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117-517: According to the author John G. Bennett , a student and aide of George Gurdjieff who first mentioned the concept, the word sarmoung uses the Armenian pronunciation of the Persian term sarman , which may mean either "he who preserves the doctrine of Zoroaster " or " bee ". Regarding the meaning, Bennett writes: "The word can be interpreted in three ways. It is the word for bee, which has always been

234-713: A "Declaration of the People of the Tradition" and authorised him to share this with other Gurdjieffians. The document announced that there was now an opportunity for the transmission of "a secret, hidden, special, superior form of knowledge"; combined with the personal impression Bennett formed of Shah, it convinced Bennett that Shah was a genuine emissary of the " Sarmoung Monastery" in Afghanistan , an inner circle of Sufis whose teachings had inspired Gurdjieff. Whose Beard? Nasruddin dreamt that he had Satan's beard in his hand. Tugging

351-557: A "No-Koonja" or nine-pointed figure, similar to Gurdjieff's Enneagram . The account hints that the central Asian activities of the Sarmoun are to be shut down and the organisation shifted to the west, and mentions an absent chief of the order, the Surkaur, who lives in a place called Aubshaur or "waterfall" (Another account of a visit to a remote monastery, published anonymously in The Times , links

468-503: A 1971 BBC interview with Pat Williams. He described how his father and his extended family and friends always tried to expose the children to a "multiplicity of impacts" and a wide range of contacts and experiences with the intention of producing a well-rounded person. Shah described this as "the Sufi approach" to education. After his family moved from London to Oxford in 1940 to escape The Blitz (German bombing), he spent two or three years at

585-713: A 50-acre (20 ha) estate that once belonged to the family of Lord Baden-Powell , founder of the Boy Scouts . Along with the Coombe Springs property, Bennett also handed the care of his body of pupils to Shah, comprising some 300 people. Shah promised he would integrate all those who were suitable; about half of their number found a place in Shah's work. Some 20 years later, the Gurdjieffian author James Moore suggested that Bennett had been duped by Shah. Bennett gave an account of

702-533: A Western audience through his books and lectures. Several of Shah's books feature the Mullah Nasruddin character, sometimes with illustrations provided by Richard Williams . In Shah's interpretation, the Mulla Nasruddin stories, previously considered a folkloric part of Muslim cultures, were presented as Sufi parables . Nasruddin was featured in Shah's television documentary Dreamwalkers , which aired on

819-617: A career in industrial research and administration). He began to concentrate more fully on the group work at Coombe Springs. He lectured frequently, trying to fulfill a promise he had made to Gurdjieff to do everything in his power to propagate his ideas. Friendly relations continued with Madame de Salzmann and her groups throughout 1951 and 1952, but by then Bennett was convinced that his more senior students were not making progress. He believed that he had to learn firsthand whether there still existed an ancient tradition or source from which Gurdjieff had derived his teaching. In 1953, Bennett undertook

936-596: A community rather than the building itself. In 1956, Bennett was introduced to Subud , a spiritual movement originating in Java (an island in the Republic of Indonesia ). For a number of reasons, Bennett felt that Gurdjieff had expected the arrival of a very important teaching from Indonesia. In spite of deep reservations, in November 1956 Bennett allowed himself to be 'opened' by Husein Rofé,

1053-409: A deliberately "scattered" style; Shah wrote to Graves that its aim was to "de-condition people, and prevent their reconditioning"; had it been otherwise, he might have used a more conventional form of exposition. The book sold poorly at first, and Shah invested a considerable amount of his own money in advertising it. Graves told him not to worry; even though he had some misgivings about the writing, and

1170-629: A dozen languages worldwide, and had been reviewed in numerous international journals and newspapers. Shah's early books were studies of what he called "minority beliefs". His first book Oriental Magic , published in 1956, was originally intended to be titled Considerations in Eastern and African Minority Beliefs . He followed this in 1957 with The Secret Lore of Magic: Book of the Sorcerers , originally entitled Some Materials on European Minority-Belief Literature . The names of these books were, according to

1287-567: A friend, the Dervish Bogga Eddin (Bahauddin), in Bukhara . The chief monastery of the society was said to be located somewhere in the heart of Asia, about twelve days' journey from Bukhara by horse and donkey. Once he arrived at the monastery, Gurdjieff discovered that his old friend Prince Lubovedsky was already there. The Prince tells Gurdjieff that he had met a representative of the Sarmoung at

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1404-400: A huge worldwide circulation, his writings appealed primarily to an intellectually oriented Western audience. By translating Sufi teachings into contemporary psychological language, he presented them in vernacular and hence accessible terms. His folktales , illustrating Sufi wisdom through anecdote and example, proved particularly popular. Shah received and accepted invitations to lecture as

1521-657: A kind that I had already seen in Gurdjieff and one or two others, and prepared me to take very seriously anything that he might [have to] say." During 1954, differences of opinion became more obvious between Bennett and Madame de Salzmann regarding the promulgation of Gurdjieff's teachings. Bennett decided that an effectual working relationship with her groups was not possible. He wanted to execute Gurdjieff's last directives literally, by disseminating his ideas and writings as widely as possible, especially Beelzebub's Tales to his Grandson , which Madame de Salzmann wanted to keep away from

1638-519: A long introduction by Graves. The book chronicles the impact of Sufism on the development of Western civilisation and traditions from the seventh century onward through the work of such figures as Roger Bacon , John of the Cross , Raymond Lully , Chaucer and others. Like Shah's other books on the topic, The Sufis was conspicuous for avoiding terminology that might have identified his interpretation of Sufism with traditional Islam. The book also employed

1755-679: A long journey to the Middle East (West Asia), visiting Turkey, Syria, Iraq and Iran. His search, chronicled in his book Journeys in Islamic Countries (reprinted in paperback in 2001), brought him into contact with Sufis of extraordinary spiritual accomplishment, such as Emin Chikou (1890–1964) (known in Syria as Mohammad Amin Sheikho) and Farhâd Dede (1882-1977), the former of whom led Bennett indirectly to

