BOOK

Gurdjieff’s Institute for the Harmonious Development of Man

Posted on by in BOOK and tagged .

Gurdjieff’s Institute for the Harmonious Development of Man

Main Branch: France Fontainebleau
(Formerly “Chateau du Prieuré”)

[1922]

The Prospectus for Gurdjieff’s Institute describes its program as “practically the continuation of the Society that went under the name of the “Seekers after Truth” . . . founded in 1895.” The following excerpt reproduces the main text pp 1-6. — Pages 7-11 list the proposed courses followed by an 8 page “Historometrical Individual Record (for pupils and patients of the first category.”

The Institute for the Harmonious Development of Man by the G. I. Gurdjieff system is practically the continuation of the Society that went under the name of the “Seekers after Truth.”

This Society was founded in 1895 by a group of various specialists, including doctors, archaeologists, priests, painters, etc., whose aim was to study in close collaboration so-called supernatural phenomena, in which each of them was interested from a particular point of view.

During the existence of the Society, its members undertook many very difficult journeys, mostly in Persia, Afghanistan, Turkestan, Thibet, India, but also in other countries. They also undertook a good deal of work of various descriptions in connection with their object, which involved much labour and organisation.

Continue Reading

Liber AL vel Legis -The Book of the Law

Posted on by in BOOK and tagged .

Introduction

I

The Book

1. This book was dictated in Cairo between noon and 1 p.m. on three successive days, April 8th, 9th and 10th in the year 1904.

The Author called himself Aiwass, and claimed to be “the minister of Hoor-Paar-Kraat”; that is, a messenger from the forces ruling this earth at present, as will be explained later on.

How could he prove that he was in fact a being of a kind superior to any of the human race, and so entitled to speak with authority? Evidently he must show KNOWLEDGE and POWER such as no man has ever been known to possess.

2. He showed his KNOWLEDGE chiefly by the use of cipher or cryptogram in certain passages to set forth recondite facts, including some events which had yet to take place, such that no human being could possibly be aware of them; thus, the proof of his claim exists in the manuscript itself. It is independent of any human witness.

The study of these passages necessarily demands supreme human scholarship to interpret— it needs years of intense application. A great deal has still to be worked out. But enough has been discovered to justify his claim; the most sceptical intelligence is compelled to admit its truth.

This matter is best studied under the Master Therion, whose years of arduous research have led him to enlightenment.

On the other hand, the language of most of the Book is admirably simple, clear and vigorous. No one can read it without being stricken in the very core of his being.

3. The more than human POWER of Aiwass is shewn by the influence of his Master, and of the Book, upon actual events: and history fully supports the claim made by him. These facts are appreciable by everyone; but are better understood with the help of the Master Therion.

4. The full detailed account of the events leading up to the dictation of this Book, with facsimile reproduction of the Manuscript and an essay by the Master Therion, is published in The Equinox of the Gods.

Continue Reading

Beelzebub’s Tales to His Grandson:Gurdjieff

Posted on by in BOOK and tagged .

ALL AND EVERYTHING / FIRST SERIES

Ten Books in Three Series

FIRST SERIES Three books under the title of Beelzebub’s Tales to His Grandson. An Objectively Impartial Criticism of the Life of Man.

SECOND SERIES Two books under the common title of Meetings with Remarkable Men.

THIRD SERIES Five books under the title of Life Is Real Only Then, When “I Am. “

All written according to entirely new principles of logical reasoning and directed toward the accomplishment of the following three fundamental tasks:

FIRST SERIES To destroy, mercilessly and without any compromise whatever, in the mentation and feelings of the reader, the beliefs and views, by centuries rooted in him, about everything existing in the world.

SECOND SERIES To acquaint the reader with the material required for a new creation and to prove the soundness and good quality of it.

THIRD SERIES To assist the arising, in the mentation and in the feelings of the reader, of a veritable, nonfantastic representation not of that illusory world which he now perceives, but of the world existing in reality.

Continue Reading

THE PROPHET By Kahlil Gibran-1923

Posted on by in BOOK and tagged .

“His power came from some great reservoir of spiritual life else it could not have been so universal and so potent, but the majesty and beauty of the language with which he clothed it were all his own?”

