Meetings with Remarkable Men

Meetings with Remarkable Men is G. I. Gurdjieff's autobiography. It was originally published in 1963. It tells the tale of a young Gurdjieff growing up in a world torn between traditional culture and rationalism and the developing modern sciences. The book is the second part of the trilogy known as All and Everything written by Gurdjieff between 1924 and 1935.

Related Topics:
G. I. Gurdjieff - 1963 - All and Everything

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The book takes the form of Gurdjieff's reminiscences about various "remarkable men" that he has met, beginning with his father. They include the Armenian priest Pogossian; the drunk Soloviev (whose name recalls that of a well-known Orthodox Christian mystic), and Prince Lubovedsky, a Russian prince with metaphysical interests. Despite the masculine title, one such acquaintance--a freed Russian slave from Central Asia--is a woman.

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In the course of describing these characters, Gurdjieff weaves their stories into the story of his own travels, and also into an overarching narrative which has them cooperate in locating spiritual texts and/or masters in various lands (mostly Central Asia). Gurdjieff calls this group the "Seekers of Truth."

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Remarkably, most of them do in fact find "truth" in the form of some suitable spiritual destiny. The underlying philosophy, especially as articulated in an appendix, amounts to the assertion that ordinarily, people behave in a mechanical fashion, subject to outside causes and pressures. Only by forcing themselves to break out of such habits can we develop a soul which might live on after death. Many additional hidden harmonies are noted or alluded to.

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These rather bold claims have inspired some to question the book's "autobiographical" character. For example, Gurdjieff claims to have first heard the Epic of Gilgamesh as an oral epic sung from memory by his father; to have made contact with a brotherhood descending from the Essenes; to have copied a map of "pre-sand Egypt" (the existence of the map itself is plausible enough), and to have witnessed a number of miracles and esoteric phenomena. At one point he intimates that it is possible to escape Central Asian sandstorms by standing on stilts. The fact that Gurdjieff admits to being a liar and cheat ("American canaries...")--or that his next book (Beelzebub's Tales to his Grandson) was even more preposterous--does not add to his credibility.

Related Topics:
Epic of Gilgamesh - Essenes - Stilts - Beelzebub's Tales to his Grandson

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It seems likely that many of the vignettes in Meetings are meant to be symbolic, or are "teaching stories" similar to the parables current in Sufi circles.

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