men, the four types of goals for a seeker of truth and the four harmful manifestations in every man-machine that need to be observed and overcome in order for the human evolution to be able to move to the next level.

The third and fourth lectures further elaborate on some of the main thesis presented in Gurdjieff teachings, and makes frequent references to the Fragments of Unknown Teaching (which was published after Ouspensky's death, while this book was published while he was still alive).  The fifth lecture was written in a later period than the previous four, and concerns itself chiefly with how to recognize proper schools of the Fourth Way.

The main tenet that Ouspensky makes painfully and tenaciously clear throughout the entire book is that no person can make any progress without being involved with a proper School of the system. 

"Hyperion" by Dan Simmons

This is the third time I am reading Hyperion, and it gets better every time, just like Neuromancer. Simmons is a former English professor who specialized in Keats, thus it is no wonder the novel is titled by the Keats' last and unfinished poem, before his untimely demise at 26.  Simmons uses the Hyperian Cantos as a literary device for one of his characters, the centuries-old poet Martin Silenius. 

Hyperion is a planet in the Dan Simmons universe which is dominated by the self-conscious AIs of the TechnoCore, the unimaginable All-Thing that advises all governments of the known universe, the FTL Spinships and Dropships, the FarCaster technology for instantaneous transfer and by humans who seem too pampered and too lost.

The Shrike is a time-traveling monster on Hyperion, with 4 hands and teeth and spikes made of razor.  There's a Church of the Shrike, after old religions disappeared, like Catholicism, Judaism and Islam, sentenced to small communities on backwater planets.  The Church of the Shrike organizes 7 pilgrims to go to Hyperion and be sacrificed.  Or will they?

Then there are the Ousters.  Early human space explorers who never bought into the idea of AI and never had anything to do with the TechnoCore.  They develop on their own, choosing to augment their own bodies with prosthetic and implants, instead of relying on external suits, equipment and AI. 

And there's much more in the expansive vision of Simmons continuing into the next book The Fall of Hyperion, then Endymion and the Rise of Endymion (with a short story as a fifth piece to round up the vision).

"The Goal" by Eliyahu Goldratt

This book was an included reading for one of my courses at Queen's School of Business, but I never got around to read it until a colleague from work recommended it. It is written as a novel.  Mind you, it would fail as a novel, as it is not very well written (literary-wise), but when judged as a business book - it is amazing!

The TOC, or Theory of Constraints, was the original business process re-engineering framework, way before Six Sigma, Lean, or even Systems Theory came about.  It is based on the Socratic Method of asking questions until you put your finger on the possible problem.  TOC is based on discovering bottlenecks in the production process and re-organizing the entire production line in order to service the bottlenecks.  This would be fine and dandy if new bottlenecks didn't just start appearing after you've taken care of the first one, which is why this solution framework is sometimes called "Continuous Improvement." 

The main protagonist of the novel is a plant manager who has a tough task to turn around a losing factory, but who also is fighting a personal battle, his wife threatening to leave him.  We follow his struggles, both at work and at home, which are mainly unsuccessful until he runs into his old Physics professor, Jonah, who's now a high-powered business consultant and who teaches him TOC which is based on the Scientific Method and the Socratic Inquiry.

This is Mr. Goldratt's first book and he went on to write another half dozen others and form a worldwide consultancy based around these ideas.  The funny thing about taking a course with Mr. Goldratt's consultancy is that the tuition runs about $20,000 or more, since he believes that people do not appreciate what they get for cheap or free.

This book is an amazing primer of how common sense (which is not common at all) can be used as a basis to untangle the most complicated business problems.

"Less Than Zero" by Bret Easton Ellis

This is a disturbing book.  Especially towards the end.  It starts like other BEE books, with a young guy, from a well-to-do family, coming back to LA from the first semester out East, and hanging out with his high school friends, all of them rich, spoiled brats, never wanting for anything in life, and yet becoming broken, numb, apathetic human beings.  The main character's name is Clay.

Towards the end of the book is when things become really disgusting.  First we find out that Clay's best friend (and maybe occasional lover, after all, all BEE male characters are bi-sexual) Julian became a male whore because of huge drug debt and his pimp, a disgusting caricature of a man, pimps him out to mid-western businessmen, who cannot indulge in boy-flesh in their native, fundamentalist areas, where they have to show a wife and kids.  Clay watches while one mid-western businessmen pounds Julian for close to 5 hours in a seedy hotel. 

Clay's other 'friend' and main drug dealer, on the other hand, has tried everything by the time he's 18, so he organized a gang-raping of a bound 12-year old girl, whom he keeps constantly high by injecting her with heroin at intervals.   He invites Clay to take part, but Clay refuses (wow, BEE, you're getting soft!), although the two guys with Clay (his "friends")  have no qualms about jumping in.

Clay's high school girlfriend, Blair, is supposed to be the book's main female character, but just like in other BEE books, the female lead is lifeless and unpersuasive.  Blair doesn't seem to have a hold on anything, even her professed love for Clay, which she tested multiple times by sleeping around with other guys.  She seems like she wants Clay, but doesn't really do anything about it, except a few bouts of below-average sex.

This is BEE's first book, and the style and subject matter is similar to 'Rules of Attraction' however it is written with more shock-value in mind.  It is a gripping read, only because one is curious to see what would happen next, even though none of the characters are truly likeable or relate-able, and the plot consists of nothing, just 4 weeks of winter Xmas vacation.