—Claude Bragdon

CONTENTS

The Coming of the Ship
On Love
On Marriage
On Children
On Giving
On Eating and Drinking
On Work
On Joy and Sorrow
On Houses
On Clothes
On Buying and Selling
On Crime and Punishment
On Laws
On Freedom
On Reason and Passion
On Pain
On Self-Knowledge
On Teaching
On Friendship
On Talking
On Time
On Good and Evil
On Prayer
On Pleasure
On Beauty
On Religion
On Death
The Farewell

Continue Reading

Land of Two Rivers – A History of Bengal From the Mahabharata to Mujib-Nitish Sengupta

Posted on by in BOOK and tagged .

Book excerpt

PENGUIN BOOKS 2011

Preface

“This is by far the only book that covers the history of Bengal from the earliest times until the emergence of Bangladesh in 1971 as an independent country. Bengal, or ‘Bangla Desh’, as it is called by all Bengalis in the cultural sense (as distinct from the post-1971 country of Bangladesh in the political sense), has gone through many changes across centuries. There was the first partition of Bengal in 1905 by Lord Curzon which was resisted by the majority of the people. There was also the second partition in 1947 when a majority of the people called for a partition of the province into a Hindu-majority segment and the Muslim-majority segment, the former going to India and the latter going to Pakistan. From that point the two Bengals ceased to share a common political history and the Bengali-speaking people were split between the province of EastBengal (known as East Pakistan from 1956 till 1971) and the Indian state of Wiest Bengal. In 1971 East Pakistan revolted against West Pakistan and seceded to create a new nation-state known as Bangladesh.During the last four decades, I have been known as an author on management, economics and related subjects. It will surprise many friends to know that I majored in history and started my career by teaching history in PresidencyCollege, Calcutta, in 1956–57 before I joined the Indian Administrative Services(IAS). I was then gradually sucked into the world of management science and applied economics and took a PhD in management from the University of Delhi”.

Continue Reading

THE IDEA OF CHRIST IN THE GOSPELS OR GOD IN MAN:GEORGE SANTAYANA

Posted on by in BOOK, CIVIL and tagged .

THE IDEA OF CHRIST IN THE GOSPELS OR GOD IN MAN

A CRITICAL ESSAY BY GEORGE SANTAYANA

CONTENTS

PART FIRST

THE IDEA OF CHRIST IN THE GOSPELS

I Inspiration
II Character of the Several Gospels
III The Messiah
IV The Son of God
V The Son of Man
VI The Miracles
VII The Parables
VIII The Prophecies and the Precepts
IX The Prayers
X The Passion
XI The Resurrection

PART SECOND

ULTERIOR CONSIDERATIONS

I Traditional Assumptions
II Monarchical Theism
III The Concept of Creation
IV The Fatherhood of God
V Moralism
VI God’s Love of Man and Man’s Love of God
VII The Animal Psyche and the Supernatural Soul
VIII Self-Transcendence
IX Conclusion

INSPIRATION

Many a ’’Life of Jesus” has been composed in the effort to recast the narratives in the four Gospels into one consecutive and credible history. For a believer, if he were greatly inspired, such an undertaking might be legitimate; yet it would be hardly required, since the narratives, though independent, fall together of themselves, in the pious mind, into a total and impressive picture. The history of Christian faith and of Christian art sufficiently proves it. But this presupposes an innocent state of mind that accepts every detail, no matter how miraculous, with unhesitating joy, and is ready sympathetically to piece out the blanks in the story, and to imagine ever more vividly how everything must have happened. So every orthodox preacher does in his glowing sermons, and every devout soul in its meditations.

If, however, the would-be biographer of Jesus is a cool aide,
with no religious assumptions, his labours will be entirely wasted,
because he has mistaken the character of his texts. The Gospels are
not historical works but production of inspiration. They are sum-
monses and prophecies, announcing the end of this world, or at
least of the present era, and prescribing the means by which individual souls may escape destruction, and enter into a Kingdom of Heaven which is at hand.

Essentially, then, the Gospels are prophetic; they bring “glad tidings”; yet they are not written by the prophets themselves, but gathered together a generation orContinue Reading

Mao’s Evaluations of Stalin

Posted on by in BOOK and tagged , .
Quotations from Mao Tse Tung

Mao’s Evaluations of Stalin

A Collection and Summary

Mao’s Evaluations of Stalin

“Generally speaking, all Communist Party members who have a certain capacity for study should study the theories of Marx, Engels, Lenin, and Stalin, study the history of our nation, and study the circumstances and trends of current movements; moreover, they should serve to educate members with a lower cultural level….
“The theories of Marx, Engels, Lenin, and Stalin are universally applicable. We should not regard their theories as dogma but as a guide to action.”
—“On the New Stage” (Oct. 12-14, 1938), MRP6, p. 537. In a slightly different translation in SW2, pp. 208-9.

