P. D. Ouspensky

P. D. Ouspensky
P. D. Ouspensky (1878-1947)
Born	Pyotr Demianovich Ouspenskii March 4, 1878(1878-03-04) Moscow, Russia
Died	October 2, 1947(1947-10-02) (aged 69) Lyne Place, Surrey, England
Nationality	Russian
Ethnicity	Caucasian
Religion	Christian

Peter D. Ouspensky (March 4, 1878–October 2, 1947), (Pyotr Demianovich Ouspenskii, also Uspenskii or Uspensky, Пётр Демья́нович Успе́нский), a Russian esotericist known for his expositions of the early work of the Greek-Armenian teacher of esoteric doctrine George Gurdjieff, whom he met in Moscow in 1915.

He was associated with the ideas and practices originating with Gurdjieff from then on. In 1924, he separated from Gurdjieff personally, and some, including Rodney Collin among others, say that he finally gave up the (Gurdjieff) "system" that he had shared with people for 25 years in England and the United States, but his own recorded words on the subject ("A Record of Meetings," published posthumously) do not clearly endorse this judgement nor does Ouspensky's emphasis on "you must make a new beginning" after confessing "I've left the system"; all this happened in Lyne Place, Surrey, England in 1947, just before his demise. While lecturing in London in 1924 he announced that he would continue independently the way he began in 1921. All in all, Ouspensky studied the Gurdjieff System directly under Gurdjieff's own supervision for a period of ten years, from 1915 to 1924. Ouspenky's book In Search of the Miraculous is a recounting of what Ouspensky learned from Gurdjieff during those years.^[1]

Career

Ouspensky was born in Moscow. In 1890, he was studying in the Second Moscow Gymnasium, a government school attended by boys from ten to eighteen. At the age of sixteen, he was expelled from school for painting graffiti on the wall in plain sight of a visiting inspector to see; thereafter, he would be more or less on his own.^[2] In 1906, he was working in the editorial office of the Moscow daily paper The Morning. In the autumn of 1913, before the beginning of World War I, he journeyed to the East in search of the miraculous but returned to Moscow shortly after the beginning of the great world war. There he met Gurdjieff and took in Mme Sophie Grigorievna Maximenko as his wife but he had a mistress by the name of Anna Ilinishna Butkovsky.^[3]

His first book, The Fourth Dimension, appeared in 1909; his second book, Tertium Organum, in 1912; and A New Model of the Universe in 1931. This last work discusses the idea of esotericism. He also wrote the novel Strange Life of Ivan Osokin, which explored the concept of recurrence or eternal return. He traveled in Europe and the East — India, Ceylon, and Egypt — in his search for knowledge. After his return to Russia and his introduction to Gurdjieff in 1915, Ouspensky spent the next few years studying with him. According to Osho, when Ouspensky went to Gurdjieff for the first time, the latter was but an unknown fakir and Ouspensky made him well-known to his own reading public.^[4]

Denying the ultimate reality of motion in his book Tertium Organum,^[5] he also negates Aristotle's Logical Formula of Identification of "A is A" and finally concludes in his "higher logic" that A is both A and not-A without specifying that in Aristotle's formula A can be both A and not A but not at the same time.^[6]

Unbeknown to Ouspensky, a Russian émigré by the name of Nicholas Bessarabof took a copy of Tertium Organum to America and placed it in the hands of the architect Claude Bragdon who could read Russian and was interested in the fourth dimension.^[7] Tertium Organum was rendered into English by Bragdon who had incorporated his own design of the hypercube^[8][9] into the Rochester Chamber of Commerce building.^[10] Bragdon also published the book and the publication was such a success that it was finally taken up by Alfred A. Knopf. At the time, in the early 1920s, Ouspensky's whereabouts were unknown until Bragdon located him in Constantinople and paid him some back royalties.

Ouspensky's lectures in London were attended by such literary figures as Aldous Huxley, T. S. Eliot, Gerald Heard and other writers, journalists and doctors. His influence on the literary scene of the 20s and 30s of the 20th century as well as on the Russian avant-garde was immense but still very little known.^[11]

Ouspensky also provided an original discussion of the nature and expression of sexuality in his A New Model of the Universe; among other things, he draws a distinction between erotica and pornography.

