Movies - Meetings with Remarkable Men

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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.

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.

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."

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 people generally live their lives asleep, are unconscious of themselves, and accordingly behave like machines, subject to outside causes and pressures. Many additional hidden harmonies are noted or alluded to.

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. Many of these stories seem to be fanciful and even incredible, and in fact if they are taken purely on a literal level are hardly worth reading, except for their entertainment.

Many of the vignettes in Meetings are meant to be symbolic, or are "teaching stories" similar to the parables current in Sufi circles.

Film version

The book was made into a 1979 feature film directed by Peter Brook. Shot on location in Afghanistan (except for dance sequences, which were filmed in England), it starred Terence Stamp, and Dragan Maksimovic as the adult Gurdjieff.

The "plot" (to the extent that the film can be said to have a plot) involves Gurdjieff and his companions' search for truth in a series of dialogues and vignettes, much as in the book. Unlike the book, these result in a definite climax--Gurdjieff's initiation into the mysterious Sarmoung Brotherhood. The film is noteworthy for making public some glimpses of the "Gurdjieff movements"; and for containing almost no sex or violence.

Category:1963 books Category:Philosophy books Category:1979 films Category:Spiritual books category:Fourth Way

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