1872-677: A native Englishman (1922–2008) who had studied in the East. Rofé used the latihan (the primary spiritual exercise used in Subud). Bennett regarded the latihan as being akin to what the mystics call diffuse contemplation. He also felt that the latihan has the power to awaken a person's conscience, the spiritual faculty that Gurdjieff regarded as necessary for salvation. Bennett sent an invitation to Subud's founder, Muhammad Subuh Sumohadiwidjojo (1901–1987) (aka Pak Subuh ), to come to England. Pak Subuh came to Coombe Springs, where all Bennett's pupils were given

1989-565: A nonagenarian with memories of "Jurjizada" (Gurdjieff). He also says they owe their allegiance to the "Studious King" (a literal translation of Idries Shah's name), and agrees with Major Martin that their teaching has been exported and adapted to the West. (He mentions the Azimiyya , a modern international Sufi order). In Studies in Comparative Religion (Winter 1974), it is said that according to

2106-556: A novel about the Soviet–Afghan War . In late spring of 1987, about a year after his final visit to Afghanistan, Shah suffered two successive and massive heart attacks. He was told that he had only eight per cent of his heart function left, and could not expect to survive. Despite intermittent bouts of illness, he continued working and produced further books over the next nine years. Idries Shah died in London on 23 November 1996, at

2223-466: A profound meeting with Shaykh Abdullah Fa'izi ad-Daghestani (1891–1973). Bennett described him as "a true saint in whom one feels an immediate complete trust. With him there were no lengthy arguments or quotations from the scriptures." Their chance meeting on a mountaintop in Damascus is chronicled, albeit briefly, in his book Subud. Bennett concludes that Shaykh Daghestani was in possession of "powers of

2340-455: A publishing house, Octagon Press, producing translations of Sufi classics as well as titles of his own. His seminal work was The Sufis , which appeared in 1964 and was well received internationally. In 1965, Shah founded the Institute for Cultural Research , a London-based educational charity devoted to the study of human behaviour and culture. A similar organisation, the Institute for

2457-670: A son, Tahir Shah , and another daughter, Safia Shah – in 1966. Towards the end of the 1950s, Shah established contact with Wiccan circles in London and then acted as a secretary and companion to Gerald Gardner , the founder of modern Wicca, for some time. In those days, Shah used to hold court for anyone interested in Sufism at a table in the Cosmo restaurant in Swiss Cottage (North London) every Tuesday evening. In 1960, Shah founded his publishing house, Octagon Press ; one of its first titles

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2574-423: A supportive interest in Shah's writing career and encouraged him to publish an authoritative treatment of Sufism for a Western readership, along with the practical means for its study; this was to become The Sufis . Shah managed to obtain a substantial advance on the book, resolving temporary financial difficulties. In 1964, The Sufis appeared, published by Doubleday , Robert Graves's American publisher, with

2691-470: A symbol of those who collect the precious 'honey' of traditional wisdom and preserve it for further generations. A collection of legends, well known in Armenian and Syrian circles with the title of The Bees , was revised by Mar Salamon, a Nestorian Archimandrite in the thirteenth century. "The Bees" refers to a mysterious power transmitted from the time of Zoroaster and made manifest in the time of Christ.... Man

2808-686: A visiting professor at academic institutions including the University of California , the University of Geneva , the National University of La Plata and various English universities. Besides his literary and educational work, he found time to design an air ioniser (forming a company together with Coppy Laws ) and run a number of textile, ceramics and electronics companies. He also undertook several journeys to his ancestral Afghanistan and involved himself in setting up relief efforts there; he drew on these experiences later on in his book Kara Kush ,

2925-596: A wide range of religious and occultist systems, including Theosophy and Anthroposophy . Bennett became determined to pursue the search for a deeper reality. He had been profoundly impressed with Gurdjieff's ideas about the arrangement of the human organism and the possibility of a man's transformation to a higher state of being, and would later dedicate much of his life to the elaboration and dissemination of those ideas. Gurdjieff and Ouspensky moved on to Europe, and Bennett remained in Turkey, committed to his work and fascinated by

3042-573: A writer and diplomat, and a Scottish mother; Saira Elizabeth Luiza Shah . His family on the paternal side were Musavi Sayyids . Their ancestral home was near the Paghman Gardens of Kabul , Afghanistan . His paternal grandfather, Sayed Amjad Ali Shah, was the nawab of Sardhana in the North-Indian state of Uttar Pradesh , a hereditary title the family had gained thanks to the services an earlier ancestor, Jan-Fishan Khan , had rendered to

3159-409: A young man of marked intelligence, such as Idries Shah soon proved himself to possess, many opportunities to acquire a truly international outlook, a broad vision, and an acquaintance with people and places that any professional diplomat of more advanced age and longer experience might well envy. But a career of diplomacy did not attract Idries Shah... Shah described his own unconventional upbringing in

3276-400: Is Persian meaning as the quality transmitted by heredity and hence a distinguished family or race. It can be the repository of an heirloom or tradition. The word sar means head, both literally and in the sense of principal or chief. The combination sarman would thus mean the chief repository of the tradition." Yet another possibility was "those whose heads have been purified", in other words:

3393-798: Is best known for his books on psychology and spirituality, particularly on the teachings of G. I. Gurdjieff . Bennett met Gurdjieff in Istanbul in October 1920 and later helped to co-ordinate the work of Gurdjieff in England after the guru had moved to Paris. He also was active in starting the British section of the Subud movement, and co-founded its British headquarters. Bennett was born in London, England; educated at King's College School , London; Royal Military Academy , Woolwich ; School of Military Engineering, Chatham ; and

