I have spent some time enjoying the great stock of new volumes on the shelves of the much beloved Fisher Library: it is one of the great innocent delights of […]
Read more
Month: January 2017
Jasper Dryfesdale (“The Abbot”)
Walter Scott’s 1820 novel, The Abbot, has fared rather better with critics than with the reading public. I am one amateur critic who also likes it, although I would not […]
Read more
The Prayer of the Heart
Gurdjieff taught that techniques such as fasting, confession and prayer were not only valuable but essential for any seeker. Gurdjieff gave few indications about prayer, but he knew of and […]
Read more
Music of Georges I. Gurdjieff, a review
Music of Georges I. Gurdjieff, a recording of a selection from Gurdjieff’s music, is played by the Gurdjieff Folk Instruments Ensemble, directed by Levon Eskenian. Issued in 2011 by ECM, […]
Read more
In Search of the Sublime: Elton John
Music can communicate a feeling of the sublime. I call the “sublime” that precious, subtle feeling of myself as if on the cusp of touching the mystery of eternity. It […]
Read more
Mr Adie on
This comes from the weekend of Saturday 5 April 1986. Someone asked a question at lunch. This person had previously been doing some sort of meditative practice. I am fairly […]
Read more
The Odes of Solomon: Ode 4
The Fourth Ode of Solomon is enigmatic, and has been studied more than most of the others. I will not go into the history of the study of this Ode, […]
Read more
A Calling, by Abbot William Driscoll (Part Three)
We are still in chapter 6 of Abbot William’s autobiography. It is 1951, and he is a Trappist monk in the USA. We have been speaking of the wisdom inherent […]
Read more
René Zuber, Who Are You Monsieur Gurdjieff?
René Zuber, Who Are You Monsieur Gurdjieff?, Routledge & Kegan Paul, London, 1980 It might be appropriate, on the 13th, to review a somewhat under-appreciated volume by a personal pupil. […]
Read more
Enchanting Modern: A Review
Enchanting Modern: Ilonka Karasz (1896-1981), Ashley Callahan, Georgia Museum of Art, 2003) The only disappointing feature of this beautiful book is that Ilonka Karasz’s status as a personal pupil of […]
Read more
