Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #17408 in Books
• Published on: 2001-09
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 399 pages

Customer Reviews

Great Introduction to the Esoteric Work
P.D. Ouspensky's "In Search of the Miraculous" is one of the most profound and one of most memorable books that I have ever read, and it is most certainly the must-read. Not only that, it also forces one to question one's reality, self-identity, actions, and surroundings. With each time that I read this book, I began to notice the number of little false "i's" that popped up in my being. Every little lies that I ever believed were being exposed. And, my understanding of the world that we are living in has changed in such an enormous way and with such a powerful impact. This book certainly changed my perspectives of life and the understanding of who I am.

I would highly recommend "In Search of the Miraculous" as it is most insightful book of Gurdjieff's unique teachings ever written. It is clear written yet certainly tough to take in. It is also comprehensive on the profound theories as well methods of the mentioned teachings.

Reading this book is most certainly the first step towards being awake and becoming aware of oneself and one's surroundings. Before reading Gurdjieff's three books and any Fourth Way literature, "In Search of the Miraculous" is a great introduction to the unique concepts and the esoteric Work.

A profound and disturbing book - essential reading
I've always felt there was far more to life than was immediately apparent, and I'm incredibly glad to have come across this most important book. One of the most pertinent observations that occurred to me in the past ten years - which became somewhat of a burning question - was that people seemed to become more and more mechanical and less like themselves. Not only does that arouse a deep nostalgia for childhood, it also fills me with a sense of sadness and horror. It came to me quite simply in seeing my peers develop a false mask; a set of behaviours and thoughts that were the complete opposite to what they originally possessed. It was as if at a certain point, something overtook them and they were swallowed up. This happens to everybody to one degree or another, but it seems as though a few retain an awareness of the process and seek to discover why it happens, what it's implications are, and try to do something about it. That is who this important work is for.

The book is essentially a chronicle of a time in P. D. Ouspensky's life at the end of a long search for knowledge. When it seems he has been everywhere and explored all other teachings, he comes across an advert in the newspaper from a man named George Ivanovitch Gurdjieff. His interest piqued, he meets with him at a small cafe (or some such place) and starts a dialogue and interaction that stretches over the next few decades; around the time of the first World War.

Gurdjieff conveys a dark and not so pleasant perspective about mankind as a whole. It would perhaps be more accurate to say he strips away the most fundamental illusions each person holds about themselves and the world. Indeed the reality is terrifying - that man acts like nothing more than a machine, swayed by external influences - but there is a glimmer of hope and potential lying dormant in human beings, from which we can escape this situation.

If you see that something is terribly wrong on this planet - and there most certainly is - and yearn for truth as the most high ideal, then this work and teaching is the first step to understanding.

It needs to be read alongside with Gurdjieff's "All and Everything" series; Laura Knight-Jadczyk's "The Secret History of the World & How To Get Out Alive" which draws on this millenia old tradition of esoteric knowledge; and Andrew Lobaczewski's "Political Ponerology" which puts it into a more practical and necessary framework.

An Awakening Experience
People interact with each other purely in a mechanical way. Most of them prefer this way of "life", going about their business totally asleep. But there are a few who want to wake up, who want to BE. It's not easy. It never is. But if you are one who wants to truly BE, then this book will help you on your first steps to the path; but only if you are willing to "see".

This book tells "how it is", not a bunch of spellbinding fairy tales with rituals and magic spells. This is a book for the true student of Way.