3510-501: Is maintained that just as the bee accumulates honey, so the Sarmouni accumulate, store and preserve what they term "true knowledge" (which is equally seen as existing as a positive commodity and associated with the spiritual gift or energy of Baraka ). In times of need this is released once more into the world through specially trained emissaries. He describes a tree-like, multi jointed apparatus, similar to one described by Gurdjieff, and also

3627-529: Is nothing remotely Sufi about the Sarmoung Order described by Gurdjieff. James Moore , in his biography of Gurdjieff, writes Gurdjieff's claim to have found and entered 'the chief Sarmoung Monastery' is, in effect, a litmus test, distinguishing literal minds from those preferring allegory. John G. Bennett John Godolphin Bennett (8 June 1897 – 13 December 1974) was a British academic and author. He

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3744-730: The Assyrian Kings, close to modern-day Mosul in northern Iraq . In Gurdjieff in the Light of Tradition (2002), the Perennialist Whitall Perry wrote that Gurdjieff believed that the northern Sufi orders could well be under the hidden direction of the Khwajagan - the 'Masters of Wisdom' - themselves in turn delegated by the Sarman 'Inner Circle', the 'Assembly of the Living Saints of

3861-515: The City of Oxford High School for Boys . In 1945, he accompanied his father to Uruguay as secretary to his father's halal meat mission. He returned to England in October 1946, following allegations of improper business dealings. Shah married the Parsi - Zoroastrian Cynthia (Kashfi) Kabraji, daughter of Indian poet Fredoon Kabraji , in 1958; they had a daughter, Saira Shah , in 1964, followed by twins –

3978-602: The First World War , at the age of nineteen, Bennett served as a subaltern in the Royal Engineers, with responsibility for signals and telegraphy. In France in March 1918, he was blown off his motorcycle by an exploding shell. Taken to a military hospital, operated upon, and apparently in a coma for six days, Bennett had an out-of-body experience . He became convinced that there is something in man which can exist independently of

4095-657: The School of Oriental Studies , London. He was a Fellow of the Institute of Fuel, London, from 1938 onwards; Chairman, Conference of Research Associations, 1943–1945; Chairman, Solid Fuel Industry, British Standards Institution , 1937–1942; Chairman and Director, Institute for the comparative study of History, Philosophy, and the Sciences, Kingston upon Thames , 1946–1959. Bennett's parents met in Florence, Italy ; they later married. His mother

4212-638: The University of California , where Ornstein was a research psychologist at the Langley Porter Psychiatric Institute . Ornstein was also president and founder of the Institute for the Study of Human Knowledge , established in 1969; seeing a need in the U.S. for books and collections on ancient and new ways of thinking, he formed the ISHK Book Service in 1972 as a central source for important contemporary and traditional literature, becoming

4329-607: The pen name Arkon Daraul , was an Afghan author, thinker and teacher in the Sufi tradition. Shah wrote over three dozen books on topics ranging from psychology and spirituality to travelogues and culture studies. Born in British India , the descendant of a family of Afghan nobles on his father's side and a Scottish mother, Shah grew up mainly in England . His early writings centred on magic and witchcraft . In 1960 he established

4446-639: The Armenian book Merkhavat , the Sarmoung Brotherhood, also referred to as the 'Inner Circle of Humanity', originated in ancient Babylon circa 2500 BC, at around the time the Egyptians built the Great Pyramid of Giza. The Ouspensky Foundation state that the brotherhood was active in the golden Babylonian time of Hammurabi (1728-1686 BC) and is connected with Zoroaster , the teacher of Pythagoras (born c. 580 BC–572 BC, died c. 500 BC–490 BC). According to

4563-527: The BBC in 1970. Segments included Richard Williams being interviewed about his unfinished animated film about Nasruddin, and scientist John Kermisch discussing the use of Nasruddin stories at the Rand Corporation Think Tank . Other guests included the British psychiatrist William Sargant discussing the hampering effects of brainwashing and social conditioning on creativity and problem-solving, and

4680-559: The British. Shah mainly grew up in the vicinity of London . According to L. F. Rushbrook Williams , Shah began accompanying his father in his travels from a very young age, and although they both travelled widely and often, they always returned to England, where the family made their home for many years. Through these travels, which were often part of Ikbal Ali Shah's Sufi work, Shah was able to meet and spend time with prominent statesmen and distinguished personalities in both East and West. Williams writes, Such an upbringing presented to

4797-556: The Catholic Church. By 1960, Bennett had concluded that the practice of 'latihan' alone was inadequate, and he resumed the work that he had learned from Gurdjieff. By 1962, Bennett left the Subud organization, feeling that a return to the Gurdjieff method was necessary. Although he always said that he had derived great benefit from Subud, his departure aroused animosity and dismay from Subud members, and many turned against him. Meanwhile,

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4914-554: The Comparative Study of History, Philosophy and the Sciences" located at Coombe Springs, a 7-acre (2.8-hectare) estate in Kingston upon Thames , Surrey . At that time, Bennett had already investigated the Sufi origins of many of Gurdjieff's teachings, based on both Gurdjieff's own numerous statements, and on travels Bennett himself made in the East where he met various Sufi Sheikhs. He was convinced that Gurdjieff had adopted many of

5031-660: The Earth'. In The People of the Secret , Edward Campbell (writing as Ernest Scott), another associate of Idries Shah, describes studies in extrasensory perception being undertaken in the contemporary Sarmoun monastery in Afghanistan. The Canadian diplomat and Gurdjieffian James George has speculated, on the basis of the similar name and location, that Surmang , a Tibetan Buddhist monastery currently within Chinese borders may be real basis of

5148-672: The Foundation, Pythagoras stayed for twelve years in Babylon. ( Merkabah mysticism is in fact a form of Jewish esotericism, which Gurdjieff possibly encountered in an Armenian translation). In The Masters of Wisdom , J. G. Bennett states that the Sarman left Babylon before the arrival of the Alexander the Great (who reigned 336-323 BC), moved up the Tigris and made their headquarters in the abandoned capital of