During his years in Moscow, Ouspensky wrote for several newspapers and was particularly interested in the then-fashionable idea of the fourth dimension.^[12] His first published work was titled The Fourth Dimension^[13] and he explored the subject along the ideas prevalent at the time in the works of Charles H. Hinton,^[14] the fourth dimension being an extension in space.^[15][16] Ouspensky treats time as a fourth dimension only indirectly in a novel he wrote titled Strange Life of Ivan Osokin^[17] where he also explores the theory of eternal recurrence.

Later life

After the Bolshevik revolution, Ouspensky travelled to London by way of Istanbul. G.R.S. Mead became interested in the fourth dimension and Lady Rothermore, wife of the press magnate, was willing to spread the news of Ouspenky's Tertium Organum, while Ouspensky's acquaintance A.R. Orage was telling others about Ouspensky. By order of the British government, Gurdjieff was not allowed to settle down in London. Finally, he went to France with a considerable sum of money raised by Ouspensky and his friends and settled down near Paris at the Prieuré in Fontainbleau, Avon.^[18] It was during this time, after Gurdjieff founded his Institute for the Harmonious Development of Man in France, that Ouspensky came to the conclusion that he was no longer able to understand his former teacher and made a decision to discontinue association with him, setting up his own organisation The Society for the Study of Normal Psychology, which is now known as the Study Society.^[19][20] Nevertheless, he wrote about Gurdjieff's teachings in a book originally entitled Fragments of an Unknown Teaching, only published posthumously in 1947 under the title In Search of the Miraculous. While this volume has been criticized by some of those who have followed Gurdjieff's teachings as only a partial representation of the totality of his ideas, it nevertheless provides what is probably the most concise explanation of the material that was included. This is in sharp contrast to the writings of Gurdjieff himself, such as Beelzebub's Tales to his Grandson, where the ideas and precepts of Gurdjieff's teachings are found very deeply veiled in allegory. It is also important to note that Ouspensky did receive permission from Gurdjieff for the publication of In Search of the Miraculous, something that was seemingly withheld from almost every other student of Gurdjieff, even in instances where the material being written about was much less complete or clear.

He died in Lyne Place, Surrey. Shortly after his death in 1947, The Psychology of Man's Possible Evolution was published, together with In Search of the Miraculous. Transcripts of certain of his lectures were published under the title of The Fourth Way in 1957; largely a collection of question and answer sessions, the book details important concepts, both introductory and advanced, for students of these teachings.

Ouspensky's papers are held in Yale University Library's Manuscripts and Archives department.

Teaching

After Ouspensky broke away from Gurdjieff, he taught the "Fourth Way", as he understood it, to his independent groups.

Fourth Way

There are three recognized ways of self-development generally known in esoteric circles. These are the Way of the Fakir, dealing exclusively with the physical body, the Way of the Monk, dealing with the emotions, and the Way of the Yogi, dealing with the mind. What is common about the three ways is that they demand complete seclusion from the world. According to Gurdjieff, there is a Fourth Way which does not demand its followers to abandon the world. The work of self-development takes place right in the midst of ordinary life. Gurdjieff called his system a school of the Fourth Way where a person learns to work in harmony with his physical body, emotions and mind. Ouspensky picked up this idea and continued his own school along this line.^[21]

P.D. Ouspensky made the term "Fourth Way" and its use central to his own teaching of the ideas of Gurdjieff. He greatly focused on Fourth Way schools and their existence throughout history.

Students

Among his students were Rodney Collin, Maurice Nicoll, Robert S de Ropp, Kenneth Walker and Dr Francis Roles.

