The Great Game, the Vril-ya and Theosophy

[David Guyatt]

Yes,how about some more on Gurdjieff.If I remember during the Russian civil war he left with his adepts,and traveled to somewhere in Persia.Was that Turkish land or Iran?I believe he was studying the sufi mysteries.:joyman:

Hmm, I didn't find any itineraries for Gurdjieff, but this is interesting:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_G._Bennett

Idries Shah

While the educational work was progressing, Bennett learned of Idries Shah, an exponent of Naqshbandi Sufism. When they met, Shah presented Bennett with a document supporting his claim to represent the 'Guardians of the Tradition'. Bennett and other followers of Gurdjieff's ideas were astonished to meet a man claiming to represent what Gurdjieff had called 'The Inner Circle of Humanity', something they had discussed for so long without hope of its concrete manifestation.

This may be slightly off topic so please forgive me.

Many years ago now, as a young City acolyte, I was poached by animator Richard Williams to run the day to day matters of his London studio. I was employed to replace the brother of Idries Shah, namely Omar, who Dick believed had spelled him or otherwise gained a deep control of him. That at least was the story Dick told me at the time. Prior to my arrival Omar had run the studio with an iron fist apparently and Dick was clearly terrified of him. For years Dick had cherished a major film project he called "The Thief" which was loosely based on Idries Shah books on the Mulla Nasrudin. This ambition only came close to fruition after he made the Disney film Who Framed Roger Rabbit, but ultimately failed.

My time with the studio lasted, as I recall, exactly 28 days. On that 28th day I arrived in my office - previously Omar's - wet to sit in my comfy executive chair - also previously Omar's - to find a letter with a cheque for 3 months pay and a polite letter asking me to fuck off. Dick was in hiding.

Being young and daft I had earlier had the stupidity to honestly answer a question asked by Dick what I thought of his pet Thief film after he showed me the rushes of it. I told him I thought the character was flat and one dimensional. Bad move. :burnout:

What fun life is.

And how often these curious synchronicities turn up.

Okay, sorry for that trip down memory lane. Now back to the matters in hand.