J. G. Bennett

In the few months before his death in Paris on October 29th, 1949, Gurdjieff's flat in the Rue des Colonels R nard became the centre of his teaching. Followers of his ideas came to be with him at his table. They came to work - but in a way they could not expect. At the centre of what happened were the meals with their extraordinary rituals. Of these rituals, perhaps the most significant was the one known as the 'toast of the idiots'. The 'science of idiotism' that Gurdjieff taught portrayed the whole human situation and the hazards of attaining liberation. Day after day, Elizabeth Bennett sat with Gurdjieff, often as 'Director', having the task of declaring the right toast at the correct moment and proposing the health of corresponding individuals. Her observations are meticulously recorded in these diaries and woven together with J.G. Bennett's own commentary. The record of Mr. Bennett's struggles are a teaching in itself. There are few explanations, because this is how it really was. We are afforded a unique glimpse into the methods of a Master and much that can shatter our illusions about the nature of the spiritual life. Gurdjieff subtly revealed his mission to those who could know it. To each he gave according to capacity, never failing to strike at the very roots of self-deception in his followers. Elizabeth Bennett was born in 1918, and died 1991. The present work is a direct transcript of a diary she kept during the last 3 months of Gurdjieff's life in 1949. A fuller account of her own life is provided in her memoirs, entitled "My Life: J.G. Bennett and G.I. Gurdjieff" written in the years before her own death. Although she taught many people in her later years, she refused the title of teacher and taught by the example of humility, courage and common sense in the hard and demanding path she chose for herself.

John G. Bennetti teos "Vaimne psühholoogia" on sügav ja mõtlemapanev uurimus inimese teadvuse, käitumise ja arenguvõimaluste kohta. Tuginedes nii kaasaegsele psühholoogiale kui ka iidsetele vaimsetele traditsioonidele - sealhulgas G. I. Gurdzhijevi õpetustele - käsitleb Bennett inimest kui terviklikku olendit, kellel on potentsiaal kasvada, areneda ja ärgata kõrgema teadvuseni. See raamat ei paku lihtsaid vastuseid, vaid suunab lugejat vaatama iseenda sisse, küsima olulisi küsimusi ja äratama sisemist taipamist. Läbivaks teemaks on idee, et vaimne psühholoogia ei ole teooria, vaid elav tee - "töö", mida tuleb teha igaühel iseenda sees. "Vaimne psühholoogia" on mõeldud neile, kes otsivad sügavamat mõistmist inimene olemise tähendusest - mitte ainult mõistuse, vaid kogu oma olemusega. John Godolphin Bennett (8. juuni 1897 - 13. detsember 1974) oli Briti matemaatik, teadlane, tehnoloog, tööstusuuringute direktor ja autor. Teda tuntakse eelkõige tema paljude psühholoogiat ja vaimsust käsitlevate raamatute poolest, eriti G. I. Gurdzhijevi õpetuste teemal. Bennett kohtus Gurdzhijeviga 1920. aasta oktoobris Istanbulis ning aitas hiljem koordineerida Gurdzhijevi tegevust Inglismaal pärast tema suundumist Pariisi. Samuti oli ta aktiivselt seotud subud'i liikumise Briti haru loomisega ja aitas asutada selle Suurbritannia peakorterit.

"The Masters of Wisdom" is the last book to have been published during the John Bennett's lifetime, and is probably the most unusual, having little in common with his previously published works, except in serving a number of discrete objectives. Originally planned to be incorporated into a single volume to be entitled "Gurdjieff and the Masters of Wisdom" this work was separated from what became "Gurdjieff: Making a New World" which eventually was published a year earlier in 1973. In the last years of Bennett's life, he had been deeply affected by his close association with the Turkish mystic, Hasan Lutfi Shushud, and originally a contract was drawn up with a London publishing house for the combined work, in which both men were signed as joint authors. However, before anything was written, Shushud abruptly withdrew his support for the project, ostensibly on the grounds of a disagreement with the publishers. Only after Bennett's death in 1974, Shushud indicated privately that he found Gurdjieff's teaching and methods offensive. There is however some overlap between the two books, and "The Masters of Wisdom" draws on Gurdjieff's resources as well as material provided by Hasan Shushud. "The Masters of Wisdom" is unlike Bennett's other books not only in the way it is constructed, which appears to be somewhat out of balance, but also in the content. The first three chapters provide an overview of material presented 8 years earlier in the fourth volume of "The Dramatic Universe", of the Earth as single intelligent whole, in which humanity plays an increasingly active role and - must accept greater responsibility. These chapters provide an introduction to Chapter 4 which presents an account of the Christ Event not to be found anywhere else, and by Bennett's own account, arising out of insights vouchsafed to him privately by Gurdjieff. The next chapter serves as a bridge to the second major detailed message Bennett shares, which concerns the extraordinary period spanning at least 350 years, when a group of men within a single unbroken tradition played a pivotal and benign role in otherwise catastrophic events. It is not clear why Bennett devotes an entire chapter to Genghis Khan in a book entitled "The Masters of Wisdom" except that he appears to have been an exceptionally gifted individual whom Bennett apparently admired for his great self-control, and his willingness to accept guidance from a spiritual director. The researches Bennett completed in his last years led him to certain conclusions which may not have been fully expressed in this account. Unlike Bennett's other books, "The Masters of Wisdom" contains hidden messages, and also occult elements which are accessible to those able to access them. "Beelzebub's Tales to His Grandson" and "The Dramatic Universe" showed the transformative power of books, but like "Meetings with Remarkable Men" this book imparts information which remains hidden except from those readers who find the key. The book is also unlike any of Bennett's other books in containing secret "magic" elements, opening mystical channels. Since the text was left unfinished when Bennett died, it is not possible to know for certain whether the message of the book is complete or would have included other material such as the very detailed accounts that Bennett gave to his student in the last months - the "esoteric phase" - of the Third Basic Course. Overall the message is of the planet we inhabit seen as a single indivisible whole, of which we human beings are an important element, but which is subordinate to the Cosmic forces.

