REAL
WORLDS OF G.I. GURDJIEFF:
Chapters
in the Life of a Master
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 anthropologist 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)