Self-remembering

Ouspensky personally confessed the difficulties he was experiencing with self-remembering, a technique to which he had been introduced by Gurdjieff himself. Gurdjieff explained to him this was the missing link to everything else. While in Russia, Ouspensky himself experimented with the technique with a certain degree of success and in his lectures in London and America, he emphasized its practice. The technique requires a division of attention, so that a person not only pays attention to what is going on in the exterior world but also in the interior. A.L. Volinsky, an acquaintance of Ouspensky in Russia mentioned to Ouspensky that this was what professor Wundt meant by apperception. Ouspensky refused to believe it. Gurdjieff explained the Rosicrucian principle that in order to bring about a result or manifestation, three things are necessary. With self-remembering and self-observation two things are present. The third one is explained by Ouspensky in his tract on Conscience: it is the non-expression of negative emotions.^[22][23]

Self-Knowledge

According to Beryl Pogson, author of The Work Life, "...the only real poverty is lack of self-knowledge." ^[24]

Published works by P.D. Ouspensky

• The Psychology of Man’s Possible Evolution Online
• Tertium Organum: The Third Canon of Thought, a Key to the Enigmas of the World. (Translated from the Russian by Nicholas Bessaraboff and Claude Bragdon). Rochester, New York: Manas Press, 1920; New York: Knopf, 1922; London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner, 1923, 1934; 3rd American edition, New York: Knopf, 1945. Online Version
• A New Model of the Universe: Principles of the Psychological Method in Its Application to Problems of Science, Religion and Art (Translated from the Russian by R. R. Merton, under the supervision of the author). New York: Knopf, 1931; London: Routledge, 1931; 2nd revised edition, London: Routledge, 1934; New York: Knopf, 1934.
• Talks with a Devil.(Russian, 1916). Tr. by Katya Petroff, edited with an introduction by J. G. Bennett. Northhamptonshire: Turnstone, 1972, ISBN 0-85500-004-X (hc); New York: Knopf, 1973, ; York Beach: Weiser, 2000, ISBN 1-57863-164-5.
• The Psychology of Man’s Possible Evolution. New York: Hedgehog Press, 1950.
• Strange Life of Ivan Osokin. New York and London: Holme, 1947; London: Faber & Faber, 1948; first published in Russian as Kinemadrama (St. Petersburg, 1915). Online (Russian)
• In Search of the Miraculous: Fragments of an Unknown Teaching New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1949; London: Routledge, 1949.
• The Fourth Way: A Record of Talks and Answers to Questions Based on the Teaching of G. I. Gurdjieff (Prepared under the general supervision of Sophia Ouspensky). New York: Knopf, 1957; London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1957.
• Letters from Russia, 1919 (Introduction by Fairfax Hall and epilog from In Denikin's Russia by C. E. Bechhofer). London and New York: Arkana, 1978.
• Conscience: The Search for Truth (Introduction by Merrily E. Taylor) London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1979.
• A Further Record: Extracts from Meetings 1928–1945 London and New York: Arkana, 1986.
• The Symbolism of the Tarot (Translated by A. L. Pogossky). New York: Dover Publications Inc., 1976. Online Version
• The Psychology of Man's Possible Evolution and The Cosmology of Man's possible Evolution, a limited edition of the definitive text of his Psychological and Cosmological Lectures, 1934-1945. Agora Books, East Sussex, 1989. ISBN 1-872292-00-3. Online
• P.D. Ouspensky Memorial Collection, Yale University Library, Archive Notes taken from meetings during 1935–1947.

Further reading

• Girard Haven; Carlos Labbate.Dear Friend: Letters Based on the Teachings of G.I. Gurdjieff and P.D. Ouspensky, Ulysses Books; 1st edition 2003. ISBN 0964578271.
• Bob Hunter: Don't Forget: P.D. Ouspensky's Life of Self-Remembering, Bardic Press, 2006. ISBN 0-9745667-7-2.
• Gary Lachman: In Search of P. D. Ouspensky: The Genius in the Shadow of Gurdjieff. Quest Books, 2004, ISBN 0-8356-0840-9.Chapter VI, Online
• J. H. Reyner: Ouspensky, The Unsung Genius. George Allen & Unwin, London, 1981, ISBN 0-04-294122-9.
• Colin Wilson: The Strange Life of P. D. Ouspensky. The Aquarian Press, 1993, ISBN 1-85538-079-X.