5265-420: The Gurdjieff work since 1924, made contact with Shah through that article. Hoare "attached special significance to what Shah had told him about the enneagram symbol and said that Shah had revealed secrets about it that went far beyond what we had heard from Ouspensky." Through Hoare, Shah was introduced to other Gurdjieffians, including John G. Bennett , a noted Gurdjieff student and founder of an "Institute for

5382-473: The Hoares to meet Shah, who turned out to be a young man in his early 40s. He spoke impeccable English and but for his beard and some of his gestures might well have been taken for an English public school type. Our first impressions were unfavourable. He was restless, smoked incessantly and seemed too intent on making a good impression. Halfway through the evening, our attitude completely changed. We recognized that he

5499-411: The Institute had been largely given over to Subud to the extent, at one time, of instigating a move to forbid the sale of Gurdjieff's books at Coombe Springs. In spite of this, Bennett reinstated lecture courses on psychokinetics, an action that led to increasing conflict among the membership. A battle of power ensued in 1962 that resulted in Subud acquiring its own organization and Bennett resigning from

5616-617: The Sarkar to Idries Shah). Martin's account ends with a description of a symbolic ritual whose theme is the revival of the "dead letter" of traditional teaching. A lengthy account of an encounter with the Sarmouni is given in Among the Dervishes (1973) by Omar Michael Burke, an associate of (or pen name of) Idries Shah . He takes the term "Sarmouni" to be synonymous with the Amudaria dervishes. He describes

5733-473: The Sarmoun Brotherhood (1966, 1982) by Major Desmond R. Martin, a major centre of the contemporary Sarmoun Brotherhood was in the Hindu Kush mountains of northern Afghanistan . Major Martin was an associate of the writer and Sufi teacher, Idries Shah . In the account, the motto of the Sarmouni is said to be "Work produces a Sweet Essence" (Amal misazad yak zaati shirin), work being not only work for God and for others but also self-work. In relation to this, it

5850-416: The Sarmoung to the Nestorians , descendants of the ancient Byzantine , their expulsion from Mesopotamia and the city of Ninevah . Gurdjieff's experiences on these journeys, and a sketchy account of his somewhat mysterious relationship with the Sarmoung Brotherhood, can be found in his autobiography Meetings with Remarkable Men . He says that he made contact with a representative of the Sarmoung through

5967-410: The Sarmoung. Surmang has been more recently associated with the renowned and controversial Kagyu teacher Chogyam Trungpa . In 2007, Buddhist priest Rev. José M. Tirado presented a paper to the All & Everything Conference in Loutraki, Greece detailing the probable Buddhist influences on Gurdjieff's teachings, and linking "Sarmoun" to the Surmang monastery, in "Beelzebub's Buddhas". Mark Sedgwick ,

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6084-481: The Sarmouni as a diffuse set of groups, rather than being located in a single monastery. Some groups have no permanent headquarters and meet in the open or private houses. In some cases, whole villages blend Sarmouni practices with their day-to-day lives. He describes them as having a practical orientation, and avoiding mystification and personality-cults. They occasionally display extrasensory perceptions , but do not attribute great significance to them. He reports meeting

6201-416: The Society for Sufi Studies (SSS). Langton House at Langton Green became a place of gathering and discussion for poets, philosophers and statesmen from around the world, and an established part of the literary scene of the time. The ICR held meetings and gave lectures there, awarding fellowships to international scholars including Sir John Glubb , Aquila Berlas Kiani , Richard Gregory and Robert Cecil ,

6318-636: The Study of Human Knowledge (ISHK), was established in the United States under the directorship of Stanford University psychology professor Robert Ornstein , whom Shah appointed as his deputy in the U.S. In his writings, Shah presented Sufism as a universal form of wisdom that predated Islam . Emphasizing that Sufism was not static but always adapted itself to the current time, place and people, he framed his teaching in Western psychological terms. Shah made extensive use of traditional teaching stories and parables , texts that contained multiple layers of meaning designed to trigger insight and self-reflection in

6435-509: The Subud brotherhood and his role as leader of the Coombe Springs Community and Director of Research of the institute. From 1963, the pattern of exercises that were subsequently followed at Coombe Springs combined the latihan with different techniques such as the Gurdjieff movements. The meeting hall was completed with the fitting of a balcony for viewers and an external access through stairs for spectators. Lectures were held on topics ranging from Sufism to Synchronicity, and Bennett resumed work on

6552-478: The United States and met Ouspensky's wife, through whom he learned that Gurdjieff had survived the Nazi occupation of France and was living in Paris. Though it was 25 years since they had last met (due mainly to Ouspensky's longstanding veto against Gurdjieff to members of his groups), Bennett quickly decided to renew contact. In the 18 months before Gurdjieff's death (in October 1949), Bennett visited him frequently. He also continued his crowded professional schedule (he

6669-450: The United States. Claudio Naranjo , a Chilean psychiatrist who was teaching in California in the late 1960s, says that, after being "disappointed in the extent to which Gurdjieff's school entailed a living lineage", he had turned towards Sufism and had "become part of a group under the guidance of Idries Shah." Naranjo co-wrote a book with Robert Ornstein , entitled On The Psychology of Meditation (1971). Both of them were associated with

6786-468: The West (1972). The planned animated feature film by Williams, provisionally titled The Amazing Nasruddin , never materialised, as the relationship between Williams and the Shah family soured in 1972 amid disputes about copyrights and funds; however, Williams later used some of the ideas for his film The Thief and the Cobbler . Shah wrote around two dozen more books over the following decades, many of them drawing on classical Sufi sources. Achieving

6903-529: The abbey to teach the monks. These visits brought him into close contact with the Catholic Church. Dom Albert-Jacques Bescond, OSB (1920–1986) was the first monk from the abbey to be 'opened', followed by many others. At St. Wandrille, Bennett first had a deep experience of what he believed was the destined unification of Islam and Christianity. He had given this possibility philosophical expression through his concept of 'essential will', as detailed in his The Dramatic Universe (4 vols). Soon after, he formally entered

