Beelzebub's Tales to His Grandson: All and Everything First Series- An Objectively Imperial Criticism of the Life of Man

Email

Whatsapp

Facebook

Pinterest

Twitter

Copy link

The spiritual way brought by G. I. Gurdjieff (1866-1949) has been recognized as one of the most original, enduring, and penetrating teachings of our time. While he used varied forms of transmission-such as group meetings, meditation, dance, and music- Gurdjieff gave special importance to the publication of Beelzebub's Tales to His Grandson.
This allegory, majestic in argument and scale, ranges in scope from the genesis of the cosmos and the unfolding of life at all levels, through the history of mankind, to vividly detailed portraits that convey Gurdjieff's vision of human purpose in the vast cosmological scheme. It presents an incisive critique of the violence and misdirection in human culture, though this is always tempered by the author's compassionate humour and emphasis on the potential for evolution.
In this book Gurdjieff speaks a patterned language, unlike that of any other writer, to dismay automatic thinking. The present volume returns to print the classic edition first published in 1950.
"In Beelzebub's Tales, soaring off into space, like a great, lumbering, flying cathedral, Gurdjieff gathered the fundamentals of his teaching"

Born in Alexandropol in 1866, in a region of the Czarist empire that could be viewed as the seam be- tween Europe and Asia. George Ivanovitch Gurdjieff traveled throughout the Middle East, Central Asia, and North Africa in search of knowledge concerning the hidden possibilities of human beings and our place in the universe. On his return, he began to gather pupils in Moscow and St. Petersburg before the First World War. During the years of the Russian Revolution and civil war, he migrated with a small party of followers to Essentuki in the Caucasus, and then through Tiflis, Constantinople, and Berlin to what would become his home in Paris and its region. In 1922, he opened the Institute for the Harmonious Development of Man at the Château du Prieure in Fontainebleau-Avon, near Paris. The following year, his pupils gave public demonstrations of his Sacred Dances in Paris and, early in 1924, in several cities of the United States. This was the first of Gurdjieff's visits to the United States.
After a near-fatal automobile accident in the summer of 1924, Gurdjieff closed the Institute and devoted himself to writing. The first chapters of Beelzebub's Tales were written in this period.
The Prieure was sold in 1932 and Gurdjieff moved to Paris where he resumed his work with pupils and completed his writings. After World War II, pupils from many countries were able to study and work with him until his death in October 1949.
Gurdjieff's writings are contained in a three-part series: Beezlebub's Tales to His Grandson, Meetings with Remarkable Men, and Life is Real Only Then, When I Am'. Records of his lectures and talks, primarily from the early years at the Prieure, are presented in Views from the Real World: Early Talks of Gurdjieff. All are published in Penguin Compass.