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G.I. Gurdjieff: The War Against Sleep
George Ivanovitch Gurdjieff is one of the most enigmatic figures of our time. He attracted legends as easily as disciples. But behind the Gurdjieff myth lies a solid corpus of thought, the importance of which is only now being generally recognized. At its heart was the idea of "the war against sleep", the fact that man, in Colin Wilson's words, is like "a grandfather clock driven by a watch-spring."
This brilliant & much praised examination of a psychologist & teacher of genius has established itself as the most important & accessible account for the general reader of Gurdjieff's life & work. This edition has been revised & expanded, providing the definitive introduction to the philosophy of Gurdjieff.
This brilliant & much praised examination of a psychologist & teacher of genius has established itself as the most important & accessible account for the general reader of Gurdjieff's life & work. This edition has been revised & expanded, providing the definitive introduction to the philosophy of Gurdjieff.
128 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1980
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374 people want to read
About the author
Colin Wilson
403 books1,292 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.
Colin Henry Wilson was born and raised in Leicester, England, U.K. He left school at 16, worked in factories and various occupations, and read in his spare time. When Wilson was 24, Gollancz published The Outsider (1956) which examines the role of the social 'outsider' in seminal works of various key literary and cultural figures. These include Albert Camus, Jean-Paul Sartre, Ernest Hemingway, Hermann Hesse, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, William James, T. E. Lawrence, Vaslav Nijinsky and Vincent Van Gogh and Wilson discusses his perception of Social alienation in their work. The book was a best seller and helped popularize existentialism in Britain. Critical praise though, was short-lived and Wilson was soon widely criticized.
Wilson's works after The Outsider focused on positive aspects of human psychology, such as peak experiences and the narrowness of consciousness. He admired the humanistic psychologist Abraham Maslow and corresponded with him. Wilson wrote The War Against Sleep: The Philosophy of Gurdjieff on the life, work and philosophy of G. I. Gurdjieff and an accessible introduction to the Greek-Armenian mystic in 1980. He argues throughout his work that the existentialist focus on defeat or nausea is only a partial representation of reality and that there is no particular reason for accepting it. Wilson views normal, everyday consciousness buffeted by the moment, as "blinkered" and argues that it should not be accepted as showing us the truth about reality. This blinkering has some evolutionary advantages in that it stops us from being completely immersed in wonder, or in the huge stream of events, and hence unable to act. However, to live properly we need to access more than this everyday consciousness. Wilson believes that our peak experiences of joy and meaningfulness are as real as our experiences of angst and, since we are more fully alive at these moments, they are more real. These experiences can be cultivated through concentration, paying attention, relaxation and certain types of work.
Colin Henry Wilson was born and raised in Leicester, England, U.K. He left school at 16, worked in factories and various occupations, and read in his spare time. When Wilson was 24, Gollancz published The Outsider (1956) which examines the role of the social 'outsider' in seminal works of various key literary and cultural figures. These include Albert Camus, Jean-Paul Sartre, Ernest Hemingway, Hermann Hesse, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, William James, T. E. Lawrence, Vaslav Nijinsky and Vincent Van Gogh and Wilson discusses his perception of Social alienation in their work. The book was a best seller and helped popularize existentialism in Britain. Critical praise though, was short-lived and Wilson was soon widely criticized.
Wilson's works after The Outsider focused on positive aspects of human psychology, such as peak experiences and the narrowness of consciousness. He admired the humanistic psychologist Abraham Maslow and corresponded with him. Wilson wrote The War Against Sleep: The Philosophy of Gurdjieff on the life, work and philosophy of G. I. Gurdjieff and an accessible introduction to the Greek-Armenian mystic in 1980. He argues throughout his work that the existentialist focus on defeat or nausea is only a partial representation of reality and that there is no particular reason for accepting it. Wilson views normal, everyday consciousness buffeted by the moment, as "blinkered" and argues that it should not be accepted as showing us the truth about reality. This blinkering has some evolutionary advantages in that it stops us from being completely immersed in wonder, or in the huge stream of events, and hence unable to act. However, to live properly we need to access more than this everyday consciousness. Wilson believes that our peak experiences of joy and meaningfulness are as real as our experiences of angst and, since we are more fully alive at these moments, they are more real. These experiences can be cultivated through concentration, paying attention, relaxation and certain types of work.
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 17 reviews
June 24, 2022
A short book and competently written, as always with Colin Wilson.
Gurdjieff's teaching (at least initially) revolved around the old idea that we're all really sleep-walking through life.