References

1. ^ Miller, Timothy (1995). America's Alternativa Religions. SUNY Press. p. 260. ISBN 0791423981. http://books.google.com/books?id=y3Mt7QIXrRwC&pg=PA260&dq=Ouspensky+gurdjieff#v=onepage&q=. "Ouspensky succeeded in capturing on paper Gurdjieff's system..." 
2. ^ Shirley, John (2004). Gurdjieff. Penguin Group. p. 111. ISBN 1585422876. 
3. ^ Moore, James (1999). Gurdjieff. Element Books Ltd. p. 73. ISBN 1862046069. "The meaning of life is an eternal search." 
4. ^ Osho, Swami Ananda Somendra And The Flowers Showered, p. 39, Diamond Pocket Books Ltd., 1978 ISBN 978-8171822102
5. ^ Ouspensky, P. D. (1912). Tertium Organum (2nd ed.). Forgotten Books. ISBN 1605064871. http://books.google.com/books?id=myhW9upOw3sC&dq=Ouspensky+Tertium+Organum+1912. 
6. ^ Ouspensky, P. D. (2003). Tertium Organum. Book Tree. p. 266. ISBN 1585092444. "A is both A and Not-A" 
7. ^ Gary Lachman In Search of P. D. Ouspensky, p. 174, Quest Books, 2006 ISBN 978-0835608480
8. ^ Claude Bragdon, A Primer of Higher Space, Omen Press, Tucson, Arizona, 1972.
9. ^ A primer of higher space (the fourth dimension) by Claude Fayette Bragdon, plates 1, 20 and 21 (following p. 24)
10. ^ Rudolf Rucker, Geometry, Relativity and the Fourth Dimension, Dover Publications Inc., 1977, p. 2. ISBN 0-486-23400-2.
11. ^ Gary Lachman In Search of P. D. Ouspensky, pp. 177-8, Quest Books, 2006 ISBN 978-0835608480
12. ^ Geometry of four dimensions by Henry Parker Manning
13. ^ P. D. Ouspensky, The Fourth Dimension, Kessinger Publishing, 2005. ISBN 10-1425349358.
14. ^ Rucker, Rudolf, editor, Speculations on the Fourth Dimension: Selected Writings of Charles H. Hinton, Dover Publications Inc., 1980. ISBN 0-486-23916-0.
15. ^ Scientific Romances by Charles Howard Hinton
16. ^ A new era of thought by Charles Howard Hinton
17. ^ P. D. Ouspensky, Strange Life of Ivan Osokin, Lindisfarne Books, 1947. ISBN 1-58420-005-7.
18. ^ Alex Owen The Place of Enchantment, p. 232, University of Chicago Press, 2004 ISBN 978-0226642017
19. ^ http://www.studysociety.org/
20. ^ Brian Hodgkinson (2010). In Search of Truth. Shepheard-Walwyn (Publishers). ISBN 9780856832765.  p. 34
21. ^ Bruno de Panafieu-Jacob Needleman-George Baker-Mary Stein Gurdjieff, p. 218, Continuum International Publishing Group, 1997 ISBN 978-0826410498
22. ^ P. D. Ouspensky Conscience, p. 126, Routledge, 1979 ISBN 978-0710003973
23. ^ Gary Lachman In Search of P. D. Ouspensky, p. 121, Quest Books, 2006 ISBN 978-0835608480
24. ^ Beryl Pogson The Work Life, p. 5, 1994 ISBN 978-0877288091

External links

• The Ouspensky Foundation
• appreciation by James Moore and bibliography by J. Walter Driscoll
• Ouspensky's Historical Choreography
• A Brief Discussion of Ouspensky's Thought by Michael Presley
• Tertium Organum (full text at sacred-texts.com)

Persondata
Name	Ouspensky, P. D.
Alternative names	Pyotr Demianovich Ouspenskii
Short description	Russian Author
Date of birth	1878-03-04
Place of birth	Moscow, Russia
Date of death	1947-10-02
Place of death	Surrey, England