[Edgar Snow writing:] “On another occasion I asked Mao whether, in his opinion, Russia’s occupation of Poland was primarily justified by strategic-military necessity or political necessity.

“Mao seemed to think that the governing factor was strategic necessity, but that the move was partly military and partly political. The political side was not related directly to the world condition of the revolutionary movement but to the Soviet Union’s historic relations with Eastern Poland. The Soviet-German Pact, on the other hand, was not political but a strategic-military necessity. Stalin wanted it in order to block Chamberlain’s effort to build a coalition against Russia. Mao claimed that Chamberlain had clearly indicated to Hitler that he had to make a choice between fighting Russia or fighting England. If Hitler attacked Russia, Chamberlain was prepared to tolerate his occupation of Poland, Rumania, Yugoslavia, and the Baltic states. If not, he would use Poland to oppose Hitler. Stalin was then compelled to seek his own agreement with Hitler.”
—Edgar Snow’s report of an interview with Mao, in “Interviews with Edgar Snow” (Sept. 24-26), 1939), MRP7, p. 229. Thus according to Snow, Mao fully supported Stalin’s decision to sign a non-aggression pact with Germany and to occupy eastern Poland. (See also pp. 221-228 of the Snow interviews.)

Continue Reading

A Guide for the Perplexed: Moses Maimonides 1140 CE

Posted on by in BOOK, Education, PHILOSOPHY and tagged .
Freedom

Moses Maimonides, A Guide for the Perplexed, translated from the original Arabic text by M. Friedlaender

THE GUIDE FOR THE PERPLEXED

Moses Maimonides, A Guide for the Perplexed, translated from the original Arabic text by M. Friedlaender

THE GUIDE FOR THE PERPLEXED
by MOSES MAIMONIDES
TRANSLATED FROM THE ORIGINAL ARABIC TEXT
by M. FRIEDLÄNDER, Ph.D.

THE LIFE OF MOSES MAIMONIDES

Moses Maimonides was one of the foremost intellectuals of medieval Judaism. He became physician to Sultan Saladin (1137/8-1193), the famous Islamic military leader.
Moses, the son of Maimon, was born at Cordova, on the 14th of Nisan, 4895 (March 30, 1135). Although the date of his birth has been recorded with the utmost accuracy, no trustworthy notice has been preserved concerning the early period of his life. But his entire career is a proof that he did not pass his youth in idleness; his education must have been in harmony with the hope of his parents, that one day he would, like his father and forefathers, hold the honourable office of Dayyan or Rabbi, and distinguish himself in theological learning. It is probable that the Bible and the Talmud formed the chief subjects of his study; but he unquestionably made the best use of the opportunities which Mohammedan Spain, and especially Cordova, afforded him for the acquisition of general knowledge.

Continue Reading

THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH NATION- Saint Bede

Posted on by in BOOK, History, Theology and tagged .

THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH NATION

BOOK I

PREFACE

to the most glorious king ceolwulph, bede, the servant of christ and priest

I formerly, at your request, most readily transmitted to you the Ecclesiastical History of the English Nation, which I had newly published, for you to read, and give it your approbation; and I now send it again to be transcribed, and more fully considered at your leisure. And I cannot but commend the sincerity and zeal, with which you not only diligently give ear to hear the words of the Holy Scripture, but also industriously take care to become acquainted with the actions and sayings of former men of renown, especially of our own nation. For if history relates good things of good men, the attentive hearer is excited to imitate that which is good; or if it mentions evil things of wicked persons, nevertheless the religious and pious hearer or reader, shunning that which is hurtful and perverse, is the more earnestly excited to perform those things which he knows to be good, and worthy of God. Of which you also being deeply sensible, are desirous that the said history should be more fully made familiar to yourself, and to those over whom the Divine Authority has appointed you governor, from your great regard to their general welfare. But to the end that I may remove all occasion of doubting what I have written, both from yourself and other readers or hearers of this history, I will take care briefly to intimate from what authors I chiefly learned the same.

Continue Reading