7020-464: The age of 72 and was buried in Brookwood Cemetery . According to his obituary in The Daily Telegraph , Idries Shah was a collaborator with Mujahideen in the Soviet–Afghan War , a Director of Studies for the Institute for Cultural Research and a Governor of the Royal Humane Society and the Royal Hospital and Home for Incurables . He was also a member of the Athenaeum Club . At the time of his death, Shah's books had sold over 15 million copies in

7137-444: The body. This experience set his life on a new course. He described the return to normal consciousness as the return to a body that was now in some sense a stranger. In the closing months of the First World War , Bennett undertook an intensive course in the Turkish language at the School of Oriental and African Studies , London, and was posted to Constantinople . He was assigned to a sensitive position in Anglo-Turkish relations, at

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7254-438: The comedian Marty Feldman talking with Shah about the role of humour and ritual in human life. The program ended with Shah asserting that humanity could further its own evolution by "breaking psychological limitations" but that there was a "constant accretion of pessimism which effectively prevents evolution in this form from going ahead... Man is asleep – must he die before he wakes up?" Shah also organised Sufi study groups in

7371-415: The coordinator of the Unit for Arab and Islamic Studies at Aarhus University writes: Although few commentators in Gurdjieff would put it so bluntly, it seems clear to me that the Sarmoung are entirely imaginary. No Sufi tariqa of such a name is known, and in fact "Sarmoung" is a typically Gurdjieffian fantastical name. It is immediately obvious to anyone who knows anything about regular Sufism that there

7488-423: The divisions within the Gurdjieff groups. Many people left the Coombe Springs groups, but others came in large numbers. For several years Coombe Springs was the headquarters of the Subud movement in Europe, attracting both serious seekers and sensation seekers. In 1958, monks from the Benedictine Abbey of St. Wandrille , interested in Subud, contacted Bennett. The following year he made the first of many visits to

7605-475: The draft for his biography, Bennett's Long Pilgrimage - The Life and Teaching of the Shivapuri Baba . In 1962, Bennett gave a seminar on spiritual psychology in which the various elements he had received (particularly from Gurdjieff, Subud and the Shivapuri Baba) were integrated into a coherent psycho-cosmology. This marked a major step in his understanding of a comprehensive methodology which combined both active and receptive "lines of work". By this time Bennett

7722-402: The early 1920s. During this time, Bennett became involved with various coal mining ventures in Greece and Turkey. These were ultimately unsuccessful, but in the process he acquired expertise in mining and coal chemistry. He worked for four years in Greece, where he was also involved in protracted negotiations involving land claims by members of the deposed Turkish royal family. In 1938, Bennett

7839-440: The enlightened. The brotherhood was also sought by George Gurdjieff on his journeys (pre-1912) through Southwest and Central Asia . Describing the contents of an old letter written by a monk which he had obtained, Gurdjieff writes: "Our worthy Father Telvant has at last succeeded in learning the truth about the Sarmoung Brotherhood. Their organisation actually did exist near the town of Siranoush, and fifty years ago, soon after

7956-400: The final volumes of his "personal whim", the epic 'The Dramatic Universe', which he had been working on for more than ten years, constantly writing, revising and re-writing. Meanwhile, Bennett had made contact with the Shivapuri Baba , a Hindu sage living in Nepal. He had first heard of the Shivapuri Baba in the early 1940s, and now learned from Hugh Ripman (a fellow student of Ouspensky) that

8073-474: The first time. At the beginning of 1949, Gurdjieff named Bennett as his 'Representative for England'. Bennett later gave public lectures in London on Gurdjieff and his ideas. This period was described by Bennett's third wife, Elizabeth Bennett (1918–1991), who was part of the study group, in her book Idiots in Paris: Diaries of J.G. Bennett and Elizabeth Bennett, 1949 . Her memoir was based on J.G. Bennett's diaries and on her own memories. A third paperback edition

8190-422: The grounds. Until the mid-19th century, it had provided water to the palace at Hampton Court . Bennett believed that Gurdjieff's system could be reconciled with modern science. He started work on a five-dimensional geometry which included "eternity" as a second time-like dimension, introducing this in his first published book, The Crisis in Human Affairs (1948). Ouspensky died in 1947. In 1948, Bennett went to

8307-399: The hair he cried: "The pain you feel is nothing compared to that which you inflict on the mortals you lead astray." And he gave the beard such a tug that he woke up yelling in agony. Only then did he realise that the beard he held in his hand was his own. − Idries Shah For the next few years, Bennett and Shah had weekly private talks that lasted for hours. Later, Shah also gave talks to

8424-607: The head of European studies at the University of Reading who became chairman of the institute in the early 1970s. Shah was an early member and supporter of the Club of Rome . Fellow Club of Rome members, such as scientist Alexander King made presentations at the Institute. Other visitors, pupils, and would-be pupils included the poet Ted Hughes , novelists J. D. Salinger , Alan Sillitoe and Doris Lessing , zoologist Desmond Morris , and psychologist Robert Ornstein . The interior of

8541-464: The head of Military Intelligence "B" Division, with responsibility for the entire Middle Eastern region. Bennett's eighteen months' tenure in this position were so eventful, that he is still regarded as a major figure in the political life of Turkey in that period. Bennett's success resulted in some animosities among his superiors and he was recalled to London in January 1921. He resigned his commission with

8658-606: The house of the Aga Khan in Kabul , Afghanistan . During his stay at the monastery, Gurdjieff recalls seeing a complex and ancient tree-like apparatus used to indicate bodily postures and train temple dancers. Gurdjieff's attempts to establish a link between the Brotherhood, ancient Sumer , and even "pre-sand Egypt ", was an intriguing attempt at acquiring esoteric knowledge that had been passed down from antiquity. According to Account of

