Real Worlds of G.I. Gurdjieff
Paul Beekman Taylor
This exposé
of truths, half-truths, possible truths, and untruths about Gurdjieff’s
inner and outer worlds includes new and surprising realities about a man
whose life contained so much mystery.The American Federal Bureau of Investigation compiled files on his activities in the United States; men worked incessantly for him, women wrote him letters protesting his treatment of them, children revered him and the vibrant artistic life of Paris in the 1920s was the richer for his presence.
He tangled with Immigration authorities of every country in which he established his Institute for the Harmonious Development of Man. The discrepancies between his age recorded on official documents and the age he had, the adventures he recounted in his talks and writings, evoke speculation concerning his various identities. His material and spiritual legacies continue to incite contention between different groups of followers.
The Foreword to the present volume has been contributed by John Robert Colombo, an author and anthologist who lives in Toronto, who has a special interest in lore and literature, especially when it touches upon the mysterious.
Front cover: Kirill Zdanevich, Portrait of Gurdzhiev (1920)