"We live subject to arrest by degrees of fatigue which we have come only from habit to obey," he says, and this, according to Wilson's interpretation of Gurdjieff, limits us, because our limits "are due to a peculiar form of laziness that has become so habitual that it has developed into a mechanism", and that "comfort and security [are] far more dangerous than uncertainty". Crisis or a sense of urgency can summon deeper powers. So too hard labour, according to Gurdjieff's "teaching".
I know crisis can sometimes make you achieve things beyond anything you thought yourself capable, having experienced this myself.
This though is the core of Gurdjieff's "teaching": to remedy the "sleep-walking", he advocated punishing yourself physically through hard toil or some other means in order to push yourself beyond your "robotic" habits/limits and reach that higher state.
Wilson calls it Gurdjieff's principle of "super-effort" and says that Gurdjieff believed that "through intense efforts a certain form of energy is created - the energy man needs for transformation".
Later, according to Wilson, Gurdjieff seemed to be moving away from his earlier teachings (Wilson explains this in the latter part of the book), although he never fully developed his "system".
An example of the "earlier" system is Fritz Peters, an 11 year old "pupil", who, like some kind of Karate Kid, was made to perform a task (of mowing all the lawns at the Chateau in one week) intended to teach him what he wanted to know. Gurdjieff demanded he do this no matter what happened and no matter who tried to stop him. **raised eyebrow!
"I would have died , if necessary, in the act of mowing the lawns," says Peters. **second raised eyebrow!
But Wilson then shits on the idea of Gurdjieff's earlier 'super effort' theory by adding that it was similar to commando training. Collapse was probably the most likely outcome and for some of his "disciples" that was the case.
I couldn't help snigger when I read that Gurdjieff fell foul of it himself when working on his book "Beelzebub" - "it became such a difficult task for him that 'his exhaustion and the difficulties of authorship' made him contemplate suicide"
I'm not knocking the book with that last remark because there's some quite important stuff here imo, especially in the latter part, where Wilson extrapolates from Gurdijeff's germinal idea.
Interesting parallels if you've read Huxley essay "Who are We?".
Gurdjieff's teaching (at least initially) revolved around the old idea that we're all really sleep-walking through life.
"We live subject to arrest by degrees of fatigue which we have come only from habit to obey," he says, and this, according to Wilson's interpretation of Gurdjieff, limits us, because our limits "are due to a peculiar form of laziness that has become so habitual that it has developed into a mechanism", and that "comfort and security [are] far more dangerous than uncertainty". Crisis or a sense of urgency can summon deeper powers. So too hard labour, according to Gurdjieff's "teaching".
I know crisis can sometimes make you achieve things beyond anything you thought yourself capable, having experienced this myself.
This though is the core of Gurdjieff's "teaching": to remedy the "sleep-walking", he advocated punishing yourself physically through hard toil or some other means in order to push yourself beyond your "robotic" habits/limits and reach that higher state.
Wilson calls it Gurdjieff's principle of "super-effort" and says that Gurdjieff believed that "through intense efforts a certain form of energy is created - the energy man needs for transformation".
Later, according to Wilson, Gurdjieff seemed to be moving away from his earlier teachings (Wilson explains this in the latter part of the book), although he never fully developed his "system".
An example of the "earlier" system is Fritz Peters, an 11 year old "pupil", who, like some kind of Karate Kid, was made to perform a task (of mowing all the lawns at the Chateau in one week) intended to teach him what he wanted to know. Gurdjieff demanded he do this no matter what happened and no matter who tried to stop him. **raised eyebrow!
"I would have died , if necessary, in the act of mowing the lawns," says Peters. **second raised eyebrow!
But Wilson then shits on the idea of Gurdjieff's earlier 'super effort' theory by adding that it was similar to commando training. Collapse was probably the most likely outcome and for some of his "disciples" that was the case.
I couldn't help snigger when I read that Gurdjieff fell foul of it himself when working on his book "Beelzebub" - "it became such a difficult task for him that 'his exhaustion and the difficulties of authorship' made him contemplate suicide"
I'm not knocking the book with that last remark because there's some quite important stuff here imo, especially in the latter part, where Wilson extrapolates from Gurdijeff's germinal idea.
Interesting parallels if you've read Huxley essay "Who are We?".
April 11, 2023
Wilson had a clear style. The book is primarily a biography of Gurdjieff, based on Gurdjieff’s writings and those of some of his followers. He did a good job describing the evolution of his methods and ideas. Wilson is more critical than many who write about Gurdjieff, who often have more of a reverent tone when describing him. This includes the source of Gurdjieff’s philosophy, which Wilson thinks was developed by Gurdjieff through his experiences and observations of humanity. I’m more skeptical of Wilson’s claim here, but did agree with some of his criticisms of Gurdjieff’s writing.