8775-554: The house was decorated in a Middle-Eastern fashion, and buffet lunches were held every Sunday for guests in a large dining room that was once the estate stable, nicknamed "The Elephant" (a reference to the Eastern tale of the " Elephant in the Dark "). Over the following years, Shah developed Octagon Press as a means of publishing and distributing reprints of translations of numerous Sufi classics. In addition, he collected, translated and wrote thousands of Sufi tales, making these available to

8892-772: The idea of structural communication which led the Institute into co-operative work with G.E.C. in the field of teaching machines. In 1963, Bennett launched the institute's journal, Systematics . The journal was designed to spread the ideas of the discipline of Systematics , a practical analytical method based on his own researches into the laws governing processes in the natural world. The journal ran for 11 years with major contributions from all disciplines. Idries Shah Idries Shah ( / ˈ ɪ d r ɪ s ˈ ʃ ɑː / ; Hindi : इदरीस शाह , Pashto : ادريس شاه , Urdu : ادریس شاه ; 16 June 1924 – 23 November 1996), also known as Idris Shah , Indries Shah , né Sayed Idries el- Hashimi (Arabic: سيد إدريس هاشمي ) and by

9009-563: The ideas and techniques of the Sufis and that, for those who heard Gurdjieff's lectures in the early 1920s, "the Sufi origin of his teaching was unmistakable to anyone who had studied both." Bennett wrote about his first meeting with Shah in his autobiography Witness (1974): At first, I was wary. I had just decided to go forward on my own and now another 'teacher' had appeared. One or two conversations with Reggie convinced me that I ought at least to see for myself. Elizabeth and I went to dinner with

9126-429: The issue. For the time being, we can only hope that some good will come, and meanwhile continue our own work..." The author and clinical psychologist Kathleen Speeth later wrote, Witnessing the growing conservatism within the [Gurdjieff] Foundation, John Bennett hoped new blood and leadership would come from elsewhere... Although there may have been flirtation with Shah, nothing came of it. The prevailing sense [among

9243-565: The leaders of the Gurdjieff work] that nothing must change, that a treasure in their safekeeping must at all costs be preserved in its original form, was stronger than any wish for a new wave of inspiration." In 1965, Shah founded the Society for Understanding Fundamental Ideas (SUFI), later renamed The Institute for Cultural Research (ICR) – an educational charity aimed at stimulating "study, debate, education and research into all aspects of human thought, behaviour and culture". He also established

9360-669: The marriage. In 1924, Evelyn Bennett sued for divorce. Bennett later married Beaumont, who was twenty years his senior; they were together until her death in 1958. He married a third time in 1958, to Elizabeth Mayall. After the First World War and the Russian Revolution , many displaced people passed through Constantinople en route to the West. Part of Bennett's job was to monitor their movements. Among them were G.I. Gurdjieff and P.D. Ouspensky , whom Bennett met through Prince Sabahaddin . This reformist thinker had introduced him to

9477-502: The matter by stating that he had "gained freedom" through his contact with Shah, and had learned "to love people whom [he] could not understand". According to Bennett, Shah later also engaged in discussions with the heads of the Gurdjieff groups in New York. In a letter to Paul Anderson from 5 March 1968, Bennett wrote, "Madame de Salzmann and all the others... are aware of their own limitations and do no more than they are able to do. While I

9594-562: The matter himself in his autobiography (1974); he said that Shah's behaviour after the transfer of the property was "hard to bear", but also insisted that Shah was a "man of exquisite manners and delicate sensibilities" and considered that Shah might have adopted his behaviour deliberately, "to make sure that all bonds with Coombe Springs were severed". He added that Langton Green was a far more suitable place for Shah's work than Coombe Springs could have been and said he felt no sadness that Coombe Springs lost its identity; he concluded his account of

9711-419: The migration of peoples, they also migrated and settled in the valley of Izrumin, three days journey from Nivssi...." Then the letter went on about other matters. What struck us most was the word "Sarmoung", which we had come across several times in the book called "Merkhavat". This word is the name of a famous esoteric school which, according to tradition, was founded in Babylon as far back as 2500 BC, and which

9828-495: The movement that had formed around the mystical teachings of Gurdjieff and Ouspensky . A press article had appeared, describing the author's visit to a secret monastery in Central Asia, where methods strikingly similar to Gurdjieff's methods were apparently being taught. The otherwise unattested monastery had, it was implied, a representative in England. One of Ouspensky's earliest pupils, Reggie Hoare, who had been part of

9945-488: The non-profit Institute for the Comparative Study of History, Philosophy and the Sciences: The Institute bought Coombe Springs, a seven-acre estate in Kingston upon Thames , Surrey , which had housed research laboratories used by BCURA. The Bennetts moved in with ten of Bennett's closest pupils, with the intention of starting a small research community. Coombe Springs became a centre for group work. In addition to

10062-538: The novelist Doris Lessing . Shah came to be recognized as a spokesman for Sufism in the West and lectured as a visiting professor at a number of Western universities. His works have played a significant part in presenting Sufism as a form of spiritual wisdom approachable by individuals and not necessarily attached to any specific religion. Idries Shah was born in Simla , Punjab Province , British India , to an Afghan-Indian father of Pashtun descent; Sirdar Ikbal Ali Shah ,

10179-435: The opportunity to be 'opened'. Soon Bennett was instrumental in spreading Subud practice all over the world. He travelled extensively to spread the Subud exercise, sometimes in the company of Pak Subuh. Bennett translated Pak Subuh's lectures into various languages. His introductory book on Subud, titled Concerning Subud (1959), sold thousands of copies worldwide. Bennett's deep involvement in Subud meant less participation in

