Gary Lachman is the author of twenty-one books on topics ranging from the evolution of consciousness to literary suicides, popular culture and the history of the occult. He has written a rock and roll memoir of the 1970s, biographies of Aleister Crowley, Rudolf Steiner, C. G. Jung, Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, Emanuel Swedenborg, P. D. Ouspensky, and Colin Wilson, histories of Hermeticism and the Western Inner Tradition, studies in existentialism and the philosophy of consciousness, and about the influence of esotericism on politics and society.
Here he describes how, prior to meeting George Gurdjieff, Peter D. Ouspensky had achieved acclaim in Russia as a writer, journalist, and lecturer. He had been active in the Theosophical movement. His encounter with Gurdjieff changed his life. The relationship was not an easy one, and at one time Ouspensky suspected that Gurdjieff had gone mad. The two personalities were very different. Even after he broke away from Gurdjieff, Ouspensky continued to teach his system.
(Recorded on February 13, 2019)
Published on February 15, 2019