May 26, 2022
hmmm.
There’s way too much Colin Wilson in this short book. Always interesting, loquacious, earnest … but always overly simplistic. The sort of bloke who talks hard and fast about things he doesn’t really understand. But he thinks he does.
Nonetheless there’s some good information on Gurdjieff - life and works. His ideas and practices. A good introduction. Overlaid with some pompous psychologising and philosophising by the author.
It’s short. Eat it in a bite and then look for something weightier.
There’s way too much Colin Wilson in this short book. Always interesting, loquacious, earnest … but always overly simplistic. The sort of bloke who talks hard and fast about things he doesn’t really understand. But he thinks he does.
Nonetheless there’s some good information on Gurdjieff - life and works. His ideas and practices. A good introduction. Overlaid with some pompous psychologising and philosophising by the author.
It’s short. Eat it in a bite and then look for something weightier.
April 6, 2015
This is a fascinating and very illuminating read. The introduction to Gurdjieff and Ouspensky that I needed!
January 8, 2024
Colin Wilson hizo un gran trabajo con esta breve biografía (159 páginas) de G. Gurdjieff. Dado que se trata de un personaje rodeado de un aura de mito y misterio, cuando se habla de Gurdjieff es difícil discernir donde acaban los hechos reales de su vida y donde empieza la fantasía. Pongo por ejemplo su libro Meetings With Remarkable Men, donde Gurdjieff mezcla a propósito ficción con datos biográficos auténticos.
Este libro hace un repaso a los principales eventos de la vida de Gurdjeff, apoyándose en los textos escritos por el propio místico y de terceras personas, principalmente sus discípulos John Bennett y Peter Ouspensky. Al final del libro se encuentra un capítulo que resume grosso modo las ideas de Gurdjieff, y que, en mi opinión, hace comprensibles a lectores que se aproximen por primera vez a este personaje. Dichas ideas quedan reflejadas en el subtítulo del libro: La guerra contra el sueño; pues Gurdjieff creía que para alcanzar un grado de conciencia más puro, uno en el que sentirse siempre vivo, había que combatir la tendencia humana a caer en la rutina y desidia (sueño). Su método consistía en trabajo duro y causar impresiones emocionales en las personas, suprimiendo así nuestra tendencia autómata.
El libro se complementa con una selecta biografía de Gurdjieff y sus discípulos para que el lector pueda investigar más por sí mismo.
Tras haber intentado leer a Gurdjieff en el pasado, y sin haber comprendido con éxito sus ideas, encontré en esta biografía la mejor introducción a sus ideas que ha pasado por mis manos. Considero este libro un buen punto de partida para iniciarse en el pensamiento de Gurdjieff.
Este libro hace un repaso a los principales eventos de la vida de Gurdjeff, apoyándose en los textos escritos por el propio místico y de terceras personas, principalmente sus discípulos John Bennett y Peter Ouspensky. Al final del libro se encuentra un capítulo que resume grosso modo las ideas de Gurdjieff, y que, en mi opinión, hace comprensibles a lectores que se aproximen por primera vez a este personaje. Dichas ideas quedan reflejadas en el subtítulo del libro: La guerra contra el sueño; pues Gurdjieff creía que para alcanzar un grado de conciencia más puro, uno en el que sentirse siempre vivo, había que combatir la tendencia humana a caer en la rutina y desidia (sueño). Su método consistía en trabajo duro y causar impresiones emocionales en las personas, suprimiendo así nuestra tendencia autómata.
El libro se complementa con una selecta biografía de Gurdjieff y sus discípulos para que el lector pueda investigar más por sí mismo.
Tras haber intentado leer a Gurdjieff en el pasado, y sin haber comprendido con éxito sus ideas, encontré en esta biografía la mejor introducción a sus ideas que ha pasado por mis manos. Considero este libro un buen punto de partida para iniciarse en el pensamiento de Gurdjieff.
September 17, 2020
Reading the chapter covering Gurdjieff's travels in the East, I was quite enraptured by the possibility of his initiation into a mystical brotherhood. I was reminded of Dion Fortune's White Lodge, the Secret Chiefs of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, and Blavatsky's Ascended Masters. However, as I continued reading further chapters, Gurdjieff's behavior towards his pupils was off-putting and I questioned his validity more and more.
