Table Of ContentTHE
HARMONIOUS
CIRCLE
The Lives and Work of
G. I. Gurdjieff, P. D. Ouspensky,
and Their Followers
James Webb
*
SHAMBHALA
BOSTON
1987
SHAMBHALA PUBLICATIONS, INC.
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300 MASSACHUSETTS AVENUE
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© 1980 by James Webb
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in
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system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
9 8 7654321
FIRST PAPERBACK EDITION
Original hardcover edition published by G. P. Putnam's Sons
Printed in the United States of America
Distributed in the United States by Random House
and in Canada by Random House of Canada Ltd.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Webb, James, 1946The harmonious circle.
Reprint. Originally published: New York: Putnam,
cl980.
Bibliography: p.
Includes index.
1. Gurdjieff, Georges Ivanovitch, 1872-1949.
2. Uspenskii, P. D. (Petr Dem'ianovich), 1878-1947.
3. Philosophers-Soviet Union-Biography. 4. MysticsSoviet Union-Biography. 1. Title.
[B4249.G84W4 1987) 197'.2 [B) 87-9716
ISBN 0-87773-427-5 (pbk.)
Acknowledgments
I am grateful to the following for permission to quote from copyright and
unpublished sources:
For permission to quote from the works of G. I. Gurdjieff: Routledge and
Kegan Paul Ltd. ; Triangle Editions Inc. For permission to quote from the
work of P. D. Ouspensky: Routledge and Kegan Paul Ltd.; Hoddet and
Stoughton Ltd. ; Faber and Faber Ltd. ; Turnstone Press Ltd. ; Mrs. Tanya
Nagro; Alfred A. Knopf Inc. ; Harcourt Brace Jovanovich Inc. For permission to quote from the work and unpublished letters of A. R. Orage: Mrs.
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and unpublished papers of Jean Toomer: Mrs. Marjorie Content Toomer.
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Authors; Alfred A. Knopf Inc. For permission to quote from the work of
John Middleton Murry: The Society of Authors. For permission to quote
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5
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A C K N O W L E D G M E N T S 7
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Penguin Books Ltd. For permission to quote from from David Magarshack's
translation of Dostoievsky's The Brothers Karamazov:. Penguin Books Ltd.
For permission to quote from the work of Claude Bragdon: Alfred A. Knopf
Inc. I am required to state that In Search of the Miraculous is copyright
1949 by Harcourt Brace Jovanovich Inc.
Every effort had been made to communicate with holders of copyright
material, but in some cases it has proved impossible to establish contact.
The author and publishers apologize to anyone who has been overlooked
because of circumstances beyond their control.
Contents
Preface
Introduction
PARTl
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
11
17
,"
The Seeker for Truth
The Great Game
The Professional Hypnotist
Life Against Life
The Search for the Miraculous
The Inner and the Outer Revolutions
The Traveling Circus
PART 2
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
"And I beheld the Man , ,
25
48
75
94
118
132
163
Beelzebub and his Grandchildren
The Maestro of the Musical Glasses
Suspensk
The Institute for the Harmonious Development of Man
A Crack in the Times
A Chapter of Accidents
Per Americam ad Beelzebub
The Prior of Avon
Art, Science, Religion and Gymnastics
The Dominion of Heropass
What Struggle? What Magicians?
Real Psychology
The Bone Beneath t:lw=l Mountain
The Strange Death of Pyatr Ouspensky
195
213
232
265
288
300
325
337
358
379
393
412
439