10296-807: The political and social developments in Turkey. The sultanate fell, and on 29 October 1923 the Turkish republic was proclaimed. Gurdjieff founded his Institute for the Harmonious Development of Man at the Château Le Prieuré in Fontainebleau-Avon, south of Paris , in October 1922. Bennett visited in the summer of 1923, spending three months at the institute. This experience further convinced him that Gurdjieff had profound knowledge and understanding of techniques by which man can achieve transformation. Gurdjieff encouraged Bennett to stay longer, but Bennett

10413-406: The public eye. In 1955, Bennett initiated a project to build an unusual nine-sided meeting hall at Coombe Springs for the performance of Gurdjieff's sacred dance movements. This, together with his public lectures in London, completed the rift with Madame de Salzmann. The project took two years to complete. At the opening in 1957, Bennett commented that the real value of such a project was in building

10530-451: The qualities needed to reach and occupy positions of authority" and that "there were sufficient grounds for believing that throughout the world there were already people occupying important positions, who were capable of looking beyond the limitations of nationality and cultures and who could see for themselves that the only hope for mankind lies in the intervention of a Higher Source." Bennett wrote, "I had seen enough of Shah to know that he

10647-407: The rank of Captain and a pension for life. He kept an abiding love for Turkey for the rest of his life. After the war, Bennett had married Evelyn, with whom he had a daughter, Ann, born August 1920. Evelyn had stayed in England when he was posted to Turkey. Bennett's immersion in Turkish affairs and his relationship with Winifred Beaumont, an English woman living in Turkey, placed increasing strain on

10764-508: The reader. He is perhaps best known for his collections of humorous Mulla Nasrudin stories. Shah was at times criticized by orientalists who questioned his credentials and background. His role in the controversy surrounding a new translation of the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam , published by his friend Robert Graves and his older brother Omar Ali-Shah , came in for particular scrutiny. However, he also had many notable defenders, chief among them

10881-455: The small community who lived there permanently, hundreds of people visited Coombe Springs for meetings and summer schools. The old laboratories were used as dormitory space; they were known as the "fishbowl" because of the large amount of glass they had. A "new building" was later built for superior accommodation. The main house was used for meetings as well as accommodation. Coombe Springs took its name from an original Elizabethan spring house in

10998-550: The sole U.S. distributor of the works of Idries Shah published by Octagon Press. Another Shah associate, the scientist and professor Leonard Lewin , who was teaching telecommunications at the University of Colorado at the time, set up Sufi study groups and other enterprises for the promotion of Sufi ideas like the Institute for Research on the Dissemination of Human Knowledge (IRDHK), and also edited an anthology of writings by and about Shah entitled The Diffusion of Sufi Ideas in

11115-524: The students at Coombe Springs. Bennett says that Shah's plans included "reaching people who occupied positions of authority and power who were already half-consciously aware that the problems of mankind could no longer be solved by economic, political or social action. Such people were touched, he said, by the new forces moving in the world to help mankind to survive the coming crisis." Bennett agreed with these ideas and also agreed that "people attracted by overtly spiritual or esoteric movements seldom possessed

11232-523: The time of the breakup of the Ottoman Empire and rise in Turkish nationalism. His fluency made him the confidant of many high-ranking Turkish political figures; it also helped him to develop his knowledge of Turkey and to gain insights into non-European ways of thinking. A notable piece of initiative drew the attention of General Edmund Allenby , and a mention in C-in-C's dispatches. Bennett was recruited to be

11349-545: The virtues of hard work and tolerance. At school, he excelled in sports and captained the school rugby football team. He won a scholarship in mathematics from Oxford University , but never had the chance to take advantage of this because of the outbreak of the Great War. He continued to play rugby football for the army (against such opponents as the New Zealand national team), breaking his arm once and his collar bone twice. In

11466-500: The work-group activities and exercises that had been practised until he began this work. The meeting hall was left unfinished without its intended viewers' balcony and its striking pentagonal floor was filled in to allow for latihans. Its original purpose was not to be fulfilled for many years. Some of Bennett's pupils were dismayed. Subud's spontaneous exercise seemed to some to be the antithesis of Gurdjieff's methods for spiritual awakening, and Bennett's enthusiasm for it served to deepen

11583-533: The yogi was still alive. Bennett visited the Shivapuri Baba twice between 1961 and 1963, by which time the Shivapuri Baba was reportedly 137 years old. Bennett was impressed with the vitality and simplicity of the Shivapuri Baba's teaching, and later referred to him as his teacher. Bennett undertook to propagate the Shivapuri Baba's teaching, and made various attempts to incorporate it into his own work. The Shivapuri Baba died in 1963, shortly after he had approved

11700-696: Was American and his father was British. In Bennett's infancy, his family were moderately wealthy and traveled frequently in Europe. In 1912, his father, who was a noted traveller, adventurer and linguist , lost all of his money and his wife's in an investment that failed. Bennett later displayed an extraordinary talent for languages, which enabled him to talk with many spiritual teachers in their native tongues. He studied Hindu, Buddhist, Islamic and Christian sacred texts in their original languages. Bennett makes little reference to his childhood in his autobiography, Witness . Elsewhere he credits his mother with instilling in him

11817-470: Was Gardner's biography – Gerald Gardner, Witch . The book was attributed to one of Gardner's followers, Jack L. Bracelin , but had in fact been written by Shah. According to Wiccan Frederic Lamond , Bracelin's name was used because Shah "did not want to confuse his Sufi students by being seen to take an interest in another esoteric tradition." Lamond said that Shah seemed to have become somewhat disillusioned with Gardner, and had told him one day, when he

11934-522: Was also working with a group of young scientists called ISERG (Integral Science Education Research Group) headed by Dr. Anthony Hodgson and soon joined by Anthony George Edward Blake, Kenneth Pledge, Henri Bortoft and others. This group investigated educational methods, the nature of science, and similar subjects. The group maintained a contact with physicist and philosopher David Bohm . Research fellowships were created to enable Hodgson and Blake to concentrate their time on educational work. Out of this came