Colin Wilson notes an anecdote about Gurdjieff dismissing an 'occultist' that traveled to meet him, going as far to say interaction was useless to Gurdjieff. This is curious when Wilson mentions elsewhere that despite a feeling of superiority over Theosophists and Spiritualists, Gurdjieff nonetheless frequented their meetings. The opposition A.E. Waite expressed towards one of Ouspensky's lectures was revealing from the perspective of other occultists toward the 'Fourth Way'. I wish Wilson had mentioned the views of parallel esoteric movements on Gurdjieff, such as René Guénon claiming people ought to "flee Gurdjieff like the plague."
The final chapter was very much in the tradition of Colin Wilson's grand philosophy and if you are primarily interested in Gurdjieff's views, it was less pertinent.
Colin Wilson notes an anecdote about Gurdjieff dismissing an 'occultist' that traveled to meet him, going as far to say interaction was useless to Gurdjieff. This is curious when Wilson mentions elsewhere that despite a feeling of superiority over Theosophists and Spiritualists, Gurdjieff nonetheless frequented their meetings. The opposition A.E. Waite expressed towards one of Ouspensky's lectures was revealing from the perspective of other occultists toward the 'Fourth Way'. I wish Wilson had mentioned the views of parallel esoteric movements on Gurdjieff, such as René Guénon claiming people ought to "flee Gurdjieff like the plague."
The final chapter was very much in the tradition of Colin Wilson's grand philosophy and if you are primarily interested in Gurdjieff's views, it was less pertinent.
August 19, 2018
Libro que explora la vida y obra de Gurdjieff, además de testimonios de sus más cercanos e importantes discípulos. Es my esclarecedor en varios puntos de la biografía que no se suelen conocer o se pasan por alto por ser hechos mundanos, sobre todo de sus últimos años de vida. Y es que la figura de Gurdjieff se desmitifica y se le muestra como otro hombre mortal con defectos y virtudes. Hasta el autor se atreve a dar su opinión sobre las enseñanzas de Gurdjieff.
Es la aproximación más imparcial que he leído de Gurdjieff y su obra que no busca ensalzarlo ni atacarlo.
Gurdjieff, el hombre. Y como hombre, tan frágil ante sus propias expectativas y dudas. Ante el mundo y los sucesos inesperados que cambian la historia mundial tanto como la de un solo hombre, y viceversa.
Es la aproximación más imparcial que he leído de Gurdjieff y su obra que no busca ensalzarlo ni atacarlo.
Gurdjieff, el hombre. Y como hombre, tan frágil ante sus propias expectativas y dudas. Ante el mundo y los sucesos inesperados que cambian la historia mundial tanto como la de un solo hombre, y viceversa.
January 19, 2022
I think folks should join Ouspensky who finally found mentorship under Swami Shantananda Saraswati Shankaracharya of Jyotir Math who suceeded Swami Brahmananda Saraswati.The Guru of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.
June 12, 2023
I knew very little about Gurdjieff - I found this to be a good introduction.
December 23, 2023
Parece que estaba medio loco Gurdjieff
May 3, 2022
More a biography than an introduction into his philosophy though there are references to his thought and teachings. The last two chapters start digging a little deeper into the philosophy and also provide some personal opinions of the author as to what Gurdjieff possibly got wrong. Personally I like that part the best.
February 11, 2019
A good overview of Gurdjieff's work, combined with some of Wilson's somewhat similar ideas. Up to a point critical, but also admiring
January 19, 2013
Nice biography of G., and drawing some interesting conclusions about his life. There are a few points I disagree with though, such as CW's interpretation of "self-remembering" which seems to be a psychological self-development type technique (which it is not). CW also asserts "something went wrong" with Gurdjieff due to his non-event type ending of his life, though this isn't necessarily true. CW hits the mark by showing how G's teaching evolved throughout his life, rather than being a static teaching set from the start.
May 14, 2009
Gurdjief was trying to escape the mundane world by develping techniques to wake up the sleeping man.
He had loyal followers and some success, but at the end of his life seemed discouraged and not satisfied with his own success.
Famous for the aphorism "man is sleeping." Part of his techniques involved mystic dancing.
He had loyal followers and some success, but at the end of his life seemed discouraged and not satisfied with his own success.
Famous for the aphorism "man is sleeping." Part of his techniques involved mystic dancing.
March 26, 2017
Excellent insight to this strange but insightful psychological teacher! For anyone unfamiliar with G I wd recommend CW's Book. Although G used ssome unethical methods to get his teaching across there is no doubt he was on to something original. He wanted people to wake up; so do Zen teachers!
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 17 reviews