This is the first new edition in more than 30 years of Bennett's ground-breaking exploration. Even 60 years after its original publication, "The Dramatic Universe" represents what is to date the most audacious attempt to meet the demands of both Science and Religion, through the reconciling action of the domain of Realization. This first volume is also the fullest account anywhere of Gurdjieff's doctrine of Reciprocal Maintenance, and to date, the only explanation of planetary, solar, galactic and universal intelligence. In his Preface Bennett writes: "The postulate of the homogeneity of fact and value will prove to be an instrument of unlimited power and when applied to the elucidation of the Doctrine of Reciprocal Maintenance it can give us a working answer to all the fundamental questions of our existence." This book is the road map to the New Epoch. "The Foundations of Natural Philosophy" is constructed on a scheme of 9 parts: 1. Metaphysics; 2. Epistemology; 3. Methodology; 4. Systematics; 5. The Dynamical World; 6. The World of Energy; 7. The World of Things; 8. Life; 9. The Cosmic Order. Bennett introduces the technique that became known as Systematics to guide the reader, and harnesses the tools of theoretical physics to explain the worlds that are beyond human perception, but nevertheless underlie our existence.

In this volume, we have found it expedient to combine two texts previously published separately. These two earlier publications have several common factors, as both are made up of transcripts of series of six talks given at Coombe Springs in 1964 and 1965, to audiences drawn from the same invited participant pool, and both presenting practical approaches to work. At the time of these meetings, a permanent group of about 50 men, women and children lived at Coombe Springs, a number of families lived close by and attended regularly and still more lived further away and traveled to Coombe Springs for weekly meetings or monthly work weekends. The "Creative Thinking" course consisted of six weekly sessions mostly with students in close contact with Bennett, while the "How We Do Things" course was arranged over a series of weekends and is more general in content. "Creative Thinking" is based on the premise that an act of creation brings into existence something that had not previously existed. By extension, creative thinking is an action which spontaneously brings into existence a thought that has never previously existed. Bennett used the six sessions to demonstrate to his students the techniques he used to attain to the revolutionary notions such as those contained in his "The Dramatic Universe" of which at that time only the first two volumes were in print. "How We Do Things" is a practical exposition of the teaching Bennett presented publicly for the first time 17 years earlier in his first book "The Crisis in Human Affairs", which is to say that an action can only be called such if it is intentionally formulated and carried out. All other behaviour is described as "reaction", or a response to external or even internal stimuli. In order to act intentionally, we require a heightened self-awareness, and command and control over our body, minds and emotion beyond what is generally accepted as normal. This is a non-denominational book, which does not draw upon any specialized resources beyond common sense.

Subud is an international spiritual movement that began in Indonesia in the 1920s, founded by Muhammad Subuh Sumohadiwidjojo. The movement spread to Europe and the rest of the world in the late 1950s. The practice of Subud requires a personal initiation which can be transmitted from one person to another. John Bennett who received the contact from Husein Rof , was among the first Europeans to embrace Subud, and worked actively from 1957-1960 to grow the Subud movement.The lectures which make up this book were presented in 1960 and have been supplemented by a paper written later exploring the relationship between Subud and various Sufi teachers and traditions, based upon certain references made by Muhammad Subuh to his own Naqshbandi influences. John Godolphin Bennett (1897-1974) was a British mathematician, technologist, linguist and spiritual teacher. He is known as a leading exponent of the work of his teacher G.I. Gurdjieff. At the time of his death, Bennett was the Director of the International Academy for Continuous Education, Gloucestershire UK, a residential school based on the principles of Gurdjieff.