12051-560: Was asked to head Britain's newest industrial research organisation, the British Coal Utilisation Research Association ( BCURA ). With the outbreak of World War II , BCURA's research was focused on developing fuel-efficient fireplaces and finding alternatives to oil. BCURA developed cars powered by coal-gas and a coal-based plastic. In 1941, Ouspensky left England to live in the United States. By now, Bennett

12168-483: Was currently researching ecstatic religions, and that he had been "attending... experiments conducted by the witches in Britain, into mushroom-eating and so on" – a topic that had been of interest to Graves for some time. Shah also told Graves that he was "intensely preoccupied at the moment with the carrying forward of ecstatic and intuitive knowledge." Graves and Shah soon became close friends and confidants. Graves took

12285-543: Was giving parties. I had only a few encounters with him but much enjoyed his irreverent attitude. Bennett once said to me, 'There are different styles in the work. Mine is like Gurdjieff's, around struggle with one's denial. But Shah's way is to treat the work as a joke.'" After a few months, Shah sold the plot – worth more than £100,000 – to a developer and used the proceeds to establish himself and his work activities at Langton House in Langton Green , near Tunbridge Wells ,

12402-462: Was hurt that Shah had not allowed him to proofread it before publication, he said he was "so proud in having assisted in its publication", and assured Shah that it was "a marvellous book, and will be recognised as such before long. Leave it to find its own readers who will hear your voice spreading, not those envisaged by Doubleday." In June 1962, a couple of years prior to the publication of The Sufis , Shah had also established contact with members of

12519-404: Was in New York, Elizabeth and I visited the Foundation, and we saw most of the leading people in the New York group as well as Jeanne de Salzmann herself. Something is preparing, but whether it will come to fruition I cannot tell. I refer to their connection with Idries Shah and his capacity for turning everything upside down. It is useless with such people to be passive, and it is useless to avoid

12636-555: Was known to have existed somewhere in Mesopotamia up to the sixth or seventh century AD; but about its further existence one could not obtain anywhere the least information. This school was said to have possessed great knowledge, containing the key to many secret mysteries Many times had Pogossian and I talked of this school and dreamed of finding out something authentic about it, and now suddenly we found it mentioned in this parchment! We were greatly excited. Gurdjieff goes on to relate

12753-469: Was little inherent harmony among them. At this time Bennett was a member of a small group headed by Madame de Salzmann, and he put his work at Coombe Springs under her overall guidance. In 1950, Bennett was falsely accused of harbouring communists on his staff, during a communist scare in Great Britain, and he was forced to resign from Powell Dufryn. (He later resisted several attractive offers to return to

12870-408: Was no charlatan or idle boaster and that he was intensely serious about the task he had been given." Due to extreme pressure from Shah, Bennett decided in 1965, after agonising for a long time and discussing the matter with the council and members of his Institute, to give the Coombe Springs property to Shah, who had insisted that any such gift must be made with no strings attached. Once the property

12987-487: Was not only an unusually gifted man, but that he had the indefinable something that marks the man who has worked seriously upon himself... Knowing Reggie to be a very cautious man, trained moreover in assessing information by many years in the Intelligence Service, I accepted his assurances and also his belief that Shah had a very important mission in the West that we ought to help him to accomplish. Shah gave Bennett

13104-631: Was now working for the Powell Duffryn coal company) and his responsibilities towards the group work at Coombe Springs. A month spent working very intensively with Gurdjieff's group in the summer of 1949 laid the foundation for a significant transformation in his life and spiritual work. At that time, Gurdjieff's apartment in Paris had become a ' Mecca ' to the followers of his ideas, who converged from many different countries. Bennett learnt of Gurdjieff's writings, and read Beelzebub's Tales to His Grandson for

13221-499: Was published posthumously in 2017. Gurdjieff's death in 1949 was a serious blow for all his followers. Disagreements arose within the group, partly as a result of Gurdjieff's having allocated his closest associates with conflicting areas of authority. In Bennett's case, the conflict was exacerbated by his own interpretation and development of Gurdieff's ideas. After Gurdjieff's death, the various groups looked to Jeanne de Salzmann to give them direction and hold them together, but there

13338-494: Was running his own study groups and giving talks on the subject of Gurdjieff's system . The groups continued and expanded in London throughout the Second World War. Bennett began writing and developing his own ideas in addition to Gurdjieff's. Ouspensky repudiated him in 1945, which proved very painful for Bennett. He had lost touch with Gurdjieff during the war and believed him to be dead. In 1946, Bennett and his wife founded

13455-631: Was short of money and so felt obliged to return to work in England. Though Bennett expected to return to the group soon, he would not meet Gurdjieff again until 1948. Bennett served the British government as a consultant on the Middle East, and interpreter at the 1924 conference in London intended to settle disputes between Greece and Turkey. He was invited to stand for parliament, but he chose instead to give his personal studies precedence over his public life. He joined Ouspensky's groups, and continued to study Gurdjieff's system with them for fifteen years. Ouspensky broke off all contact with Gurdjieff himself in

13572-439: Was transferred to Shah, he banned Bennett's associates from visiting, and made Bennett himself feel unwelcome. Bennett says he did receive an invitation to the "Midsummer Revels", a party Shah held at Coombe Springs that lasted two days and two nights, primarily for the young people whom Shah was then attracting. Anthony Blake, who worked with Bennett for 15 years, says, "When Idries Shah acquired Coombe Springs, his main activity

13689-701: Was visiting for tea: When I was interviewing Gerald, I sometimes wished I was a News of the World reporter. What marvellous material for an exposé! And yet I have it on good authority that this group will be the cornerstone of the religion of the coming age. But rationally, rationally I can't see it! In January 1961, while on a trip to Mallorca with Gardner, Shah met the English poet Robert Graves . Shah wrote to Graves from his pension in Palma , requesting an opportunity of "saluting you one day before very long". He added that he

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